‘Till it Happens to You

“You tell me it gets better, it gets better in time. You say I’ll pull myself together, pull it together, you’ll be fine. Tell me, what the hell do you know? What do you know? Till it happens to you, you don’t know how it feels. Till it happens to you, you won’t know, it won’t be real.” This is the beginning of Lady Gaga’s recent hit, Till it Happens to You. It is a powerful and emotional song created to attempt to put into words some of the feelings that accompany being sexual assaulted (raped) and abused. Lady Gaga performed this song at the Oscars in honor of a new documentary coming out called “The Hunting Ground,” which discusses the growing magnitude and frequency of rape which occurrs on college campuses. Joe Biden actually introduced Lady Gaga and promoted the government program called It’s On Us — a program which promotes “rape awareness”. Close to the end of Gaga’s performance, around 30 individuals who had been sexually molested walked onto the stage and sang along with Gaga. It was an extremely powerful moment showing the audience, and all of the world, that rape is a serious issue and affects people that you would never expect. Everyone is at risk. However, the do not have to live in shame and dishonor but can help others through the awful things they have experienced.

Why has rape become so predominant in society? The answer is found in society’s disconnect between God and daily living. I worked at a baseball stadium in California in the summer of 2014. College players came to the stadium, mostly from D1 colleges, in order to improve their quality of play over the summer. Of course, since it was summer time and there were seemingly no responsibilities, the party scene was very active. One of the best players, a boy who had great potential — he had scholarships, was the top of his class, great baseball player, — did the unthinkable and raped a girl at a party. This decision instantly changed his life forever. He was focused on satisfying his lusts and cravings in the moment and was not thinking of the repercussions of his actions.

Now, when one becomes a Christian it does not automatically mean that the individual does not struggle with sinful lusts, thoughts or actions. “The guerilla warfare between the flesh and the Spirit described in Galatians 5:17 is fought daily in the heart of every Christian.” (pg. 15 Respectable Sins) Becoming a Christian does not take away sinful urges. However, being a Christian gives us a purpose and a reason to combat those fleshly urges.