Friday, November 22, 2013

Invisible Handcuffs



Enslaved Women Held by Invisible Handcuffs --so said the headline in the morning paper. I don't know if it's usual for commanders from Scotland Yard to employ metaphor. 

I've found it hard to let go of this image. And hard to hold on to the very idea that three adult women could be so emotionally abused that they remained captive  for 30 years. No sexual abuse, no trafficking....just "invisible handcuffs."

Police spent 12 hours collecting evidence from the house -- 55 bags have been collected, amounting to some 2,500 evidence exhibits.

And then one day one of the women finds the strength or the desperation or inspiration to make a phone call.

We are all bound by the invisible. Held to this spinning planet by forces we cannot see. Held together by bodily structures that most of us have only an inkling of. Hold is the word we employ for seeking a standard. Bound is the word we use to describe our striving for honor. Ties for the way we feel inextricably connected to family and friends. 

We can be tied to the train tracks like a helpless and hapless heroine. 

Every day there are questions of when to hold on and when to let go. Little things.Big things. Barely fathomable things.

The newspaper blows my mind every single day. For another blog post  on a similar page, go HERE.

photo credit: inspired23.blogspot.com