I am one lucky person. Well maybe not that lucky. I am at a point in my life where a lot of things are starting to click. Big changes are about to happen and for the first time in my life that I can remember, I feel really good about where life is headed. If you read my last post, you'll know that after twenty years in my house, I have decided to sell. It's one of the biggest decisions I've ever made and as the days have passed since that post, I'm actually starting to get excited...but that's not what I wanted to talk about...
When I posted It's Happening the other night, it was late. I pretty much hit the 'publish' button and called it a night. Well, I woke up the next morning to almost 500 page views, 80 likes and 50-plus comments on Facebook, as well as several texts and messages, all entirely supportive of my decision. I was literally overwhelmed with emotion from it all. I even heard from people I hardly connect with much anymore, and it just got me to thinking of how lucky, yet not so lucky I am.
I'm lucky because I have a support system of incredible people around me...friends, family, colleagues, and even simple acquaintances. I don't always remember that until something like this comes along and boom, even the simplest of gestures gives me a feeling like no other. I am humbled and feel very blessed.
Once the house had been put up just yesterday and I posted the pictures my friend and realtor Ricardo had taken, the love and support flooded me all over again. Lol, I don't know if it's the gay or the Italian in me, but I shed tears several times from all the compassion. I just want to say here and now thank you to each and every person who reached out to me over the past several days. Having every single one of you in my life is a blessing that I cherish!
That being said, I am a firm believer that this isn't all luck, and thus this teacher's advice to any of you reading. You always get back what you give, and I like to think that the love and support that I give to anyone in my life is what I am feeling back right now. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I think I'm someone who's heart is always in the right place and, well I think I'm a fun person to be around, too, so...
So please take heed this little whatever you might call it. If you're genuine and kind you're going to find that that it will come back to you tenfold. I am proof of that. If you don't behave this way, well, karma can be a bitch. There's not nearly enough kindness in the world, so if you want to feel the love like I have these past few days, then you've got to give it!
Showing posts with label Opinion/Editorial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Opinion/Editorial. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Judge Us for Who We Are, Not What We Are
As promised, this will be the first of several stories written for my class' ENL Magazine that I spoke about earlier. It was written by a long time student of mine and it speaks to the feelings of a young girl who has experienced both the good and the bad about coming here. Take a look...
None of this has been easy. It took a lot of hard work to learn the language, to be able to communicate, and yet I feel so rejected. I feel so isolated from my American peers, and even some teachers, too. Sometimes I feel that I’m not treated with respect and kindness by them, and they never even try to speak to me. Now I'm not saying that this is everyone, it’s not. There are many very nice and kind people here, too, but the ones who treat me differently because I'm from another country, because I speak another language, or that I have a different skin color, makes me angry. These things don’t make me less than them. Being Hispanic doesn’t mean that I am not intelligent, or that I can’t do what anyone else can do.
This separating ideology that some people have prevents them from seeing that really we are all the same. If they just take notice, they will realize that there is no difference between an American and a Hispanic. We are all human beings! I don’t understand this separation. If we are equal, why are we treated badly because of our differences?
I understand that in my country there are bad people and that many of them come to this country and do bad things. They embarrass me and fill me with indignation and sadness to see that they are like that, but just because they are like that doesn’t mean I should be judged differently or badly. We shouldn’t have to pay the price for their bad behavior. Get to know me before treating me badly. There are as many young Hispanics like me who just want to study, be honest, not do bad things and not take people’s jobs away. I think that God rewards people who struggle so hard to achieve.
For every person who reads this, I invite you to give yourself an opportunity to get to know me, to get to know some of us. We’re not all bad. Know us and judge us according to what you observe in us, not simply because we are Hispanic. We’re not all gang members or murderers. You should thank God that you are blessed. You do not have the need to immigrate to another country for your safety, for food, or to just save your lives. Imagine if you had to move to another country for these reasons, and people there treat you with indifference, as we are treated here. Imagine you had to learn a whole new language in order to be able to survive in that country. Imagine what that would be like. I can tell you it would be frustrating.
Like I said, we are all human, with feelings, emotions, and each with our own problems. We are the same. So I invite you to leave that race-separating ideology, to not judge us without knowing us. Say hello. Make a friend. See that we are all good people with dreams to succeed in this jungle full of wild animals.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
Thursday, June 21, 2018
My Purpose: An Introduction to "Why We Came and How We Got Here"
From my Facebook, about two weeks ago:
Hot off the press...after weeks and weeks of writing, re-writing and editing, this labor of love is finally complete! In this, our 15th edition, my students share some pretty compelling stories of why they came here and how they got here.
Like the generations of immigrants who came before them, these youngsters made their oftentimes dangerous treks here to escape extreme poverty and a very war-like environment.
They’re all great kids and they were afraid to share their stories because, well, we all know the attitudes towards immigrants these days, and so the only way I could get them to share their stories was to promise to publish them anonymously.
Dear Readers,
Welcome to “Why We Came and How We Got Here,” the latest version of our ENL Magazine. We began publishing this annual collection in 2004 in the hope that readers might gain a new perspective on our students, an often-misunderstood group of youngsters. To this point, I believe that goal has only been partially achieved. With the political climate of the country the way it is these days, misinformation and misunderstanding about the immigrant experience has reached an all-time high, and so our purpose for this year’s edition takes on a greater significance than ever before.
A Class Project Leads to a Mission
Early in the school year, the students in my ENL class completed an autobiographical project. This wasn’t the first time I’d ever assigned such a task, but it was the first time I ever really had to sell them on something. You see, with today’s immigrants drawing such open criticism and anger, I wanted to gain a better understanding of their stories. I wanted to know the real reasons why they came here and what they went through in making their way here. Even though I’ve been working with these kids for so long, even I wasn’t aware of the real answers to these questions.
Virtually all of the students were reluctant to tell their stories, and it was a hard sell to get them to do so. I had to assure them that the things they were going to share would stay within our group. In addition to a written piece, the students were also required to make a presentation to the class, sharing not only their personal stories of why and how they came to be here, but other such things as what they’d put on their bucket lists, some of their favorite things, and even their hopes for the future. It was during these presentations that my eyes opened wider than they had in fifteen years.
