By Joe Hunter
Special to The Commercial Appeal

DV is the fastest growing curable disease. It’s not an illness like HIV or STD, but it should be in that category because DV — domestic violence — has taken lives in our community.

I believe it is caused by a lack of growth and development in a person. Causes include how people grew up, including their environment, teachings and beliefs. Most of all, is there a lack of true love for themselves and others?

I speak as a 51-year-old man who grew up with a father and mother who were my first examples and my first loves. They taught me never to harm or hit a female no matter what she did. They were my examples of a true relationship between a man and a woman.

I never saw or heard of my father hitting my mother. Yes, they did have some very strong arguments, but neither of them raised their hands in violence against the other.

My father taught me how to be a man and what a man has to do to have and take care of a wife, mother, lover and friend. That is what my mother was to him. My mother taught me how to be a gentleman. She taught me to open doors for ladies and be kind to them. My mom said a woman is like a flower. Her face shines with the beauty of a beautiful rosebud. It causes me to stop and thank God for what He has made in a woman.

A woman is the most important being God ever made because she carries the womb of life, and without her we fail to exist. According to my reading of the Holy Bible, God saw that it was not good for man to be alone. God put man asleep and performed the first surgery on Earth. He took one of man’s ribs from his rib cage and made a woman. He allowed man to name her and he called her woman, bones of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

God called woman man’s help meet, which says to me that man did not have everything he needed. The woman was made from the man’s rib; therefore, he should never hit her because she was not made from his hand, but from his rib. He should also never kick her because she was not made from his foot, but from his rib. He should never speak vile things to her because she was not made from his lips; she was made from his rib.

Your rib cage protects vital organs in the body; it hugs and provides stability to the body. So if she came from your rib, why would you want to hurt your own rib?

How do we find solutions to this curable disease that is growing in our community and throughout our country?

We must teach our children, youth and young adults how to have a real true relationship that is not dominated by fear that they called love. We must help our brothers and sisters learn how to deal with conflict and to have a stronger and more meaningful value for life.

We must listen to those who scream out for help and be there for them. We must continue to eradicate this vile disease that has taken the lives of so many here in the Mid-South in just this year. DV — Domestic Violence, a curable disease.

Minister Joe “Uncle Joe” Hunter is founder and director of G.A.N.G. Inc. Youth Enrichment Ministry at the North Frayser Community Center.

Exposing Domestic Violence Awards

What: Third Annual Men’s Brunch and Awards for Domestic Violence Awareness.

When: 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Church Health Center Wellness, 1115 Union.

Honorees: Pastor Ricky Floyd of Pursuit of God Transformation Center; Pastor Earle J. Fisher of Abyssinian Baptist Church; Jason Kyles, adviser and project manager for Walking Into A New Life; Dr. Todd Motley of Motley Internal Medicine Group; Col. Mike Ryall of the Memphis Police Department.

Keynote: Minister Joe Hunter, executive director of G.A.N.G. Inc.

Sponsor: Walking Into a New Life ministry, Joyce Parkinson, director.