A Victory Over Victimization

A Victory Over Victimization The True Story of Lotus Riché Survivor of Sexual Violence who moved from Tragedy to Triumph I am the 5-year-old little girl sitting on the steps in front of the apartment building where I lived joyfully, optimistically waiting for my father to come home from jail after a five-year stint.

After waiting all day, I went to my mother heartbroken, crying and asking my mother “Where is he?” My mother, chocking back her sadness, helped me through my own, saying, “Don’t worry, he will be here.” Believing her comforting words, I go to my room and fall fast asleep only to awake to my father calling my name and lifting me into his arms. He made it home safely after paying his dues.

I am the 6-year-old little girl who was raped by my babysitter’s grandson whose family member worked for the mafia. I was told if I spoke a word to anyone that I or my family would be killed. Sharing all of my secrets with my big sister, I swore her to secrecy. What a heavy burden she helped me to carry for 15 years.

I am the transformation strategist of my life and Transcend in the Midst of Crisis.

I am the Navy sailor who has been in two car accidents that people said, “Whoever was in that car is probably dead.” God shared a different story and spoke life over me. I am the lady that defied not being able to walk on my own to running in my purpose.

I am the transformation strategist of my life. I am born from the I Am. Though I have grappled with fear refusing to go, and questioned God about who would listen to me, he said, “Who won’t listen to you; for I am sending you?” Who am I? I am the victor over being victimized; I am the transformationist rising from the mud of trauma; I am the voice of success heard in every pending failure, I am Lotus rising because of the I Am, one with the I am, ever evolving.

In my book, The Opportunity to Transcend in the Midst of Crisis, I talk about pain, suffering and struggle as a major part of my journey. Many people come through pain, suffering, and struggle in a number of ways. Some come through crawling, hobbling, dragging themselves and some come through running, yelling and screaming. I have been in every posture. The most difficult part of the journey was selfapproval and stomping out the negative record that was playing in my mind.

It was this strength that helped me as Gladys Knight would say, “Keep on keeping on.”

From my book: I was a broken bird trying to help other broken birds. As I looked back over my life, I noticed that I was able to have some great relationships that were often filled with various levels of love and dysfunction with people who were wounded birds flying with broken wings, slightly hovering above the ground and never soaring.

I was also a wounded bird attracting other wounded birds with broken lives, broken hearts and broken spirits that somehow saw a light of brilliance and an undeniable strength within me. It was this strength that helped me as Gladys Knight would say, “Keep on keeping on.”

I was like a magnet for dysfunctional birds who had seen some of the worst horrors in life and lived to tell about it, or not. Some people I dated had been so wounded that they resigned themselves to only speak when spoken to; what I called the silence of the lambs. Trauma robbed their voice and will to speak. 5 continued on page 8