There have been long standing arguments over whether reports of domestic and intimate partner abuse increase after the Super Bowl game. There have also been studies that looked specifically at upsets, or unexpected losses, to see if the domestic abuse hotlines in the losing team’s city experienced an increase in calls. These arguments and studies have attempted to prove one of two points: Football, one of the most violent games in the world, does not or does give rise to violence, specifically domestic violence. The Baltimore Ravens did not discuss any of these reports or studies when they promptly dismissed Ray Rice for the knockout blow to his then fiancée, Janay Palmer, in an elevator in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The Minnesota Vikings approached the child abuse charges leveled against Adrian Peterson by deactivating him in week 2, then reactivating him in week 3. Minnesota believes the case to be a matter for the legal system, and stated they will make a decision about what to do with Peterson after the legal system concluded their investigation. Photos of the children showed cuts on the legs of one, and head and eye cuts on the other. Many fans believe the NFL should have zero tolerance for child and domestic abusers and are calling for Peterson’s dismissal from the team.
None of us consciously supports abuse, but almost all of us support it unconsciously. When cases are singled out and sensationalized by the media, garnering our energy and focus, like the cases of Rice and Peterson, we need to ask ourselves: “Is this just an example of the manner in which we pass the days of our lives on this planet?”
The answer is an emphatic yes! Since we are well on the path to becoming an enlightened earth community, we have the right and the responsibility to begin to question the age old separation perspectives that are spoon fed to us, not just from the media, but from so-called experts, political authorities, government officials, teachers, family members, and most of all from history and culture and religion. What is not being said here is that we should organize against anyone or anything, or take anyone to task. This is not a call to protest. These strategies has not worked in the past; furthermore, it’s counterintuitive and goes against the inevitable current of enlightenment that is, right now, naturally unfolding on this planet.
Enlightenment is proceeding on an individual basis. As each of us becomes aware of the old beliefs that keep us in a state of resistance to the new, we can choose to withdraw our energy and focus from those beliefs. The new energy will naturally direct our action. It may seem to many of us that this path will usher in the new earth at a snail’s pace, but all over the world, people are changing their minds and changing how they use their energy at an exponential and unprecedented rate. We are becoming aware of how the separation belief operates in our daily lives by uncovering not only the contradictions within the system, but also the blatant hypocrisy that it veils.
Many of us are well aware that the US economy thrives on cheaply made goods from China, from labor that is mainly carried out by women and children. Almost every item in Home Depot and Lowe’s is manufactured in China, as is most designer apparel. Jewelry, clothing, accessories, shoes and home goods sold in Macy’s all bear the “Made in China” label. Discount stores like Marshall’s, TJ Max, Ross- Dress for Less are retail hotbeds for goods manufactured in China.
Child labor and deplorable factory conditions produce Nike’s soccer balls. The balls are manufactured in Pakistan, where the average income for a Pakistani is roughly $1900 (USD) per year. While Pakistan has laws against child labor and slavery, there is no enforcement of the law. Child labor and slavery produce those balls. It costs Nike $16.00 to make a pair of Air Jordan’s ($2.75 for production labor) in China. The shoes retail from about $225 to $550.
Of course, there’s more: Underwear made in Sri Lanka; t-shirts….almost all manufactured by cheap child and female labor in Vietnam, Haiti, and Honduras.
We currently do not consider poverty as abuse, but 20% of American children live in poverty, in households that are headed by single women.
The US has one of the worst records of child abuse and neglect: every year there are more than 3 million reports involving 6 million children. Four to seven children are affected by neglect or abuse every day.
According to the US Surgeon General, domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women in the US. Every day, 4 women die as a result of abuse, and 3 children die from abuse. 32% of female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners.
We also do not consider domestic and child abuse taking place internationally, especially by the US military. In the invasion of Iraq, for example, 42% of the deaths caused by US air raids were children. 100 infants are dying every day in Iraq as a result of war, foreign occupation and international sanctions. Over 1 million Iraqi children under the age of 18 have lost one or both of their parents to war. All over the world, wars are being waged with weapons manufactured by the US (or some other country of one of United Nations’ permanent Security Council members), and women and children bear the brunt of the casualties.
Abuse is widespread, and we haven’t touched upon the abuse of animals or the environment. “Separating” out some cases while ignoring the reality that abuse is a “way of life” lived on this planet is the way of the separation belief. It focuses on two NFL players, while leaving 99% of the system of abuse intact. That system functions well for Nike, fashion designers, war manufacturers, slave traffickers of women and children, and big media outlets, but it doesn’t sit well for a growing enlightened community of people all over the world who have a zero tolerance for hypocrisy and a strong desire to live by a system that will operate for the highest good of all life on the planet.
