Intervention

If you're not familiar with the process, there is an old custom in support groups where,when a person has simply gone too far in a self destrutive direction but doesn't recognize it themselves, a group of friends will perform an intervention. That's where they gather together and essentially ambush the person and confront them with how badly they are messing up their lives and the effect it is having on their freinds and family.

This is most typically done for people with sever drug or alcohol dependencies, but it has also been done for victims of spousal or domestic abuse. Some people who are being abused terribly seem to either not know it, or don't see any way out of it, so they just remain in the abusive household.

Over at 12th Harmonic, Gail has written a long distance intervention for America, urging her to get out of the abusive relationship she is stuck in with "George." I want to share a couple of small portions from this wonderful letter just to encourage you to follow the link and read the entire thing.

Dear America

As a friend of the family I can’t sit back and watch you do this to yourself without saying something. Consider this a long distance intervention.

Your man is no good. He treats you like crap, lies to you, abuses you, bullies you, exploits you, takes your money. As a friend I want to tell you that you deserve better. You deserve a person that treats you with respect, cares about your welfare, and your children’s welfare, but that’s not George and it never will be.

...

He is selling out your family business, if you let him continue like this how are you going to live? How are you going to feed your children, what happens if you get ill? Everything he has ever touched has turned to shit, he puts any idiot that’ll kiss his ass into positions of power and New Orleans is the result. Kick him out America! Do it today! I know it feels like you would be leaping into a void, but I promise you, you will be leaping out of one. Your friends will come back as soon as they see you are back to your old self, they really miss you. I know that less than 36% of your heart is still in it. Go with the 67% of you, that 36% is just that vestigial, primitive part of the brain that clings to the familiar no matter how badly the familiar sucks.