It's a sketchy commercial created and designed to illustrate the gravity of a growing crime. It causes the viewer to take a look at this concept of theft from a different perspective. Theft, as we all know, is the action or crime of stealing, and stealing is defined as taking another person's property without the permission, legal right, or intention of returning it. With this in mind, what is the most valuable piece of personal property that can be stolen? A car? Handbag? Television? Pirated Media?
The answer, in my personal opinion, is life. As it states in the Declaration of Independence, our first and foremost inalienable right is the right to life, but the action of taking a person's life falls under the category of murder, not theft. However, the action of stealing one's life, in reference to their daily routines and aspirations, all the while leaving their breath, cognitive activity, and heartbeat untouched, falls under the category of rape: the most horrific embodiment of theft. It is the only physical form of theft that can rob you of your life without physically taking your life, in most cases. Envision someone forced his or herself into your body, yet when they leave, they also take your hopes, your dreams, and your sanity with them, never to be fully pursued again. Imagine being so terrified of your body that you simply wanted to take it off like a piece of clothing because no matter how hard you scrubbed in the shower or how much makeup you applied in the mirror, you could still only see the body that had been seized and destroyed without your consent.
Rape is the murder of the soul. Its physical penetration permanently removes the moral compass of the victim. It is the highest form of identity theft, except in this case the identity is not stolen and used, it is stolen and obliterated. The reality of the victim becomes distorted. It is no longer black and white but merely a dull gray. Not only do they see themselves as gray, but they see others as gray too. How can any human be trusted after one or more have physically ripped your soul from your body? The word victim has been tattooed on what's left of your life. The mind acknowledges what has happened to the body, and it cowers in fear. The body illustrates a glimpse of the external abuse, but like the tip of an iceberg, it does not even come close to resembling the internal abuse. The body and mind go back and forth, but the soul is absent, unable to bring reason and comfort to this new perspective on life. What is left? Eternal chaos. All because someone selfishly reached inside you, grabbed your life, and threw it away, for mere moments of sexual gratification.
No one experiences or even understands this loss of property, let alone the weight bestowed upon it, other than victims. The public's, and even the closest family and friends', memory of the robbery may slowly fade away with time, but just as the victim of the Stanford Rape articulated: "What he did to me doesn't expire, doesn't just go away after a set number of years. It stays with me, it's part of my identity, it has forever changed the way I carry myself, the way I live the rest of my life."
What can be done? Can she, and so many others, be comforted? Will their property ever be restored? Is their hope?
A stolen car can be returned, just like a handbag, television, or media file, but life is irreplaceable. When an attempt on someone's life and/or livelihood is made, the aftermath is tragic, but the horror lies in the fact that a rapist steals one's entire life, not solely their innocence or virginity, in a matter of moments and leaves them in utter despair crying for help for someone to save them from their own life.
This is an attempt to describe their reality, a very dark reality, but these words will never be an adequate enough description. They need our help, but we can't give it. We want to help them, but they can't receive it. This is our reality, our dark reality.
