Have you ever thought about how many other people there are in this world with the same name as you?  Angela Shelton has.  She filmed herself traveling all over the United States in search of other Angela Sheltons.  She ended up meeting forty different women and hearing their stories.  One would think that people from different places would have very different stories, but this ended up not to be the case.

Angela’s story is a little disheartening and somewhat difficult to hear.  This documentary was very explicit so I apologize in advance for the language used in this post.  Her and her sister were both molested by their father when they were young.  Their father would lie naked in his bedroom and ask Angela’s sister to come into the room and close the door.  One time, Angela was in the room with them.  She recalled her father making her sister touch his penis, giving him manual sex.  The father tried to enter Angela’s sister, but she was too small so he used crayons instead.  How someone can do this to any child is beyond mebut there are people out there who actually do it.

Angela had a brother who was molested by their father as well.  They had not talked in ten years but after she finished her movie, he spoke with her about what had happened to him.  He recalls that he feels guilty for his father molesting him.  Angela asked him why he felt this way because nothing was his fault.  Steve, Angela’s brother, said that he enjoyed the attention from his father and felt a thrill every time they interacted in sexual ways.  He said he didn’t enjoy the sexual aspect but just the attention and time he got to spend with his father.  Steve is now gay and him and Angela are pursuing a healthy brother-sister relationship.

Day 47 of Angela’s journey happened to be Father’s Day.  She decided to go to her father’s house, where she hadn’t been in twelve years, to confront him about what she remembers from her childhood.  He embraces her at the door and sheds tears of joy to see her.  She asks him if they can talk so they take a seat on his front steps.  Angela tells him what she remembers about his acts when they were children and he denies everything.  He swore to her that he never did anything she said and told her that she might have just imagined it.  When I saw this scene, I was appalled and couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

After talking to her father, Angela had a meltdown.  She was screaming profanities and saying she couldn’t believe what he had just said.  When he said that she might have made everything up, she actually started second guessing herself and her memories.  There is evidence to what happened though because her and her brother know of a photo album that he has with pictures of all the girls he molested.  He is also a registered sex offender in the city that he lives.  At the end of the movie, Angela tells us that she sent a copy of her movie to her father along with a letter saying she forgives him.

To me, this is a very strong and mature thing for her to do.  I think after she forgives her father, she will be able to move on with her life, find herself and pursue a better relationship with her father as well as her siblings.

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