Twenty-five to 40 children die each year in the state as a result of abuse. Almost all criminals
report having been abused as a child. More than 100,000 children are reported to authorities
each year in our state. Parents who were abused are six times more likely to abuse their own
kids.  Abuse and neglect do not discriminate by social, economic or ethnic backgrounds.

Facts are presented on the website: www.preventchildabusenc.org especially startling
coming from a civilization nation.

It boggles my mind that we are rebuilding countries like Afghanistan and Iraq yet have such
inadequate training and funding to correct a growing concern for many right here in our
own backyard.

 We have a moral responsibility to our fellow man and all God's creatures to communicate and
educate the public that live within our society of these troubling facts. 

On another note and just a tragic subject the Humane Society of the United States the rising
concerns with animal cruelty incidents. Their homepage states the following statistics about this
subject: 94% of intentional animal cruelty incidents were committed by males, 31% of animal cruelty
were committed by perpetrators age 18 and younger ( 4% were under age of 12 years old), 21%
animal cruelty cases also involved Family Violence. For this reason animal cruelty awareness
month is usually held in the months that bring awareness to domestic violence and/or child
abuse prevention awareness month. 

Many believe now that those who start off abusing animals eventually progress to humans. This
is why it is so vitally important to bring these subjects to light. Take the first step, stomp
out child abuse and animal cruelty, so we can all do our part to Stop the Violence Everywhere. We
can do this through events within our community and supporting such causes.