I was crying last night, believe it or not, from a show. I've been watching Grey's Anatomy since first season and identifying so much with Meredith Gray's childhood. Last night she kind of got hammered because first her dad tried to apologize and make amends as part of his new found sobriety (he dived into the bottle after his wife died), then she encountered a little girl who shot her dad because he was abusing her and her mom--so Meredith stood up for her to her mom. Then she got into it with the chief of surgery because she did so and he later apologized to her for not intervening when she was a child. He'd had an affair with her mother and when he broke it off, her mother couldn't deal with it. She threw herself into her work as a surgeon and neglected her husband and child. Meredith's dad left and she was alone with a neglectful and emotionally abusive mom who later tried to kill herself in front of Meredith. The chief had tried to tell himself all these years that it wasn't his fault or responsibility. But he had to face the fact that he saw the neglect and did or said nothing.

So he delivered a long and heartfelt apology and I just burst into tears. Suddenly I was that little girl who no one intervened for. I was the battered wife who no one called the police for.

All my life I have been driven to intervene for women and children. I don't want to leave anyone feeling like no one ever cared about their suffering like that. I testified against my own half brother for his abuse and neglect of his kids.

If more people stood up for kids, maybe we wouldn't have so many violent criminals, drug addicts and other emotionally damaged people.