For more than two weeks, each of my students came to the front of the class to share their auto-biographies, and I learned things that I may have suspected over the years, but never really heard told so openly. Laughter and tears, and plenty of anguish permeated the room with each presentation, and those watching even just one of them either commiserated with the speaker or became consumed with empathy.
Empathy. It’s a word I often use in my classroom and one that I wholeheartedly believe everyone needs a little more of. If we make an effort to empathize more, we might just gain a whole new awareness that we didn’t have before, and hopefully these new perspectives might make this world a more tolerable place.
Once our presentations had finished, we continued with the theme by tackling the NY Times bestselling book, “Enrique’s Journey” by Sonia Nazario. It tells the story of a boy from Honduras who makes the harrowing and dangerous trek to the United States in search of his mother who had abandoned him when he was only five years old. Once again, memories were jarred by the many stories found in the book.
A New Mission
When the time came to begin working on this publication, it seemed that general attitudes towards immigrants had become even worse than before. New stories and videos showing harassment towards immigrants, more specifically Hispanics, seemed to pop up every day on social media. News outlets cover raids and roundups of undocumented immigrants, families being forcibly separated, children being held in secretive, jail-like camps. The list of stories goes on and on and the more we hear, the worse the situation becomes.
In the poem, “Push and Pull,” I speak of the plight of the many generations of foreigners whose desperate situations led them to immigrate to this country. Each group of immigrants had its own reasons for coming, and most often it was to flee danger or poverty. The stories of today’s immigrant are no different, only the rules have since changed.
So I thought that perhaps we, our little group of immigrants who chose to settle here in Southold, might do our own little part in helping people gain a better understanding of who they are and why they came. Their stories are sometimes raw and always very personal, and show just how desperate these immigrants must be to undergo such a dangerous journey that they are not guaranteed to finish. I believe that the immigrant population in Southold is a microcosm of the greater immigrant population and their individual stories reflect the experiences of the whole.
Again, selling this idea was a difficult task. Some of the stories contained within are highly personal, and I am sure that still there were difficult details that were omitted because of their emotional impact. I convinced my students that this undertaking will be worth it if we get even one person to see immigration in a different light. The idea of their stories being published elicited an even greater protest than the project had, and so in the end we decided that all of the stories published would be anonymous. I encourage you to read on with an open heart and an open mind.
Thank you,
John Myers
Hot off the press...after weeks and weeks of writing, re-writing and editing, this labor of love is finally complete! In this, our 15th edition, my students share some pretty compelling stories of why they came here and how they got here.
Like the generations of immigrants who came before them, these youngsters made their oftentimes dangerous treks here to escape extreme poverty and a very war-like environment.
They’re all great kids and they were afraid to share their stories because, well, we all know the attitudes towards immigrants these days, and so the only way I could get them to share their stories was to promise to publish them anonymously.
I’m very proud of ‘Why We’re Here and How We Got Here: True Stories of Young Immigrants,’ and I am thinking about publishing this as a PDF. Please click ‘like’if you’d want a copy. Thanks!
In the past couple of years it's become evident to me that I have a purpose in life. It's something that I'm not yet totally comfortable with, but I find myself being driven by it. From my own actions and reactions to the things going on around me lately, it's become pointedly clear that the things I'm doing are as natural to me as anything else in my life, ever, and so when the recently heated debate about immigration came bubbling to an ugly surface, I decided I had to act on it. I put myself wholeheartedly behind what I do, what I live, and what I believe, and this is my truth.
It is with that in mind that I pointed my class' annual magazine in the direction of laying stories bare. As one who teaches some social studies in my classroom, I know that primary sources of information, sources coming from those who have had actual experiences connected to a topic, are the best kinds of sources to go by, and so what better way to convey the stories of today's immigrants than to hear from them.
Me and my students began this undertaking about six weeks prior to publication, and I'm proud of them for sharing what they experienced. I've learned a lot about immigration from them that I never knew before, and I think that sharing the stories beyond the area of my school district is a worthwhile endeavor. So I begin with my own introduction to the publication, a piece that lays out the process behind it. Read on and stay tuned for some of their stories...
Welcome to “Why We Came and How We Got Here,” the latest version of our ENL Magazine. We began publishing this annual collection in 2004 in the hope that readers might gain a new perspective on our students, an often-misunderstood group of youngsters. To this point, I believe that goal has only been partially achieved. With the political climate of the country the way it is these days, misinformation and misunderstanding about the immigrant experience has reached an all-time high, and so our purpose for this year’s edition takes on a greater significance than ever before.
A Class Project Leads to a Mission
Early in the school year, the students in my ENL class completed an autobiographical project. This wasn’t the first time I’d ever assigned such a task, but it was the first time I ever really had to sell them on something. You see, with today’s immigrants drawing such open criticism and anger, I wanted to gain a better understanding of their stories. I wanted to know the real reasons why they came here and what they went through in making their way here. Even though I’ve been working with these kids for so long, even I wasn’t aware of the real answers to these questions.
Virtually all of the students were reluctant to tell their stories, and it was a hard sell to get them to do so. I had to assure them that the things they were going to share would stay within our group. In addition to a written piece, the students were also required to make a presentation to the class, sharing not only their personal stories of why and how they came to be here, but other such things as what they’d put on their bucket lists, some of their favorite things, and even their hopes for the future. It was during these presentations that my eyes opened wider than they had in fifteen years.
For more than two weeks, each of my students came to the front of the class to share their auto-biographies, and I learned things that I may have suspected over the years, but never really heard told so openly. Laughter and tears, and plenty of anguish permeated the room with each presentation, and those watching even just one of them either commiserated with the speaker or became consumed with empathy.
Empathy. It’s a word I often use in my classroom and one that I wholeheartedly believe everyone needs a little more of. If we make an effort to empathize more, we might just gain a whole new awareness that we didn’t have before, and hopefully these new perspectives might make this world a more tolerable place.
Once our presentations had finished, we continued with the theme by tackling the NY Times bestselling book, “Enrique’s Journey” by Sonia Nazario. It tells the story of a boy from Honduras who makes the harrowing and dangerous trek to the United States in search of his mother who had abandoned him when he was only five years old. Once again, memories were jarred by the many stories found in the book.
