It has happened again. Another high-profile alleged beating of a woman is making the international rounds.

This time it involves the pop singer Rhianna in an incident that seemed to have prevented her from performing at the recent Grammy Awards ceremony.

I happened to have tuned in to one of the international network stations which reported that both Rhianna and Chris Brown had a long history of parents who battered each other in their presence as children. Hello! Don't these people live in the land of Dr Phill and Oprah? Don't they hear a litany of said stories that prove that the chip does not fall far from the tree?

But the bigger picture is, don't these women check out these potential abusers before entering into relationships with them? Or, perhaps, some women think they are so powerful that they will be the one to make the bastards change!

Sisters, get real; if you treat men who abuse you like kings and allow them to get away with the first beating before you get the hell away, they are going to do it a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, OK, you get the picture.

And this goes for all kinds of bad treatment, including public disrespect, cheating, taking your money, taking you for granted and being 'wutless'. If you allow it to fester, it becomes a big, nasty 'sore foot'.

Thank goodness that will never happen to me because my dear old pappa always told us girls:

If a man loves you, he will never hit you.

Intelligent adults don't fight each other, they talk it out; if it still does not work, go your separate ways.

And finally, never tell a man he can't hit you because some damn fool will hit you just to prove you wrong. But if it happens, the first time must also be the last. If he does not knock you unconscious, run like hell because he will kiss you and make up, buy you a nice piece of gold, cool down and then beat you senseless the next time he thinks you have given him reason to.

lifestyle @gleanerjm.com