Spousal physical abuse should never be tolerated. Bruises, swollen eye-sockets remind us that both men and women can resort to violent acts on a partner they once declared to love and respect forever. Such acts can result in a call to the police and a journey to the hospital.

Less obvious, but perhaps equally harmful, are the quiet and non-violent abusive acts of people who are abusive through their passivity (indifference), their unwillingness to assume responsibility (avoidance of) for their families.

One can hardly call the police because a man or a woman refuses to play his/her role as provider, supporter, or caregiver for their family, but homes are full of such people, men and women who will not take responsibility for their spouses and children.

Being emotionally withdrawn from our families, for whatever reason, can be as damaging, and if not more so, as deliberate physical acts of violence.

Many a woman might have a husband who never lifts a finger to her in anger, but his refusal to participate in the family, to be the dad and the husband he is called to be, might be as damaging as if he had been physically violent.