The night of Oct. 27, 2010 was taken back. It was taken back with speakers, candle lights, chants, marching feet in flip-flops, tears and a dimly lit stage.
The Rogers Chapel stage hosted a full spectrum of human emotions, as speakers unpacked stories pregnant with guilt, pain, terror, and shame along with hope, freedom, courage, forgiveness and love.
Inspired and awed by the healing effects of sharing I found myself transformed into a stage, figuratively that is, as a new friend whispered her well kept story to me.
The courage embedded in her voice demonstrated the strength of her character, which she did not allow to get overshadowed by an act of violence. After the event, as I carried her backpack for her, I hoped that I also carried a small portion of her pain.
Her backpack was surprisingly heavy and almost threw me off balance, but it made me realize that we all carry our own stuffed metaphorical bags filled with a range of life experiences. It would be wonderfully refreshing if someone offered to carry it for us every once in a while.
At the end of the night, I found myself on a mission to offer carrying as many backpacks as my scoliosis allows me to.
Take Back the Night did not end for me, when I said goodnight to my friend and it shouldn’t end for anyone with the event.
We, Loyola students, must allow for such specified moments on our calendars to leak through the pages, in order for us to take back every single night next week, next month and even next year.
We can take back many more nights by actively fighting against gender based violence in our community, city, country and beyond.
It is up to us to translate symbolism into action, so that our loved ones won’t become sexual violence statistics, so that they won’t have to tolerate second victimization through blame and so that we can put an end to gender based violence.
Samanéh Khoshini is a psychology sophomore. She can be reached at [email protected]
In My Opinion is a column open to any Loyola student. Those interested can contact [email protected]
