The Gift Writers Can Offer by Blair Corbett
People ask what led me to start a
nonprofit ministry focused on helping young and old survivors of human
trafficking and child abuse. The answers lie within the blessings of my wife’s
and my difficult childhoods. Between the two of us we have childhood histories
of arguably every form of child abuse, neglect, chronic illness, bullying and
death of family members. It was the passion for stopping
those trends burned into us as individuals by our childhood histories that
would draw us together far too many years later.
Those painful moments in my life were
enough for me to tell myself as a pre-teen boy that I would never forget the
feelings I felt from the emotional pain these caused me even though mine were
not as extreme as many. Even as a youth without positive help over the deepest
issues, I sensed I could somehow turn it all around for good as long as I would
remember how badly the aloneness and emptiness felt.
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| Courtesy Ark of Hope |
Although my wife and I never knew each
other until our late forties, our childhoods were wrapped in similarities. Both
of us were saddled with deaths of a parent at a very young age. In her case it
led to extreme neglect and emotional abuse brought on by alcohol abuse by the
surviving parent. By our teen years both of us were struggling to fight through
our own messes brought on by others.
I realized what was lacking in my life
due to the caring of a new step-father who stepped in during my early teens.
For the first time I was slowly being encouraged and empowered by an adult male
role model. He may have been far from perfect in the eyes of siblings but he is
the first that taught me that I was worth being cared about in a truly healthy
way. He died when I was eighteen.
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| Courtesy Ark of Hope |
Once that pain ebbed, I chose to dedicate
my life to what he did for me. Later a friend led me to faith as a Christian
once I moved myself past being angry at God for allowing things to happen to me
as a kid.
A burning compassion led me to reach out
to possibly-abused young people before the pain of their circumstances caused
them to end things all too early. I chose to turn my pain around by teaching
myself how to recognize kids who also seemed to be suffering as I had been. I
chose to help them find a true light of hope that could burn within them even
if I was only in their lives for a short time as my step-dad had been.
I came to learn that there were also
adults in pain that thought they could bury the pain of their abusive past. I
also came to learn that this was all much too large for me alone. Fortunately
my second wife shared my passion to help others before they allowed
victimization to destroy their young lives.
As we help others through the rather
cutting edge works of our small nonprofit we seek ways to spread the infection
of compassion for those victimized as children to adults globally. Why are we
all leaning on socialized systems of care when we all probably could interact
with these people in some way every week of our lives? We cannot lean on an
over-burdened government run system of care when those bent on using young
people for their sadistic or sexual pleasure are lurking around every corner,
and in arguably every chat room. And these abusers are beating us at every turn
because there are too few adults who will step out, step in and try to reach
victims even before they become one.
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| Courtesy Ark of Hope |
As an aspiring author yearning to someday
pen my many thoughts on the subject of victimized youth I challenge other
authors. If you write fiction you have a great opportunity to reach minds that
are yearning to escape in a healthy way; through a book. Does their escape
always have to come at the hands of a young magician who can battle evil using
spells? Does a sense of vindication have to come through stories that teach the
message of an eye for an eye, no matter how appealing that may be for a
victimized person?
I believe our stories can encourage
victimized youth by means of every day person’s like myself. I believe we can
empower average older youth and adults to step up and step in for that one
person they recognize as being in need in a truly healthy way.
I know other survivors with their own
histories of abuse as children are questioning whether they can use their past
to change someone else’s future. You can! And let’s mobilize an army of
compassion that can work towards beating the abuser to their next victim!
Earlier I spoke of the blessings of my
difficult childhood. I have come to more than embrace it, but am thankful for
it because without that I never would have become who I am today. I probably
would have been the average guy seeking to control the corporate ladder that
everyone else had to climb. But with remembering the feelings of the past,
without holding on to the pain it caused, I have been able to become an
overcomer that leads others to overcome themselves.
We need more stories like that. We need
stories of survivors that step up for others without the story having to end up
in vengeance, shed blood, or a life filled with over run sexual desire that
never heals the survivor. Stories that empower the victim and inspire the older
survivor in down to earth achievable ways can make such a difference without
them feeling like they can’t do it because they don’t feel like they can be
that super person they so often read about. I love to read stories like that!
Blair suggests watching these 2 videos. The first is a very powerful one on human trafficking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6W3tDdAkIE The second one is about Blair's Removing Chains Survivor Support Site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8AopdqHJSE
Blair's Ah-hahs To Tweet:
Does #ChildAbuse, #HumanTrafficking,
& #Bullying turn you sour? See what Blair Corbett is doing. (Tweet This)
Everyone has a story: Blair Corbett
shares “the blessings of my difficult childhood.”
(Tweet This)
Check out Blair Corbett’s, of ArkOfHope
@abusedkids, big request for writers. (Tweet This)
Author's Bio:
Blair Corbett uses his own negative childhood
experiences and his faith to transform the lives of victimized children, as
well as adults abused as children. His
nonprofit, Ark of Hope for Children, is a faith-based human rights
organization that provides support and increases awareness for survivors
of child trafficking, all forms of child abuse and bullying.
Their live chat survivor support site
called Removing Chains focuses on
life transformation through impassioned listeners and connecting survivors with
local professional support. Fifteen text chat rooms provide group or private
support through volunteer Listeners, Mentors and other survivors. The focused
chat rooms serve young and adult survivors of child abuse, rooms for female or
male survivors, child trafficking, ritual and religious abuse and more.
Through Ark of
Hope’s Harbourage Transitional Living Center of north central Florida they
provide emergency short-term care for rescued victims of human trafficking. Also
in the works on a national scale is their UnChained Project to bring localized
support and awareness to child abuse, trafficking and bullying survivors in the
communities where they live.
Blair was ordained in 2008 under the
non-denominational umbrella of Faith Family Harvest International as a Pastoral
missionary to abused children, not as a traditional teaching pastor. He has
received a Bachelor of Christian Counseling degree from DaySpring Christian
University; and an Honorary Doctorate of Ministry from Trinity Theological
Seminary of South Florida. Blair and wife Verna have
ten adult children, including five adopted from foster care, most of which are
special needs.
Places to connect with Blair:
