Are you a survivor or a victim?

Are you a survivor or a victim?

sur·vive  (sr-vv)
v. sur·vived, sur·viv·ing, sur·vives
v.intr.
1. To remain alive or in existence.
2. To carry on despite hardships or trauma; persevere: families that were surviving in tents after the flood.
3. To remain functional or usable: I dropped the radio, but it survived.
v.tr.
1. To live longer than; outlive: She survived her husband by five years.
2. To live, persist, or remain usable through: plants that can survive frosts; a clock that survived a fall.
3. To cope with (a trauma or setback); persevere after: survived child abuse.

vic·tim  (vktm)
n.
1. One who is harmed or killed by another: a victim of a mugging.
2. A living creature slain and offered as a sacrifice during a religious rite.
3. One who is harmed by or made to suffer from an act, circumstance, agency, or condition: victims of war.
4. A person who suffers injury, loss, or death as a result of a voluntary undertaking: You are a victim of your own scheming.
5. A person who is tricked, swindled, or taken advantage of: the victim of a cruel hoax.

I feel many of us can lay claim to both examples. I know for myself that I survived child abuse. I also know that I continue to suffer as a result of actions by others.

1. One who is harmed or killed by another: like many we experience this on a daily basis.

2. A living creature slain and offered as a sacrifice during a religious rite. : this does not apply to myself although my heart weeps for those whom it does apply to

3. One who is harmed by or made to suffer from an act, circumstance, agency, or condition: victims of war. : victim of war is almost adequate - the fact is we are victims of religion

4. A person who suffers injury, loss, or death as a result of a voluntary undertaking: You are a victim of your own scheming. : I had no choice in my involvement. I was saddled with the transgressions of my forebears, I was effectively bound into lifelong abeyance to a religion and its religious.

5. A person who is tricked, swindled, or taken advantage of: the victim of a cruel hoax. : I continue to be subjected to trickery, swindle, or attempts to take advantage of myself and others like me: we are all the victim of a cruel and ongoing hoax.