Please Let It Be Enough
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"The family plan was for Ona to get a job, then an apartment and move her three daughters there with her. She got a job, but when it came close to time to follow through on the rest, all of a sudden she had to go back home to sign some papers with her lawyer. She was barely gone when I got a postcard from her telling me to pack up all our things and be ready for her to come pick us up and move back home. I was devastated, refused to go, and went and hid out down by the creek I loved so well. My uncle found me and said legally there was nothing they could do--I had to go. Ona came and got us after a lot of yelling between her and my aunt and uncle. She promised that Carter would not be living with us. We were barely in the door, when Carter appeared holding ten records. He said he had gone to the record store and asked for the top ten records--all I had to do was accept him back and the records were mine. I wanted those records with all my heart and being--nobody ever gave me anything--but I had to say, no. Ona slapped me hard across the face and screamed, "You are trying to ruin my life!" My sister, Beth, was only 8 at the time, but 40 years later she repeated that scene to Ona, who flatly denied it."
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About the Book
Yeshil Kohl thought she was the only one who suffered from physical, sexual, and psychological abuse by parents and spouses growing up—until she got older.
It was then that she realized that such abuse is an epidemic and that her pain is shared by many who have been shunned and misunderstood by a society that blames victims. This, in turn, makes it more likely for victims to continue to suffer throughout their lives as they take on marital, social, and occupational roles.
In Please Let It Be Enough, she shares how her family often moved around, how physical and psychological abuse turned into something worse after she hit puberty, and how her suffering went so unnoticed by so many for so long.
The author encourages a strong religious foundation but also a psychological understanding of the damage done to self-esteem, in order to alter current behaviors. She also shares a message with fellow sufferers: You are not alone.
People wonder why victims of assault, both physical and sexual, wait to report it, and the answer is they are ashamed, embarrassed, and afraid of how others will respond Maybe, just maybe, this account will encourage them to understand and help.
About the Author
Yeshil Kohl is a retired special education teacher with twenty-five years of experience helping abused teenagers. She lives in Oregon.