After lunch, I walked in, threw my purse on top of the chair, and then threw my coat on top of my purse. Later that afternoon, I grabbed some cash for supper and then covered my purse back up with my coat. After supper, I went with my colleagues to our small group confirmation guide meeting.

Afterwards, I walked back to my office. I lifted up my coat and immediately I was overcome with panic. Where did I put my purse? Wasn’t it just here an hour ago? Two of my colleagues and I franticly looked for my purse. NOTHING! Absolutely nothing.

I called the police to report my stolen items. I called to put a stop on my debit and credit cards. The voice on the other end of the line asked, “Did you just spend over $400 at Walmart?” “No,” I answered. The banker quickly made sure everything was taken care of for me. I hung up the phone with my bank and waited for the police officer to arrive.

After waiting, for what seemed like forever, the police officer finally arrived. He wrote down my statement. After he left, I returned to my house. I poured myself a glass of wine. After enjoying my glass of wine, I decided to go to sleep. Throughout the night, any time I heard a strange noise, I would fly out of my bed and look out the window to see what was happening. Since these individuals now had my address, I was filled with fear and felt extremely violated.

Have you ever felt violated? It is a feeling that one cannot shake easily. In fact, any little thing can set off the panic meter. For me, this instance was a small instance of being violated. Yet there are individuals who are violated every day which literally makes me sick and breaks my heart. How can we let this happen? What can we do to help make sure this doesn’t happen to someone else?

The truth is that we must do something! We must not be complacent when we see violations happening to God’s beloved children. We cannot let these instances of violation happen again and again. We must do our very best to “love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” We must stand up for justice, mercy and kindness. We must not let evil and hatred be the final answer instead we must work together to make sure that goodness, kindness, mercy and God’s love ultimately win!