There is a short video about a holiday called Raksha Bandhan. Brothers and sisters create a ceremony of trust, where they pledge to protect each other, and she places a bracelet on his wrist. Two men wearing these knots of protection from their own sisters start to hassle a woman on the street. Another man steps in and threatens to hurt their sisters and they are enraged. With their hands around his neck he warns them that the woman they are degrading is his sister. Their consciences convict them, and they apologize. 

What a tender tradition.

I read a story about a man who was out walking and heard a girl struggling in the bushes. He jumped in and scared the aggressor away. The terrified girl was sobbing in the dark, when the man thought he recognized her.

"Julia?"

"Dad?"

He had saved his own daughter. 

It is not easy to step in and protect one another, and yet if we do not, who will? The physical assault of women by men is pandemic. My prayer is that it will one day be overcome by a tidal wave of mutual respect.