When the National Football League punished Ray Rice by suspending him for only two games, there was a lot of backlash from the fans and the media. They were outraged and thought that there should be a more severe punishment handed down to the Baltimore Ravens running back. I didn’t see anything wrong with it.

I didn’t have any problem with it because when I was a child I witnessed domestic violence on a weekly basis and nothing was ever done about it.

I once witnessed my mother chase my father around the kitchen with a butcher knife, and while that was one extreme time, shoving, hitting and screaming at the top of their lungs happened at least once a week.

Often the cops were called, and occasionally they would even show up at our door, but not once was my father or mother taken away for the violence against each other.

It’s not that I condone domestic violence, I don’t, I would never hit my spouse or any other woman for that matter, but if we are not punishing the everyday men or women for this hateful crime then why are we punishing people like Ray Rice? Is it just because he is in the face of the public eye that he should get a harsher punishment?

According to safehorizon.org, one in four women experience domestic violence in their lifetime. One in four experience something similar to what happened to Janay Rice in that elevator, but their spouses are not suspended for two weeks from their jobs. Their spouses are not suspended indefinitely when the extent of the abuse is exposed because it’s rarely reported how bad the abuse actually is. Or if it even happens.

You might ask yourself why it wouldn’t come out, but if you want to answer that all you have to do is look at the case of Mrs. Rice who was not yet the wife of the football star when she was struck in the face yet still got married to the man who abused her.

It happens all the time. Women get abused, and the abuser manipulates the way they see themselves so badly that they no longer think they are worthy enough of a man who treats them fairly. They get so worn down by the abuse that they feel that they deserve it and continue to take the abuse without reporting it.

What’s worse is that the abuse isn’t always hidden.

If you spend any time in a Wal-Mart, you can almost guarantee that you will see a form of domestic abuse. It may be spousal abuse or it may be child abuse, but you will see someone hit a relative and nothing will be done about it.

Yet here we are chastising the NFL for actually doing something about it, and when they admitted they made a mistake and took further action we chastise them further for not getting it right the first time.

They have gone out of their way to make an entire program to try and deter domestic violence by their players while many companies don’t care as long as it doesn’t disrupt their ability to work.

The Major League Baseball team does not have specific rules against domestic violence. The National Basketball Association has had one suspension for domestic violence when they suspended Ron Artest seven games in 2007, but they too do not have specific rules against domestic violence.

Yet here we are, calling for the head of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell because after he realized he didn’t do enough, he did more.

Instead of calling for the head of the only guy who seems willing to do something about it maybe we should be praising Goodell and the NFL for actually doing something and bringing attention to an issue that has plagued this country.

It is time to stop screaming on the message boards and social media about how upset we are that they screwed up and start praising them for what they have done right.