To my mother Last month, March, was the month of awareness for battered women. Today there are women’s shelters, women’s support groups and most of all, admission that women get battered by men. In 1970, 39 years ago, in San Francisco, my neighbor called the police because her husband was hitting her. They told her they were not allowed to interfere because it was a “domestic issue.” Sixty years ago, you (my mother) were a battered woman with four kids. The only way out was to leave the kids behind, and you could not live with your conscience in doing that. And you found strength to endure it for 20 years. Today you are 90 years old – very alert, intelligent and a beautiful woman. Sierra Wysling Pacific Beach