A New Mission
When the time came to begin working on this publication, it seemed that general attitudes towards immigrants had become even worse than before. New stories and videos showing harassment towards immigrants, more specifically Hispanics, seemed to pop up every day on social media. News outlets cover raids and roundups of undocumented immigrants, families being forcibly separated, children being held in secretive, jail-like camps. The list of stories goes on and on and the more we hear, the worse the situation becomes.
In the poem, “Push and Pull,” I speak of the plight of the many generations of foreigners whose desperate situations led them to immigrate to this country. Each group of immigrants had its own reasons for coming, and most often it was to flee danger or poverty. The stories of today’s immigrant are no different, only the rules have since changed.
So I thought that perhaps we, our little group of immigrants who chose to settle here in Southold, might do our own little part in helping people gain a better understanding of who they are and why they came. Their stories are sometimes raw and always very personal, and show just how desperate these immigrants must be to undergo such a dangerous journey that they are not guaranteed to finish. I believe that the immigrant population in Southold is a microcosm of the greater immigrant population and their individual stories reflect the experiences of the whole.
Again, selling this idea was a difficult task. Some of the stories contained within are highly personal, and I am sure that still there were difficult details that were omitted because of their emotional impact. I convinced my students that this undertaking will be worth it if we get even one person to see immigration in a different light. The idea of their stories being published elicited an even greater protest than the project had, and so in the end we decided that all of the stories published would be anonymous. I encourage you to read on with an open heart and an open mind.
Thank you,
John Myers
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
A Different Kind of Separation
From my Twitter, on Monday, edited:
This morning, one of my students, a 14 yo boy from Guatemala, came to school to take a final examination. When I came by to check on how he was doing, he wasn’t doing very well at all. It had already been an hour or so into the test and he was only on question #8.
“Did you study?” I asked.
He looked up at me and with tears in his eyes he said no. He gathered himself and added, “My mom is getting deported,” he told me.
It seems a local immigration lawyer took all their money, $7ooo, and never filed her papers in court seeking asylum. The judge dropped the case and ordered her out of the country in 30 days. Daniel can stay because he had the luxury of being abandoned by his dad when he was a baby. He is not my only student to have suffered the same fate.
Daniel and his mom were abandoned by his father when he was a toddler and are all one another has in life. Back in Guatemala, they were poverty stricken, oftentimes eating only one meal a day, and at 13 years of age, Dan was already within the sights of the local gangs, who would not take no for an answer once
they came calling.
His mom became desperate and reached out to an uncle for help in getting money to come to the U.S. The two of them traveled for weeks, a long and treacherous journey that had them walking for up to fourteen hours a stretch and going without food or water for up to two days.
Luckily, they made it here safe. That was a little less than two years ago. In that time, Dan has learned a lot of English and does what he can to help the two of them survive, working whenever he can to bring money into the house. They are still poor, but rich in comparison to their life back in Guatemala. They're both safe, too, and they still have each other. Well, for now. So they’ve lost all the money they’ve scraped up to an unscrupulous lawyer and in less than 26 days they will be separated barring some sort of miracle.
Daniel is the sweetest of boys, always with a smile on his face and a willing hand to help others by translating, helping with homework, and even cleaning the teacher’s desk for him. Now he faces being all alone at 14, the only other person in his life being ripped from his side.
Dan’s is but one small story in a million stories. He’s lucky he’s got me...I refuse to leave him totally abandoned. Thousands of others are not so lucky. Today’s immigrants are no different than the ones who came before them, leaving their families, their friends, their homes, everything, to escape poverty and danger. Only the rules have changed. We changed them when we starting not liking the places that they came from and we all need to know that.
To be continued...
This morning, one of my students, a 14 yo boy from Guatemala, came to school to take a final examination. When I came by to check on how he was doing, he wasn’t doing very well at all. It had already been an hour or so into the test and he was only on question #8.
“Did you study?” I asked.
He looked up at me and with tears in his eyes he said no. He gathered himself and added, “My mom is getting deported,” he told me.
It seems a local immigration lawyer took all their money, $7ooo, and never filed her papers in court seeking asylum. The judge dropped the case and ordered her out of the country in 30 days. Daniel can stay because he had the luxury of being abandoned by his dad when he was a baby. He is not my only student to have suffered the same fate.
Daniel and his mom were abandoned by his father when he was a toddler and are all one another has in life. Back in Guatemala, they were poverty stricken, oftentimes eating only one meal a day, and at 13 years of age, Dan was already within the sights of the local gangs, who would not take no for an answer once
they came calling.
His mom became desperate and reached out to an uncle for help in getting money to come to the U.S. The two of them traveled for weeks, a long and treacherous journey that had them walking for up to fourteen hours a stretch and going without food or water for up to two days.
Luckily, they made it here safe. That was a little less than two years ago. In that time, Dan has learned a lot of English and does what he can to help the two of them survive, working whenever he can to bring money into the house. They are still poor, but rich in comparison to their life back in Guatemala. They're both safe, too, and they still have each other. Well, for now. So they’ve lost all the money they’ve scraped up to an unscrupulous lawyer and in less than 26 days they will be separated barring some sort of miracle.
Daniel is the sweetest of boys, always with a smile on his face and a willing hand to help others by translating, helping with homework, and even cleaning the teacher’s desk for him. Now he faces being all alone at 14, the only other person in his life being ripped from his side.
Dan’s is but one small story in a million stories. He’s lucky he’s got me...I refuse to leave him totally abandoned. Thousands of others are not so lucky. Today’s immigrants are no different than the ones who came before them, leaving their families, their friends, their homes, everything, to escape poverty and danger. Only the rules have changed. We changed them when we starting not liking the places that they came from and we all need to know that.
To be continued...
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
This Is Why P!nk Moves Me!
We are searchlights, we can see in the dark
We are rockets, pointed up at the stars
We are billions of beautiful hearts
And you sold us, down the river too far
This is why P!nk moves me! After a post in which I complained that she'd been absent for too long, I now make my repentance. I should have known better! From the very first time I ever listened to a whole album of hers, 2001's M!ssundaztood, I was moved by her music, and that only grew with each new record, Try This, I'm Not Dead, Funhouse, and the ultimate, the one that got me to make a silly video lip-syncing to her, The Truth About Love.
