If a terrorist walked down the streets of our country killing citizens,  there is no doubt that heaven and earth would be moved to stop him.  TV and radio stations would be giving up-to-the-minute coverage and every newspaper would be blaring headlines concerned with the crisis.
    Yet violence is perpetrated upon a portion of our population every day and, for the most part, it is treated with silence.  Every day in the United States of America, someone’s daughter, wife, mother, sister goes missing or is found dead.  Every day women are kidnapped, assaulted, beaten, raped and murdered.  Every day!
    Locally, the media will remark on a particular situation if the violence is extreme enough that a woman is killed, or if a child is missing.  But this is short-lived.  Other citizens of the area shake their heads, talk about how horrible it is, and go on.  Victims and family members must learn to cope with lives that have been shredded by violence, and all around them the people they know go on.
    I believe that if there was nothing we could do to prevent this, I would also shake my head and go on.  The fact that there are things we can do to prevent this tragedy, however, compels me to dig a line in the sand and refuse to go on as if we were all helpless in the face of it.
    We learn to drive a car in order to avoid crashing it.  We learn to take care of our food to avoid food poisoning.  We exercise and eat healthy to avoid heart attacks.  We believe that those things can happen to us and we take steps to prevent it.
    Women can learn to protect themselves.  They can take 4 hours out of their lives and acquire the skills to 1) not look like victims and avoid situations that are dangerous 2) thwart attacks with body language and verbal boundary setting and 3) be able to handle a physical attack should one be inevitable.  4 hours.  4 hours and daughters can go to college without parents worrying about them all the time.  4 hours and wives can go to the grocery store, to work, on business trips and consultations without husbands wondering if they will see them that night.  4 hours and a mother can go to an evening church services  and avoid being mugged.  It doesn’t seem like a long time, but how many female citizens in this country will actually sign up for an EZ Defense for Women workshop and go spend those 4 hours learning to protect themselves and their loved ones?
    Does learning to drive a car or handle food properly mean it will be impossible to have an accident or come down with food poisoning?  Does eating right and exercising guarantee you’ll never have a heart attack?  No, of course not.  Does it mean you will greatly reduce the chances that these things can happen?  Of course it does.  Does taking an EZ Defense course mean it will be impossible for you to be attacked?  No, but it does mean that you have reduced the likelihood of it happening so that it balances out in your favor.
    Ignorance is not bliss.  We can no longer hide our heads in the sand and pretend that these things don’t happen to women like us.  They can, and they do.  The fact that women don’t do things for themselves is no excuse.  If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for those people who will miss you, mourn you, have to get along without you or who will be subject the changed person you will be if you survive an attack!
    Decide for yourself what your family is going to do without you.  Decide for yourself what example you set for your daughter.  Decide for yourself how willing you are for your daughter to go out unprotected in the world!  Decide, and come down on the side of common sense.  Go out and find an EZ Defense for Women.  Spend four hours learning the skills that will stay with you, automatically, for a lifetime.  Stop the terrorism by acknowledging that you are responsible for your own safety and that you are unwilling to be victimized!