I thought this was a very powerful essay. I did not read it so much for the creative content or his advice to writers but merely for what he had to say; and it was a lot. Sam Hamill was raw in his writing; to the point, and open about subjects that most people will not even allow themselves to think about, let alone put down in carbon form. Not only was Hamill crude in the thoughts he conveyed, but he was also graceful in the way he articulated them.
My boyfriend is a psychiatrist major focusing on family systems. One class he took primarily focused on family trends such as physical abuse. This, and others, are issues that Hamill addresses, “The battered child will grow into the child batterer”. (Hamill 547) He addresses the larger issue that allows for so much abuse to go on inside the home and even in public in the following paragraph.
We lend a helping hand to the mugger when we don’t educate our children (of both sexes) about self-defense; we lend a hand to the rapist when we don’t readily discuss rape. Our silence grants permission to the child molester. Because we have not learned to name things properly, the batterer beats his child or lover in public, and we stand to one side, crippled inside, fearful and guilty. (Hamill 553)
I image Hamill being a very strong political activist, or at least someone that I would listen to and join. But what makes him strong to me would turn off most others. His willingness and boldness to speak what we all fear hearing is strength in my eyes and shows the commitment of someone who knows that change Must happen in order for our survival. Even at times while I read this, I grit my teeth, knowing that he is calling me out on my own faults. As a child, I was spanked when I would misbehave. I still remember the belt my father would pull off; it was black leather, with a fake gold Mickey Mouse buckle. For years, I have said that when I have children, they will also be spanked for being naughty even though I have my own doubts as to the effectiveness of this form of punishment. Does the child really learn what is right and what is wrong? Or do they simply learn how to not get caught and to not seek their parents for advice if they think that they might be doing something wrong? I do believe that by spanking a child you lose the ability to communicate with them.
In the last few years, laws have changed about what is considered abuse in the home, and it is no longer acceptable in the eyes of most to spank children. This change in mentality is long over-due, as is how we see and portray homosexuality. In high school, there was a group called the Addison County Militia (ACM). Their reason for existing was to weed out all “gays” and anyone who supported them. This meant that they targeted the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) and anyone involve. As you can imagine, a place that was supposed to be a safe haven turned into a place of even more fear. When one of the teachers who was running the group began to speak out against the ACM, they retaliated. Her house was egged and her car windows all shattered. She received threats and the local officials did nothing. You might be thinking, “This must have been in The South” but it wasn’t. This was Vermont; a place long known for their large homosexual population. As was done for domestic violence for years, everyone, including myself, turned a blind eye; hoping that you would not be the next target. We “refused to make a personal issue of the problem” (Hamill 553).
Sam Hamill published this essay nearly twenty years ago and yet the issues he presented are still relevant today and will be for all time. He presented countless issues in this paper that should have been seriously addressed by our nation years ago, but as he said, we stay silent “to protect our own beloved innocence” (Hamill 550). And I am as guilty as the next person.
Hamill, Sam. "The Necessity to Speak." A Poet's Work: the Other Side of Poetry. Seattle, WA: Broken Moon, 1990. 546-53. Print.
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