Yup, the master lyricist and overall uber-talent has done it again, perhaps even eclipsing (sorry, I couldn't help myself!) anything she's ever done in the past, and that's saying a lot. At a time when we all could use a clear head, without all of the bickering, name calling and such, she's given us this gift, this gem of a tune, and it's from all of our perspectives.
What about us?
What about all the times you said you had the answers?
What about us?
What about all the broken happy ever afters
What about us?
What about all the plans that ended in disasters?
What about love? What about trust?
What about us?
I've heard P!nk say in the past that she doesn't like to tell anyone the meaning behind her words, that she likes fans to garner their own significance from them, but this time there is no mistake. P!nk has gotten political before, back during the Bush years with the raw Dear Mr. President, with the Indigo Girls. That time, there was no doubt which side of the political spectrum she was speaking from. She performed the song during the Funhouse Tour in 2009, and when she did she said that she'd been booed while performing it in certain places. The partisan divide that's ripping this country apart today was already well into big-crack mode.
We are problems that want to be solved
We are children that need to be loved
We were willing, we came when you called
But then you fooled us, enough is enough
This time around, P!nk isn't singing from one side of the aisle, though it isn't hard to see from the video to the song that she's still writing from the same perspective. However, if we can all look beyond what we know to be her views, forget left or right or anywhere else, we can easily see that she speaks for all of us, and maybe if we listen closely, we will understand.
Back in January, Patrick Crowley opined in Billboard Magazine whether the singer would write a Dear Mr. President for Mr. Trump. She'd been openly vocal about her displeasure with the newly elected President, but at the time there was no hit of any song:
Yes, there is no doubt to how P!nk looks at our President, and things have gotten worse in the seven months since she said that. But with this song, she's not pointing a direct and angry finger at Trump. The they she speaks of includes virtually anyone who's said they had the answers, made broken promises for our happy ever afters and made plans that ended in disaster. Sure, that includes our current Commander in Chief, but also past ones, as well as congressmen, senators, Cabinet members, and virtually anyone else who has an R or a D next to their name.
What about us?
What about all the times you said you had the answers?
What about us?
What about all the broken happy ever afters?
What about us?
What about all the plans that ended in disasters?
What about love? What about trust?
What about us?
Yeah, what about us? Politicians from all sides have been working for a long long time to create this great divide that is scarily coming to a head, and yet they never do anything really that makes our lives better, fixes our problems, or shows their loyalty to us, the ones who always come calling. All they've done is point fingers, ridicule, and line their own pockets off the true holders of power, those with money. And we all suffer the consequences.
Unfortunately, she seems to hearken something I've been afraid of for a very long time now, something terrifying that I alluded to in my last opinion post:
Sticks and stones they may break these bonesBut then I'll be ready, are you ready?
It's the start of us, we cannot come on
Are you ready? I'll be ready
I don't want control, I want to let go
Are you ready? I'll be ready
And now it's time to let them know
Yes, I am with her. I am ready! There are a great many of us in this country who recognize the ominous state that this Administration is leading us towards, and I hope to God that it never comes to pass, but if it does, yes, I'll be ready. I would hope that many will take a hard listen to the words of this song and will recognize that the two sides in this struggle are not necessarily what we think they are. Though we may think differently, we are all a part of those billions of beautiful hearts and we all just want to be happy. We need to recognize this and let them know. Take a listen and a look at this cleverly written piece and accompanying video and you'll realize that P!nk is such a gift. There's a reason why this song has resonated with so many, but it needs to resonate even more!
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Express Yourself
Note: I have duplicated this post on both John's World and John's Music World, as it relates not only to music, in this case Madonna's Express Yourself, but of my own personal view of the many protests that occurred yesterday. After not paying any attention to politics for the last 8 years (I simply couldn't deal with all of the crap being said about Obama, as well as the unprecedented obstruction heaped upon him by Congress), I now find myself in the state of mind that I need to speak, and starting with this post, I will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Madonna gave a live performance of this song yesterday, somewhere in D.C., where hundreds of thousands of people were practicing democracy and expressing themselves. Though she's already been maligned for dropping a few f-bombs directed at our new President while speaking to the crowd, she was practicing the very fundamentals that Trump himself called for during his inauguration speech on Friday...
We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity.
New York City
Madonna and those accompanying her in Washington were not the only ones practicing democracy yesterday. In all, an estimated 4.6 million women and their allies demonstrated in approximately 670 cities not only here in the U.S., but across the globe (Reuters, politicususa). People from all walks of life came out en force in places like Chicago (125K), Los Angeles (750K), New York (400K), Boston (250K), Denver (200K), Seattle, Austin, Atlanta, in cities across Asia, Europe, South America and Australia. The list goes on and on. It was by far the largest protest of any kind in history.
Los Angeles
Throughout the day the protests were pretty much ignored by Trump and his people. It wasn't until this morning that he even mentioned it, of course on Twitter, and of course chiding one of his named groups of adversaries...celebrities:
Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly.
In his defense, though, Mr. Trump added a positive spin just a couple of hours later...
Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views.
Philadelphia
Now I could go on and on about how many of his supporters took to social media to express their dismay and oftentimes outrage over the protests, but that could take awhile. All you have to do is look to see. Just as the protesters did yesterday in expressing themselves, so too, do the maligners have the same right. I just happen to disagree with their assertion that all of these millions of people are simply sore losers who are whining and pouting that they lost the election. I like to think that I am one of them, even though I regrettably did not take part yesterday.
I accept, as do many of them have accepted, that Donald J. Trump is the President of the United States, and I want him to do well for all of our sakes, but we do have a right to be concerned. With all that we have seen and heard, and no, not from the "evil" news media, but from the lips of Mr. Trump himself, time and time again, things do not look good.
