Find out what RESPECT! means to me -- to you, to all of us. A world of respect means futures without violence, strength without fear, hope without haunting.
Statistics tells us one side of the story:
1 in 4 women and 1 in 3 teens will experience domestic violence or dating abuse.
3 women a day die at the hands of their husbands or boyfriends.
Whether we realize it or not, the numbers alone make RESPECT! intensely relevant to every father, mother, sister, brother, or friend of every man, woman, or child alive today, whether we realize it or not.
The only other side of story that's true is that we all have a role to play in ending relationship violence because we should all want to protect those we love, and even strangers, from harm. We can and we must. Doing so is easy. Simply by exemplifying respectful behavior to all those around us -- family members, colleagues, neighbors, and particularly kids -- we can make a different kind of world. It won't change overnight, but collectively we can shift the culture of what is acceptable and what is absolutely not okay.
Another simple way to make a profound impact involves nothing more than click. Download "Heroes" by recording artist Ne-Yo, and Macy's will donate $1 to the Family Violence Prevention Fund's RESPECT! Campaign.
Encourage others to do the same and you'll be spreading RESPECT! far and wide. This is the way we'll turn the tide. Let's do it.
To find out more about the Family Violence Prevention Fund, please click here. To get your free download of Ne-Yo's song "Heroes" please click here.
It is so sad that often the ones we love the most are the ones who end up hurting us.
It is also sad that so many times hurt and pain and abuse are not reported or no one intervenes
I also think that as a nation, our civil discourse has fallen by the wayside.
But it is good to shout this from the rooftops and just keep on shouting!