“Me too” her little voice spoke as loud as she could.  “Me too” she chanted as if it was a prayer stumbling over the words as she got more and more excited. Getting caught up in the excitement of Friday treat time.  Excitedly eyeing the unseen shapes in the brown paper bag Daddy religiously brought home week after week, month after month and year after year come hail rain or snow.  “Me too” was uttered without knowing what the words would mean as an adult because at that moment captured in time meant that she also wanted her treat of a walnut whirl wrapped in its blue slippy paper.

Oh, the excitement every Friday of debating with herself which way to eat this treat today.  Will the Walnut on the top be removed and eaten first or kept for later after eating the thick creamy chocolate and the white fluffy filling inside or should the nut be eaten first to be mixed in the childish mouth with chocolate and creamy filling?

“Me too” as she stepped in dancing excitement as Daddy gave Mammy her apples and then handed out the treats to the two girls.  “Me too” as she reached for her Friday treat not knowing the significance that these two small words would have in her life as a mature adult.

#METOO stood out in bold print and its significance hit me like a ton of bricks because now these words were no longer my childish chant but a hashtag on Twitter.  The “Me Too” of my childhood a distant memory to be always cherished but washed away by the significance of #MeToo.  As I read each tweet and FB status I was dragged back down a dark hole of memories which had lain buried under happy memories.  I guess this was a trigger point again.   Slowly my list of #MeToo grew before my eyes and as it grew my determination not to be ashamed or hid my past grew.  Only good will prevail over all this evil.

#MeToo.

Abuse, harassment call it what you like has to be abolished from our race the human race because it’s grossly inhuman to mistreat others.   Future generations deserve to know that they can feel safe everywhere without fear of that childish shout of “Me Too” turning in to the adult hashtag #MeToo.

One thing I could write in concrete is that I would never have gotten where I am today without the wonderful work of everyone at the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and of Women’s Aid.

Speaking From Experience And My Heart

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