Mr. Trump's own words have helped widen this divide that we've been slipping into for years now, and for him to stand there on Friday, in front of four former Presidents of both parties, to tell us that this country is full of "carnage" and needs to be fixed only the way he can fix it, to me took a lot of nerve. His campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again," implies that somehow we stopped being great. I just don't believe that! Just take a look at the following graphic:
I accept, as do many of them have accepted, that Donald J. Trump is the President of the United States, and I want him to do well for all of our sakes, but we do have a right to be concerned. With all that we have seen and heard, and no, not from the "evil" news media, but from the lips of Mr. Trump himself, time and time again, things do not look good.
Mr. Trump's own words have helped widen this divide that we've been slipping into for years now, and for him to stand there on Friday, in front of four former Presidents of both parties, to tell us that this country is full of "carnage" and needs to be fixed only the way he can fix it, to me took a lot of nerve. His campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again," implies that somehow we stopped being great. I just don't believe that! Just take a look at the following graphic:
Regardless of the source, these numbers represent truths. I don't for the life of me see how they reflect an America that's not great. Trump supporters like to say that now we're going to know how they felt for the last 8 years. My question to them is, Do you have amnesia? Look at the numbers from 2009, when President Obama first took office. That was the culmination of a different 8 years, where two wars were fought, one under the pretext of the one of the biggest lies ever told, complete enrichment of the oligarchy (remember Halliburton?), and the worst economic times we've faced since the Great Depression. It's funny that I never ever hear the name Bush come up in any conversation. Make America Great Again? Obama did that!
And now we have the promise of more division for at least the next four years as Trump and his largely unqualified collection of billionaires in his Cabinet will methodically dismantle all that Obama has done. It has already begun with the push to repeal Obamacare. Just like in the past, we believe that you voted against your own best interests and don't even know it. That's what has been blatantly shocking about this whole thing. But that's just how we think and only time will tell. To all of you Trumpys out there, I sincerely hope I am wrong. Maybe, just maybe, Mr. Trump will work to Keep America Great, but I, and the millions who marched yesterday, do have cause for concern.
Atlanta
*Check out an impressive photo essay on the Women's Marches held throughout the world yesterday on NYTimes.
Monday, June 13, 2016
The Gun Angle to the Orlando Tragedy
The man in the picture above is 20 year-old James Wesley Howell, from Jeffersonville, Indiana. In case you may not have heard, Howell was arrested yesterday in Santa Monica, California after police uncovered a virtual arsenal of weapons in his car, including "three assault rifles, high capacity magazines, and ammunition and a five-gallon bucket with chemicals that can be used to make an explosive device (WLKY)." He told authorities he was heading to the L.A. Gay Pride Parade. Though he never revealed what he intended to do there, I think that after yesterday's tragedy in Orlando, we can only imagine. Thank God he was stopped and we never got to find out.
Of course, there's speculation that Howell was going to perform a similarly heinous mass attack to the one perpetrated by Omar Mateen, but we may never know the truth. For one thing, James Howell is bisexual and even has a boyfriend, so targeting gays may not have been his intent (though I have a contrary theory on that matter best saved for another time). What we do know is that a possible, potentially disastrous catastrophe was averted, and only hours after the horrors that unfolded first came to light.
Should all LGBT's be alarmed at this news? Perhaps, but as I said in my previous post, what happened in Orlando is not about one issue alone. We should all find it troubling that this young, 20 year-old man had all of these terribly deadly weapons in his possession. Why does anyone need three assault rifles? For protection? Should our answer be to have assault rifles of our own so that we can defend ourselves against someone like James Wesley Howell or Omar Mateen? Maddeningly, some people think so.
Throughout history, mankind has come up with some of the most incredible of inventions, technologies to help us survive, to get around, to entertain us, but there is one invention that I wish never happened, and that is the invention of the gun. Aside from the most incredulous number of them in existence today, the gun is responsible for a lot more harm than we ever even think about.
As a teacher to youngsters who are not only learning history, math and science, but our language as well, I have to explain things to them in the simplest of terms so that they'll get it. And sometimes when you explain things in such a manner, everything becomes ridiculously clear.
Two of the greatest human tragedies in history can be attributed to the gun: slavery and the genocide of the Native American. Think about it. When the European colonizers went to Africa to gather slaves for hard labor in the New World, how were they able to do so? It's simple, they had guns and the African peoples did not. It's the same with the Native Americans. Bows and arrows, or guns? Imagine if guns did not exist during the colonization of North and South America. Would we exist as we do today? Like I said, simple yet clearly true.
The Good Ole Second Amendment
There has been so much said on both sides of the aisle about the Second Amendment to the Constitution that I will not tackle the issue too deeply here. If you'd like to read some informative pieces from non-partisan authors, I suggest you do a Google search for 'origins of the Second Amendment.' I will reiterate what I said earlier, that it was written in a very different time, under very different circumstances, and since the Constitution is supposed to be a living, breathing document that changes with the changing times, then it needs to be scrutinized, and sooner rather than later.
During the Revolutionary War, the colonists did not have a well-trained, cohesive army. They were up against the strongest professional military in the world and so were very mismatched in their struggle for independence. The average citizen was at the mercy of random British military units and so having the right to defend themselves as such was necessary for the times. The organization of local militias in such circumstances, was the original purpose of the Amendment.
Of course these days the Second Amendment has taken on a whole new interpretation. There are no superior armies walking amongst us, and we have one of the most sophisticated militaries in the world. Today, we view the right to bear arms as a defense against anyone who would do us harm, like Omar Mateen or James Howell or pretty much anyone out there who's got one...and that's a lot! Did that happen yesterday, or during any other of these horrific massacres that have taken place over the past twenty years? How many murder attempts have been thwarted because the victim had a gun? I wonder even if that's a realistic statistic to find, but I'd bet it'd be far less than any gun supporter would lead us to believe.
In my research for this post, I Googled "number of guns per country statistics," and I found that the way it is counted is per hundred people. Not surprisingly, the U.S. leads the pack by a large margin with 88.8 guns owned out of every 100 people. Next up is Yemen (54.8), Switzerland (45.7), Finland (45.3), and Serbia (37.8). Though the United States represents less than 5% of the world's population, we carry 35-50% of the world's civilian owned guns at an alarming 270 million owned privately.
