Justice
Written by Kelly Ann Wilson

*Content Warning*
Intimate partner violence and abuse

I know that there will never be justice.
What would justice even be?
He will never have to live in this world after being dismantled as a human being. After being chipped away at piece by piece until he doesn’t even recognize himself.

I know that there will be no vengeance.
And what would vengeance even be?
They will never be told their abuser “is a good man” and “we are proud of who he has been.” Exact quotes from those who knew he had learned the abuse and the violence from them.

I know that there will be no reparation from society, the law, the universe, karma.
Things just happen.
Life is relentless.
It just goes on…

But justice and vengeance and reparations do not give me purpose.
Those words have nothing to offer me.

What fuels me instead is hope.
Hope that we will find a better way.

One where girls are raised to be brilliant and loud instead of polished and small.
Where victims have choices instead of barriers.
Where the public is educated instead of ignorant.
Where the vulnerable are protected instead of abandoned.
Where survivors are surrounded instead of shamed.
Where we reach out to each other instead of looking away.
Where abuse is condemned instead of pardoned.

I do not need justice.
I need to know that it won’t always be like this.

Written April 24, 2024
© 2024 Kelly Ann Wilson