LJ Herman is a former editor at Love What Matters and lives in Colorado. LJ is a concert, ticket and technology enthusiast. He has seen the Dave Mathews Band over one hundred times and counting.
‘A driver speeding down the highway at 85+ mph in the wrong lane destroyed my family.’: Man loses wife, daughter to drunk driver
“Look at the devastation left behind that is my family and tell me it isn’t time for change. Imagine if this was your family…”
‘When I got there I saw the saddest bracelet on my grandma’s fragile, bruised wrist. A purple band that said ‘DNR/DNI.’ I couldn’t hold it in anymore. The tears were now streaming.’
“I knew this was bad, I felt like that same 15-year-old girl having to make the decision whether or not to let my mom live.”
‘Maybe, just maybe, if you wait it out and let your child recover before taking them out, you will protect a child that has been through hell and back. Just wait until the cold is over. I beg of you.’
“That’s when she walked up. A darling little girl who wanted to play with Jude. My heart melted as he looked up and smiled at her. In that moment, she let out the wettest, most mucous-y sounding cough right in his face. I was horrified.”
‘I was 10 years old when my ongoing sexual abuse at the hands of a male relative finally ended. My abuse ended not because I spoke up, but because my abuser was caught abusing another little girl.’
“I don’t recall the specific tactics my molester used to ensure I wouldn’t talk. Only that they worked for years.”
‘Wait, really?’ As he started to cry, he says, ‘Why?’ He walked over to my guitar case and he took 1 single dollar, not all of it, just ONE DOLLAR.
“He says, ‘Is it okay if Michael and I distribute the money evenly between other homeless veterans we know?’ I asked, ‘You all are veterans?’”
This never-ending list of how women protect themselves against sexual assault proves WHY women are so angry
“I draw a line down the middle of a chalkboard, sketching a male symbol on one side and a female symbol on the other. Then I ask just the men: What steps do you guys take, on a daily basis, to prevent yourselves from being sexually assaulted?”
Dear Society: Teen Moms Are Allowed To Celebrate Their Pregnancies
“Young moms are capable of doing great things with their lives with support and encouragement. Don’t write them off before they’ve even had a chance to prove you wrong.”
‘Sometimes being a mother is enough to unite you. ‘You grew a human?’ ‘Yeah, did you?’ ‘Yeah! Let’s drink wine!’ But sometimes, just because we are moms, it doesn’t mean we HAVE to get along.’
“This is why I feel it is important, when choosing mom friends, there’s certain qualities I look for.”
‘A male administrator told her she needed to consider guys and their hormones, yanked her out of class and threw her into In-School-Suspension.’: Mom angry over sexist school dress code
“I’m sorry but EXCUSE ME?”
‘I would love to say it was love at first sight, but in all honesty, I never thought he could be our son. I was convinced we had a long wait in front of us.’
“I was devastated. What kind of woman, what kind of wife was I if I couldn’t have a baby? My identity was completely wrapped up in all the wrong ideas.”