Journal+1

The loss of innocence is when a person realizes how real life is, and that there are bad things that happen in world around them. It is not one moment in time, though sometimes certain moments in a person's life will take a much of a person's innocence from them. Loss of innocence may be experienced through learning about things, or it may come to someone through personal experiences. No matter how a person loses their innocence, it is a part of life and growing older. Throughout their lives, some people will remain more innocent than others, but all people will lose the innocence of their childhood. Often, the loss of most of one's innocence comes in the form of a traumatic event in their life.

There are many examples of a person losing their innocence that I know. One example of this is the story of a young girl. The girl lived with her mother, who was a single mother, for the majority of her life. When the girl was around ten years old, her mother married a man. The man seemed very kind, and he seemed to be a loving step father to the girl. The girl's mother loved the man very much, and they had a very good relationship. However, all was not good for the young girl. About a year or so after her mother was married, her stepfather molested her. The girl hoped that this would never happen again and that she could still be happy, but the sexual abuse from the stepfather did not stop. The man's malicious acts went on for years with the girl silent. However, by the time the girl was about fifteen, she realized that she should not feel ashamed of the things that happened to her. The girl went to her mother to tell her about what had been happening for the past few years. Much to the girl's displeasure, her mother refused to believe that her husband would do this. She decided that her daughter was lying, and let things continue. The girl could not believe that her mother wouldn't do anything about her being abused. Soon after this, the girl when to her aunt for help. The girl's aunt took the girl into her home and away from the abuse. Even after this, the young girl's mother stayed with her husband who had been molesting her daughter for years. The girl in this story lost her innocence in many painful ways. Her stepfather's abuse showed her the cruelty of some people, and her mother's ongoing refusal to believe her showed the girl that not all people are willing to protect her. Some people's priorities will be in a different order than a person wants them to be, for better or worse. Through cruel experiences, a girl lost her innocence, but she also managed to break free from a life of pain and lies to be able to live truthfully and for herself.