I was surprised at some of the countries on this list, like Switzerland and Finland, as you might be. There is a difference, though. The U.S. also represents the highest firearm homicide rate, as well, wheres none of these other countries even make the top ten. Why is that?
Please note that I am not a professional journalist and I realize that statistics like these can be spun and analyzed in virtually any way a spin-meister wants to spin them. Simply put, though, that's a lot of damned guns and a lot of unnecessary murders, too, just like those poor souls who lost their lives just yesterday at the hands of guns.
The Gun Angle to the Orlando Tragedy
Of course, commentary on both sides of the aisle on that good old Second Amendment argument have abounded and will continue to in the coming weeks. It's sad that this issue comes up way too often these days, yet nothing ever changes. Yesterday's press conference on the Pulse shootings by President Barack Obama was his 16th such meeting with reporters during his eight years as President.
That's a sad fact, and to reiterate what I said yesterday, I don't remember any of the others being called terrorism.
The graphic above shows just a few of the too many mass shootings that have happened in this country over the past 17 years. High schools. Elementary schools. Universities. Movie theaters. Even churches. Yet, there are many in this country who continue to cry out that the answer to this problem is leave us to our guns. If guns never existed, there'd be 156 people in this image alone who would still be alive today. It's pitiful and it's embarrassing!
A couple of years ago, I wrote of an experience I had in Nashville during one of my Roller Coaster Road Trips with two pals:
Practically everywhere we went, there was this sign in the front window indicating "no handguns allowed." I though it was odd, and since the girl was so friendly I thought I'd ask her about it...
Do that many people really carry around guns?
Well, no, not around here in Nashville, but yeah, in the surrounding areas. Sure.
She seemed surprised that we don't carry guns around on our person in New York. I wouldn't even think of it, unless there was maybe a zombie apocalypse. Well, there are more murders in New York than Tennessee, so maybe....oh, wait a second! There are way more people in New York than there are in Tennessee, and actually the gun murder rate, as a percentage, is higher there than it is here.
Yup, just like I thought...more guns, more murders!
Clearly, what happened yesterday in Orlando, Florida exposes several terrible realities of our society, and one of the most critical is our love affair with guns. I only hope that this time, more people will tire of these terrible events and start doing something about it. I don't hold much optimism, but I do hope.
Stay tuned for more on this mess of a mess, and in the meantime, check out yesterday's post:
The First of Several Angles to the Orlando Tragedy: Terrorism
Sources:
Gun violence in the United States by state - Wikipedia
The Top 5 Countries with the Most Guns (firearms) Per Capita - Top Five of Anything
U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparisons
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Rest in Peace and in Power Leelah Alcorn
By now, hopefully, many of you know this face. If not, then please read on. The person in the picture above is one Leelah Alcorn, a 17 year-old transgendered youth who just a couple of weeks ago took her own life by jumping in front of a tractor-trailer on Interstate 71 near her home in Kings Mills, Ohio. In a suicide note left on her Tumblr, she told readers:
Please don’t be sad, it’s for the better. The life I would've lived isn't worth living in… because I’m transgender.
The oh so tragic and premature death underscores a huge bias that's still out there, and though Leelah places a lot of blame on her parents for the intense misery she lived under which caused her to take such drastic action, the sad truth is that misery might've followed her throughout her life. Trans-gendered people are probably the one group of people that incite the most bias in society, even among gays, and that needs to stop.
In the LGBT world, transgendered people seem to be the low ones on the totem pole, at least from my own personal experience. That is, they're the minority within the minority, and other than through the light-hearted roles some of them play in clubs as drag queens, they're looked upon negatively for their 'fem' qualities. Many of us see them as different than us, yet we all should know they're born the way they are just like we believe we're born as we are.
Of course, if many gay people feel this way, then why shouldn't we expect the general population to look upon transgenderism as something to look down upon, as well? Just like so many other gay and lesbian youth who take their own lives because of a societal norm that their very existence is wrong, then so too would transgendered like Leelah do the same. And they've got it worse! Leelah continues...
I could go into detail explaining why I feel that way, but this note is probably going to be lengthy enough as it is. To put it simply, I feel like a girl trapped in a boy’s body, and I've felt that way ever since I was 4. I never knew there was a word for that feeling, nor was it possible for a boy to become a girl, so I never told anyone and I just continued to do traditionally “boyish” things to try to fit in.
When I was 14, I learned what transgender meant and cried of happiness. After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was. I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn't make mistakes, that I am wrong. If you are reading this, parents, please don’t tell this to your kids. Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don’t ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won’t do anything but make them hate them self. That’s exactly what it did to me.
Does this sound familiar to any of my gay readers? It should. Yeah, we've all heard this sort of thing before, haven't we? Oh, religion! That's got a lot to do with all of this. Not to get on my soap box, but if deeply religious people would just trust in their God and believe that he made everybody the way he made them for a reason, then a lot of our problems would be solved. Leave the judging to Him and treat everyone as they are, not as you'd like them to be.
Perhaps a death such as Leelah's will work to change minds and hearts. Time will tell, but there's already been a social media blitz by supporters, and even a Cincinnati Councilman, Chris Seelbach, weighed in on Alcorn's death with an impassioned speech to the LGBT community...
The truth is, we as a society have failed you. What I know for sure is that with every day, it may not feel like it gets better, but I know that you can get through it. You're the person God made you to be, and you have the strength to persevere. It will not be easy. It may not get better with every day, but you can do it -- I know you can.
He then added, You are not alone. ... You can live. You can live. You can live.
Indeed. Perhaps Leelah's tragic death will effect some change in how transgendered people are treated in our society, much in the way Matthew Shepard's death did for the gay community at large, especially in their youth. She concludes her suicide note with a plea for change, a call for action which many have already begun...
The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren't treated the way I was, they’re treated like humans, with valid feelings and human rights. Gender needs to be taught about in schools, the earlier the better. My death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say “that’s fucked up” and fix it. Fix society. Please.
Goodbye,
(Leelah) Josh Alcorn
Rest in peace, and in power Leelah!
