Rick Patrick
rick@greenepublishing.com
On Wednesday, Sept. 29, Tim Markison embarked on a monumental journey across the United States by bicycle. This 3,000 mile trek would take him across various terrains, from mountain passes to prairie flatlands. However, it was much more than scenery motivating Markison. The primary purpose for this trip was to bring awareness to a very serious issue. Markison's quest was to “increase awareness of child abuse and to promote healing for those who were victims of abuse.”
Markison has a very personal reason for participating in such an undertaking. “I’m a survivor of child sexual abuse and it left me with deep and painful emotional wounds,” said Markison. “As a young adult, I lived in a continual state of stress and fear; I suffered panic attacks; I hated my body; I felt I was stupid; I felt I couldn’t do anything right; I felt inferior to pretty much everyone, and I felt I was unworthy of anything but misery. With the help of many, I now live a fulfilling life.”
On Friday, Nov. 5, Markison stopped for a brief while to take a break from the rain and to speak to Greene Publishing, Inc. Markison spoke candidly about his experience as a youngster and the abuse he suffered at the hands of both family members and school personnel. Markison said for many years he was silent about the abuse he had endured. Finally, with the help of intense counseling and therapy, Markison has not only survived, but has learned to thrive. In a way, he has become a “sur-thriver.”
As Markison worked through recovery over his abuse, he began to realize the need to speak out; and to encourage others to speak out. “I realized that the perpetrators of abuse want their victims to remain quiet,” said Markison. “Now, I will talk as loudly as I can. The more victims of child abuse that talk about what happened to them and how they feel about themselves, the more healing that can occur. The more healing that occurs, the better people feel about themselves. The better people feel about themselves, the less destructive behaviors they’ll have towards themselves and, for a small percentage of people, towards others. With less destructive behaviors towards others, the rate of child abuse and other forms of abuse will drop. With less destructive behaviors towards themselves, the rate of suicides will drop, the rate of drug abuse will drop, the rate of alcoholism will drop, the rate of obesity and related health issues will drop and the rate of other psychological and/or physiological issues will drop.”
It is estimated that child abuse affects approximately 800,000 each year. This abuse can take several forms, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, negligence, domestic violence and witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event. Some studies suggest that up to 60 percent of adults in the United States have experienced some form of child abuse. It is believed that one in four women and one in six men have been victims of sexual abuse. Sadly, this grim statistic has changed little in the past 30 years.
Markison is the founder and CEO of Athalonz, LLC, a founding partner of the patent boutique law firm, Garlick and Markison and inventor of more than 300 patents. His foundation, Interwoven Circles was created by Markison to raise funds and bring awareness to the problem of child abuse, especially child sexual abuse. All funds donated to the foundation is distributed to professionally vetted non-profit organizations. Anyone wishing to donate to this cause may do so by visiting www.interwovencircles.com or www.cycletoendabuse.com.