Sexual Abuse of Boys No Laughing Matter

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.  Luke 17:2

 

 

I usually keep my blogs and devotionals positive, but today I am writing about something that deeply grieved me. Last Tuesday night I turned on Leno around 11:40pm to get a couple of laughs before preparing for bed. Then Leno told a joke that broke my heart instead of making me laugh. He told about the boy in Utah who had been a victim of statutory rape by two female teachers. Leno said, the boy was okay besides the fact that since the females had been arrested and taken away from him his best days are now over. Everyone laughed. I was stunned. I was stunned that everyone including Leno thought that a child being sexually molested was funny. I am no Elijah. I know I was not the only person who realized this was anything but funny. Still my heart broke for this boy and his family who are seen as anything but victims.

 

A friend explained to me the double standard. I know there is a double standard between men and women and boys and girls but I draw the line at sexual abuse. Our society does not want to recognize men and boys as victims, only perpetrators. I am a man and have seen this many times. I have never spoken out publicly when I have seen myself misrepresented, misunderstood or wronged because I am a man. Even if it is wrong, as a man I can tolerate it even if I don’t like it. However, I will not stay silent when male children become the victims of this kind of treatment. I would not dare laugh about a girl’s best days being over after being sexually molested by two male teachers and I will not laugh about a boy’s best days being over after being molested by two female teachers. We need to protect our boys! For one they are real people just like anyone else. Second, you know how on an airplane they tell you in an emergency to put your mask on before helping a child? That is because if you are not taken care of first you will not be able to breathe to care for the child. The same is true for boys. Boys are to be protectors. We raise them to protect girls and as they get older women. However if no one protects boys in our society, how will they be able to protect girls and women? Most rapists and molesters were abused themselves. That is no excuse to become an abuser. However I hope society realizes we need to protect the people whom we need protecting us.

 

My thoughts and prayers go out to the young man who was not only abused but was also the laughing stock of a primetime network show just because he was a male victim.

25 Random Things About Me (William Earnhardt)

I am writing today from the Beautiful Tampa Bay area.

25 Random Things About me

 

1. 1.     I am the same age as the Super bowl. I am 43 and it is super bowl 43 today. If I am alive to see Super bowl 100 I better get free tickets!

   2.     I am not named after my father, Bill. His name is Billy Leroy Earnhardt and my name is William DeWayne Earnhardt. I am named after my mother’s father, William and Uncle John DeWayne.

   3.     I remember sitting in church no older than 3 or 4 watching the preacher, not hoping or wanting, but knowing I would be a gospel worker one day.

   4.     I lived in Oklahoma and Texas for 38 years and never saw a tornado.

   5.     I have never touched alcohol or cigarettes or any illegal drugs.

   6.     I would rather listen to a sports game on radio than watch it on TV. Don’t ask me why.

   7.     In high school I wrote the lyrics to a prayer response song that was used in our church for several months.

   8.     I gave my first Bible study in a home in my neighborhood when I was 15. I was just going door to door. The couple visited our church later at my invitation.

   9.     I preached my first sermon when I was 15.

   10.                        I have seen three presidents in person. Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush. Interestingly I saw one before he was president. One while he was president and one after he was president. (Bush before, Nixon during, Carter after.)

   11.                        When I was a child my next door neighbor wrote a puppet skit and he and I performed the skit on a local cable TV show.

   12.                        When I was thirteen I was bragging in science class that I had never broken a bone in my body. In our next class, P.E., not forty minutes later, I broke my collar bone playing football. It was cool though, because Bob Griese, my favorite quarterback had also broken his collar bone.

   13.                        I had seen the gulf or ocean several times on family vacations as a child. In my adult life I had never been to the ocean or gulf until in 2003 I took a trip to Galveston to see the gulf just in case I never got another chance. Should have saved the trip as the next year I moved to Tampa Bay.

   14.                        When I was 12 and 13 years old my neighbor and I would walk down to Skelly Stadium where the Tulsa Roughnecks of the NASL would practice. We would kick the ball around with the players and I even got to interview one or two with my personal recorder. The soccer players were very real and personal. Now I shake my head at today’s stars wondering who do they think they are?

   15.                        I was the first person to graduate in my school. I was there the first year it went to twelve grades and my name came first in alphabetical order.

   16.                        There is an Adventist pastor who has been crossing my path all my life. His name is Jim Ferguson. When I was 7 we moved into a house down the street from his. When I was a teenager I preached at his church in Owasso, OK. Later I was a Bible Worker at another church he had just worked for in Claremore, OK. I then preached in Stillwater while he was there. In Texas he pastored the Breckenridge church right after I left being Bible Worker there. He then pastored the Weatherford, TX church right after I left being the lay pastor there. I also preached several times in the Chickasha and Southern Hills churches in Oklahoma right after he left those churches.

   17.                        When I was a kid I had a nightmare that I fell down an elevator shaft. To this day I do not step onto an elevator until I have looked down and seen the elevator floor.

   18.                        I have lived in all three states that have panhandles and only states that have panhandles. Oklahoma, Texas and Florida.

   19.                        I have had both Jeb and George for governors.

   20.                        I have been to every state West of the Mississippi except Alaska and Hawaii. I have been to every state east of the Mississippi except the extreme North east. I have also been to Canada, Mexico and Peru.

   21.                        A couple of years ago, after buying a brand new car, I woke up at 3am. After realizing what time it was and that I was awake, I jumped in my new car and headed for the East Coast where I watched the sunrise, had breakfast at McDonalds and then drove back to Tampa to work. Later in the evening I drove to Clearwater where I watched the sunset on the west coast. That was one of the most spontaneous things I ever did until last December when on the spur of the moment I drove to Louisiana to golf the next day with a friend.

   22.                        I love photography, golfing, kayaking and biking. Four things I never really did until I moved to Florida.

   23.                        I love being single. I have several married friends and have never felt like a third wheel. I think the term third wheel was invented by a married person who did not like single people. I have friends from every marital or single status, race, gender, age and religion. I simply love people no matter who they are. If a Red Sox fan showed up at my door wanting water I would not turn him away.

   24.                         Out of all the titles and positions I have had in life, being my nieces’ uncle is the one I am most proud of. I think they are proud of me too. J

   25.                        In the 80s I loved the show Unsolved Mysteries. None of my friends really like it so every Wednesday night I would come home from prayer meeting, get a cherry coke and watch the show by myself. It may sound corny but it became what I called, “my special all by myself time.” To this day, while I love and treasure all of my friends and family I have always made sure I also have a “special all by myself time.”