#WhyIStayed

 As I was scrolling through the website I came across a hashtag that really stood out to me.  #WhyIStayed is used by women that have encountered some form of domestic violence and used it to explain their reasons for staying with the man that caused them so much pain and humiliation.  It was brought into publicity after the Ray Rice incident broke news and gave women more confidence to take to social media about their similar problems.  There are a couple things that this hashtag can teach us about writing.  One would be that writing is a way of someone protecting their image.  When women stay with a man that has abused them, it makes the woman look weak and the man more powerful.  But contrary to this there are some valid reasons as to why some of these women stayed for as long as they did before they eventually took off.  For example, one woman stated that she stayed for months not out of fear, but because she needed time to get together enough money, set up a place to stay when she left, and buy a bus ticket to get to that place.  I believe that this hashtag can also teach us about how writing can help us feel sympathy for people who are in terrible situations.  When I read some of these posts with this hashtag I couldn't help but to just feel sorry for what these women  had to go through.  There is no excuse for what they went through and it is actually quite amazing that they were able to stay so calm during this time in their lives.  While I felt sympathy I also felt inspired at the same time due to the courage that some of these women showed to leave someone that they thought they could trust and love to start over.  It definitely must have been a little scary starting all over but I applaud these brave women for having the courage to do it.