MK forum

What do you think of this quote by Martin Luther King Jr.?

“We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall match your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. Throw us in jail, and we shall still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you. But be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall win freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory shall be a double victory.” (from Strength to Love)

I am so longing to see a double victory. Keep on keeping on, all you brave people who are standing up and speaking up for what is right. Praying for your “soul force” today.

LIKE!!!!

That is very moving, indeed.

I am deeply touched in particular by this part:

"There is nothing like that (police officers) as an MK. There is no where to run. There is no one to care. There is no one to hear. There is truly absolutely no avenue of hope or help."

I think there are very few people who really, truly grasp this feeling. This includes people in NTM who wonder why some MK abuse survivors are so shattered by their experiences. Maybe these sentences written by Learning To Be a Survivor will help to clarify the feelings of isolation, hopelessness and helplessness that were a part of the childhood of some MKs. This is tragic trauma, of a depth that is quite unmeasurable.

It is immeasurable and----to some---unbearable.
I am shattered. Reading this post
Of course, makes me think of our kids,
The MKs.
Each one felt this to some degree.
Each one to a different depth.
Help me understand!
It does help me--But
I want to block out the depth of the downside of our life
Too.
Is that where I have to go to understand?
Do I have that much courage?
These are new words
Explaining an old concept.
Words that shatter the way I had thought about it
Before.

Thank you for copying this post from RNS, Bemused, written by Learning to Be a Survivor.

(http://boz.religionnews.com/2014/07/11/ ... sion-help/)

Perhaps this articulate, heartrending post also helps shed some light on the issue Paul Syson brought up recently, which is the fact that most of the writing here on Fanda Eagles is done by just a few people, and almost all of the 400 Forum members have gone silent.

Many of these 400 are NTM MKs, and many have in the past written some very passionate posts about their memories, their abuse, and their frustration.

I suspect that a lot of the silent ones can relate to the things written by Learning to Be a Survivor. It is so painful to remember, and when the retelling doesn't seem to have an impact on those with the power to do something about it, those old familiar feelings of helplessness and hopelessness easily take hold once again.

Many MK abuse survivors are adults in their 30s and 40s who are very busy just trying to hold their current lives together. Many have small children, are trying to keep the bills paid, and hoping not to neglect their loved ones in the way they themselves were neglected. Others go through cycles of despair, addiction, relationship struggles, and physical or emotional health concerns. It is all some MKs can do just to hold their fragile psyches together, let alone stay connected with other MKs who are in pain, and keep thinking, writing and crying over heartbreaking memories that feel like nightmares from a fuzzy past.

The silence does not surprise me. I get it.

But silence does not mean they aren't out there. Some are still reading. Some are not.

The fact remains that there are thousands of adults whose parents were members of New Tribes Mission, who as children and adolescents experienced varying levels of trauma, abuse, abandonment and neglect.

I know they are there.

And so does NTM.

It felt very bad to me, being in a place where no one understood my language . . .i arrived on the mission field just shy of 11. I heard over and over how we kids would just "pick it up." But what I couldn't figure out was, how was I going to pick it up when everybody laughed at anything I tried to say? The worst thing in the world for me was being teased, or laughed at . . .so I refused to learn, as much as a quiet outwardly compliant girl could . . .even if I understood, I pretended like I couldn't . . .i smiled vaguely, I drew and rolled my eyes at my Portuguese teacher. My parents asked a young single female missionary to tutor me--I was so humiliated by this distinction that I tried sullenness out on her, and asked what the words for "divorce" and "broken family" were--they were the worst words my evil little mind could come up with . . .

I never would have learned except for a motherly Brazilian teenager at our church who shared her life with me, and helped me see myself as a separate and valuable human being. I felt safe with her . . .ironic, isn't it? We were supposed to be there to help them . . .what I felt from the Brazilians was love and understanding . . .from MK's and missionaries I felt judgement and ridicule.

Memories can be rotten.

If it's any consolation my Portugas is terrible, my Spinach isn't much beater and as for my Englosh, well I spit that reasonably fluidly.

Seriously though, a learned friend was mentioning the topsey turvey way life has turned out this morning. Sometimes those who we do not expect to impact on our lives, do so in ways we least expect.