Monday, August 4, 2014
The Allure of Cherry Grove as a Gay Man's Playground Diminishes
On Saturday night I went to Cherry Grove for the second time in three days. I haven't gone there this year as much as I usually do in the summer, but judging from these last two visits, I'm not really that upset about it. You see, there's been a definite change in the place over the past few years, one that's becoming more and more a deterrent for us gay men, and I'm starting to think it's gotten to the point where to me it's become decidedly sad. Both evenings were disappointing, a beautiful, but empty Thursday evening and a dreary (okay, I'll give you that one!) Saturday with drag shows and lots of gay women and straights gave this gay man a reason to rethink going to the Grove regularly anymore
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I've been going to Fire Island regularly now for more than thirty years. When I was partnered, Joe and I would usually go only on holiday weekends in the summer, and since I'm single, I've become much more of a regular on Saturday nights in the summer. Like anything else, things invariably change over time, but not always for the better. The crowds that frequent the Grove, as well as the bar scene and the cost, are much different today than they were in years past and neither bodes well for the town's future.
The landscape of the nightlife at Cherry Grove has both dwindled and morphed into something entirely different than it once was. Where there was once at least four nightclubs in this writer's memory, there are now only two. Unfortunately, the recession of the mid-2000's hit the town hard and both The Monster (then Tides) and Sunsets sadly shuttered their doors forever during the decade. All that's left are Ice Palace and Cherrys on the Bay, and even these two clubs are much different today than in the past.
Back in the 90's, when I really started to spend more time at the Grove, Ice Palace was THE place to be. The bar was a genuine dance club that saw plenty of crowds both at the bar, on the outside deck, and on the dance floor. Today, the club's main Saturday night attraction is The Porshe Show, followed by a Saturday night dance party that hardly fills up the cavernous dance floor in the place. Now Porshe is a very entertaining performer, but not the type of entertainment clubbers like me are looking for. Daniel Nardicio's Friday night underwear parties attract troves of gay men from the Pines, and is the one regular event that hearkens back to the old days. Cherrys on the Bay is the other bar/club at the Grove, the one I most frequent. Ever since the Ice Palace started to wane from its glory days as a dance club and the other bars closed, Cherrys became the catch-all for people who want to let loose and have a good time.
Traditionally, Cherrys was always known to me and my friends as the "lesbian bar," the one place where ladies of the gay persuasion would gather. I don't even think I ever went there until a few years ago, after I started frequenting Fire Island more in my secondary single days, but once I started going, it became my place.
The lesbian majority at Cherry's has remained throughout, and almost always the women outnumber the men at least two to one. I know friends and acquaintances who don't like going to the Grove because of that. I don't exactly love it either, but there are guys who do go there and I do often have fun when I go. But there's another reason a lot of people I know have stopped going to the Grove and that's the straights.
Straight people have always frequented the Grove in the evenings, and it's never been a big deal, but these days there seems to be more and more of them. Between the lesbians and the straights, it's no wonder why gay guys no longer make the Grove their hangout like they once did.
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Shows like Porche's, and the Ice Palace's famous Sunday afternoon pool shows are one thing that attracts the straights in droves, but from interactions I've had with many of them over the years, they also come because they see gay men as a safe folly with whom they can have some real fun. I'm sorry straight people, but you have the whole world to hang out in. Why you gotta rain on my gay parade?
There is one other reason I think the crowds, and especially the crowds of gay men, have dwindled at Cherry Grove is economic. Though cover charges have halted, the prices at the ferry booth, parking lot and bars have jumped significantly. Where I used to bring around $80 for a day at the Grove, I am now bringing even more. The price of drinks has risen astronomically. I bought a round of three drinks the other day at Cherrys and it cost me a whopping $38. I mean, I know all about inflation, but this is ridiculous!
Perhaps the rise in prices is caused by the less than stellar attendance I've witnessed on my jaunts over to the Grove during the summer, but if I'm going to be spending that much money over there, I should have reason enough to want to go there. Smaller crowds, and filled in large part with lesbians and straights for that matter, do not warrant the regular Saturday night jaunts I used to love so much. Perhaps it's time for this man to start frequenting the Pines.
Now, I hope that no one takes any offense to what I've said here. I still love Cherry Grove and I will still visit. I've had a lot of great times over there and it will always have a special place in my heart. Besides, I'm not sure what the folks over there could do, even if they wanted to, to revamp the place as a prime destination for gay men...lesbians and straights have money, too! Don't get me wrong, though, I have nothing against either lesbians or straights, but when I want to go clubbing, part of the allure is to meet someone and neither of those groups fit that particular bill for me.
Cherry Grove Nightlife
The landscape of the nightlife at Cherry Grove has both dwindled and morphed into something entirely different than it once was. Where there was once at least four nightclubs in this writer's memory, there are now only two. Unfortunately, the recession of the mid-2000's hit the town hard and both The Monster (then Tides) and Sunsets sadly shuttered their doors forever during the decade. All that's left are Ice Palace and Cherrys on the Bay, and even these two clubs are much different today than in the past.
Back in the 90's, when I really started to spend more time at the Grove, Ice Palace was THE place to be. The bar was a genuine dance club that saw plenty of crowds both at the bar, on the outside deck, and on the dance floor. Today, the club's main Saturday night attraction is The Porshe Show, followed by a Saturday night dance party that hardly fills up the cavernous dance floor in the place. Now Porshe is a very entertaining performer, but not the type of entertainment clubbers like me are looking for. Daniel Nardicio's Friday night underwear parties attract troves of gay men from the Pines, and is the one regular event that hearkens back to the old days. Cherrys on the Bay is the other bar/club at the Grove, the one I most frequent. Ever since the Ice Palace started to wane from its glory days as a dance club and the other bars closed, Cherrys became the catch-all for people who want to let loose and have a good time.
Traditionally, Cherrys was always known to me and my friends as the "lesbian bar," the one place where ladies of the gay persuasion would gather. I don't even think I ever went there until a few years ago, after I started frequenting Fire Island more in my secondary single days, but once I started going, it became my place.
A Gay Man's Deterrents
The lesbian majority at Cherry's has remained throughout, and almost always the women outnumber the men at least two to one. I know friends and acquaintances who don't like going to the Grove because of that. I don't exactly love it either, but there are guys who do go there and I do often have fun when I go. But there's another reason a lot of people I know have stopped going to the Grove and that's the straights.
