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None. 
An open letter to a system of 

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silence. 
You nailed truth in a coffin for

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circumstantial peace, wrapped it
in thin plastic grave clothes 

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and let the stench of rot drift.
It was a counterfeit funeral 

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that keeps abuse alive, keeps 
victims quiet to the perishing 

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comfortable and the system 
intact. 

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It wasn't your place. 
God will deal with it. 

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Confrontation is unkind, unwise,
unchristian. 

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But let's call some things out 
for what they really are. 

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A commitment to a bloodline of 
abusers, A choice to avoid the 

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cost of truth. 
A calculated silence to preserve

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the familiar. 
A relationship with a 

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manipulator is better than 
solidarity with the crushed. 

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A seat at the table of evil 
inheritance and a drink from the

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cup of compliance at the fake 
curated performance driven table

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was safer than flipping the damn
thing over like Jesus would have

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done. 
Diplomacy over honesty. 

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I once excused it too. 
I told myself quiet support was 

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enough. 
That the private acknowledgments

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had substance enough to help me 
carry the load. 

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But I've come to learn that a 
silent witness to the truth is 

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no witness at all. 
Everyone knows first hand who 

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this is. 
It predates me. 

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It's the voice of a pathology 
more insidious than cancer that 

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at least dies with the body. 
This is a curse upon which 

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generations cut their teeth. 
The sour grapes of coercion and 

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passive nods to false humility, 
clapping for borrowed 

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spirituality and the relentless 
pretending has become the 

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noxious gas of telling the truth
in secret while standing 

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publicly with the lie. 
I thought the bond we had was 

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deep enough to hold the truth. 
But it was only deep enough to 

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hold silence, watching someone 
bleed while claiming, in a 

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sense, for not wielding the 
knife, saying nothing while he 

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cleaned off the blade. 
You were complicit in the 

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violence. 
Silence is choosing the side, a 

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carefully curated piece that 
required my cooperation. 

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Today, I know this truth is not 
safe. 

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Love is not passive, and 
compassion is not enablement. 

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And I am not pretending anymore.
I won't be part of hush culture.

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I won't protect social circles 
or leadership optics. 

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I won't smile through discomfort
or sanitize my story to make 

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anyone feel better about me. 
I am not bitter. 

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I'm not even angry. 
I'm living a very uncomfortable 

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truth and the spell is broken. 
So if loyalty aligns with the 

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lie, keep it. 
If peace demands my silence, I 

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revoke it. 
If comfort demands my 

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compliance, I refuse it. 
Because the culture that chose 

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to stay quiet and pacified my 
pain with the wink of a knowing 

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eye was never holy. 
Duplicity never is. 

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And I am done pretending that it
was.