Last week in my post for Sexual Assault Awareness month, I told you that I consider myself to be the luckiest survivor I know.
I didn't realize it at first. I remember when one of my sisters told me that I was one of the luckiest people she knew. I thought to myself, "Um, does she forget that I was raped?"
The next day, a person I knew for years confided in me that she was also raped in college. A date rape that she didn't report and didn't tell her family about. She struggled for years.
Since that time I've only become more vocal as an activist and I've had so many people confide their stories to me and I realized: maybe my sister is right.
1. Though my attacker had a weapon, I was not physically injured or killed.
2. Nobody ever told me that they didn't believe me.
3. Two months after I was raped, some old friends from my Freshman year had heard what had happened and invited me out. I said yes even though they wanted to go to these awful bars that I generally avoided. While we were at one of them, I saw my attacker.
4. Though he also saw me and took off, he was apprehended later that night. He also eventually plead guilty and was imprisoned.
5. My support system was and is amazing. I couldn't feel as strong, safe and confident as I do now without them. I couldn't have such a happy life filled with love and I don't think I could help other people the way I do if I didn't have the loving family and friends that I do.
Each individual thing that I've listed here is probably only true for a very small percentage. So how did I get to experience all five of them?? I'll never know how I got to be the luckiest survivor I know but I will continue to show my gratitude for it by helping as many others as I can.
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