The brutes are in charge.
It doesn’t matter if you lock up your daughters.
The beasts will break down the door and barge their way in.
They will snatch them from you and steal their innocence.
When they enter, love leaves the building.
Everything that matters was left long ago, far away back home.
But here they see no homes. Just targets.
They can’t feel the warmth, the history, the life stories.
No patience to discover the passions and talents of strangers in a strange land.
Different sights, smells and sounds blind them to the shared humanity.
Without connection, there is no protection from our darkest instincts.
All they leave behind is terror, trauma, tragedy.
We must raise our sons closer to us, with more gentleness,
So their hearts beat closer to the surface,
And they feel them breaking the moment they spy fear in the girls’ eyes;
And with more courage too,
So they can be the hero that says no.