So wrong.

Wow. I know I read a lot of books... possibly some would even call it an excessive amount... but only rarely do books affect me in such a way that I can't stop thinking about them. "The Time Travelers Wife" did this. So did the final Harry Potter. And Barbara Einrich's "Nickled and Dimed".

But right now, I am in the midst of reading "The Kindness of Strangers". It tells the story of a family that fosters the little boy of their long-time friends- who had been secretly sexually abusing him for years. It doesn't take place in the ghetto. It takes place in upper middle class suburbia. And it is shocking. I mean, I know this stuff happens; I've even been assaulted myself. Maybe that's why I can't shake this sick-to-my-stomach feeling that set in. I don't know. It's so wrong to do that to a child.

So, on my way to work, I saw this little girl waiting at her bus stop and all I could think was that one in every six AMERICAN women are sexually assaulted some time in their lives. What are the chances that she will remain unscathed? One in six. And that's only to say that she hasn't been already assaulted. Fifty-nine percent of assaults are never even reported. Especially those of children.

I would recommend this book to anyone... it is incredibly moving and I think that it disrupts the perfect bubble of safety that we surround ourselves with. Which is good. But be warned, it isn't for the faint of heart. People persevere, but it is tough to think that a child would even have to.