Today on Fathers Day I was honored to watch my daughter-in-law receive her Masters from De Paul University. One of the key note speakers was David Simon the author of “Homicide: A year on the Killing Streets(1991) and most recently the creator,executive producer and head writer of the HBO series ” The Wire.” His speech was down to earth, powerful and on target for our current political climate. It also brought home the point of the importance of ANGER. As he was referring to an individual living In Louisiana, and this persons ability to voice his own anger at the poor inadequate response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Not the selfish anger that is so often attributed to this helpful emotion but appropriate anger for the RIGHT reasons. Some may call it passion others anger, never the less we need to get in touch with that fire in our belly, a CAUSE, a reason to move forward and a reason to elicit change. In my book, “Above His Shoulders” this emotion, this cause, this fire in the belly is what moved me forward, propelling me to help others who fell to similar circumstances. In the end one can call it anger or call it passion, it is what many of us need to get in touch with, not just for yourself but for our country, our planet and our move forward.

Today I turned fifty one, an appropriate  time to begin my blog. I am a novice at this and will do my best to bring you along on my journey. A few years ago a coworker in a sarcastic manner stated, “Hey Williams, you and your psychobabble, well you must have been sexually abused as a child?”. Without missing a beat in front of a nursing crew, I firmly stated “In fact I was”. He stopped in his tracks, face flushed while heads turned. No other comments were made.

I was very comfortable in my own skin, confident after all the personal work I had done to resolve the pain. Never, absolutely never do I wear my past on my sleeve. No one knew and I had never disclosed my past to my coworkers. There is a time and place for disclosure and I had decided that time is NOW. “Above His Shoulders” is written and now in the final editing stages.

During the last few weeks others have read unedited versions, their comments and reactions have been cascading. Some shocked, others silent, some minimize the fact that I was abused. All of their reactions are ok, individuals need to react however they personally need to react.

I will keep you updated along the way about their reactions and my responses. A mini study if you will looking at fallout, negative and positive, from writing such a self disclosing book. I hope you join in on the blog, it should be an interesting journey for all of us.