Straight people have always frequented the Grove in the evenings, and it's never been a big deal, but these days there seems to be more and more of them. Between the lesbians and the straights, it's no wonder why gay guys no longer make the Grove their hangout like they once did.
That's my pal Laura Kim with Porsche in 2012
Show Me the Money
There is one other reason I think the crowds, and especially the crowds of gay men, have dwindled at Cherry Grove is economic. Though cover charges have halted, the prices at the ferry booth, parking lot and bars have jumped significantly. Where I used to bring around $80 for a day at the Grove, I am now bringing even more. The price of drinks has risen astronomically. I bought a round of three drinks the other day at Cherrys and it cost me a whopping $38. I mean, I know all about inflation, but this is ridiculous!
Perhaps the rise in prices is caused by the less than stellar attendance I've witnessed on my jaunts over to the Grove during the summer, but if I'm going to be spending that much money over there, I should have reason enough to want to go there. Smaller crowds, and filled in large part with lesbians and straights for that matter, do not warrant the regular Saturday night jaunts I used to love so much. Perhaps it's time for this man to start frequenting the Pines.
Now, I hope that no one takes any offense to what I've said here. I still love Cherry Grove and I will still visit. I've had a lot of great times over there and it will always have a special place in my heart. Besides, I'm not sure what the folks over there could do, even if they wanted to, to revamp the place as a prime destination for gay men...lesbians and straights have money, too! Don't get me wrong, though, I have nothing against either lesbians or straights, but when I want to go clubbing, part of the allure is to meet someone and neither of those groups fit that particular bill for me.
Friday, February 15, 2013
A Message from Your Kids' Teachers
Vacation! After what feels like some of the longest weeks of my life since the last vacation, Winter Break is finally here. Many of my poor fellow teachers have had to give up their breaks because of time lost from Hurricane Sandy...some even gave up President's Day. Ever since becoming a teacher ten years ago, I've been especially sensitive to how my profession is vilified. Well, here's a great piece from Jimmy Kimmel Live that gives it right back to where a lot of the blame on the state of education belongs...
This'll show you why these past weeks have been so grueling.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Reflections on Tragedy and God
The last I left off with you, I had been telling you about the long week I've just experienced. Now that it's Saturday evening and I've had a full day to digest it all and come to a sense of normalcy again, I'm feeling much better. It's really amazing how time really does make things better and just a cool 24 hours from craziness, things don't seem as crazy as they were.
This is a really difficult post to make. All of the things I'm going to refer to here are of a highly personal nature, and I need to be as sensitive as I can to not say too much, so I hope you understand. I share this here because the nature and scope of the things I want to share are about life, and how to live it...
Mourning Children
Very sad day today and a reminder to appreciate all you have. Just remember, we all have our own problems, but there's always someone out there who's got bigger ones! Don't sweat small stuff...
This was a status I posted on Facebook sometime Thursday afternoon. It was written somewhere in between a mass mourning and a personal shock. As many of you know, I am a teacher by day, and I absolutely love my job. I love kids and I am both proud and honored to be able to give back to society by working with children and helping to guide them through the formative years of their lives. Working with young people is rewarding, frustrating, joyful, and so much more, and this week I got to experience some of the pain that comes with being up close and personal with children on a daily basis.
Earlier this week, a young student in my school passed away after collapsing on a field a few days earlier. He was only fourteen years of age and from what I could see this entire week, he was a very likable and popular young man, not only with his fellow students, but with his teachers, as well. You can imagine the enormous amount of grief that was expressed that morning and the entire day after his death.
After a sullen assembly in the auditorium, my students and I sat down and discussed the tragedy. I reminded them that they didn't have to know somebody to feel sorry for them, and that was the case for me, too. Even though I did not know the young man personally, I could feel, and still do, the enormous sense of loss associated with his death. My heart goes out to his family and his friends.
Questioning God
Contemplating this tragedy has once again brought me to a place where I feel I have to question the existence of God. I mean, how could God allow such a thing to happen to an innocent young soul, who had yet to live his life? Some say that when a person is taken too soon it's because God needed them, but I still don't get it. Then something else happened.
The death of this young man was but one tragedy I experienced recently. Over the past several weeks, I've borne witness to the suffering of other innocent children at the hands of the violent, and I feel helpless in trying to make things better for them. Perhaps I just have to accept that I am powerless to prevent such things.
All I know is we all need to appreciate the things that we have, while we have them. I believe the timing of these things in my life has made the Thanksgiving season even more relevant, and a reminder to practice one of the Keys of Life: Live in the Present. We all need to live life not dwelling upon the past or contemplating the future, but always in the present, aware and appreciative of the things around us. Again, do not sweat the small stuff!
Here is a piece of poetry I penned after this week's events. It will soon appear on the Yahoo Contributor Network, but I present it here first...
Tweet
This is a really difficult post to make. All of the things I'm going to refer to here are of a highly personal nature, and I need to be as sensitive as I can to not say too much, so I hope you understand. I share this here because the nature and scope of the things I want to share are about life, and how to live it...
Mourning Children
Very sad day today and a reminder to appreciate all you have. Just remember, we all have our own problems, but there's always someone out there who's got bigger ones! Don't sweat small stuff...
This was a status I posted on Facebook sometime Thursday afternoon. It was written somewhere in between a mass mourning and a personal shock. As many of you know, I am a teacher by day, and I absolutely love my job. I love kids and I am both proud and honored to be able to give back to society by working with children and helping to guide them through the formative years of their lives. Working with young people is rewarding, frustrating, joyful, and so much more, and this week I got to experience some of the pain that comes with being up close and personal with children on a daily basis.
Earlier this week, a young student in my school passed away after collapsing on a field a few days earlier. He was only fourteen years of age and from what I could see this entire week, he was a very likable and popular young man, not only with his fellow students, but with his teachers, as well. You can imagine the enormous amount of grief that was expressed that morning and the entire day after his death.
After a sullen assembly in the auditorium, my students and I sat down and discussed the tragedy. I reminded them that they didn't have to know somebody to feel sorry for them, and that was the case for me, too. Even though I did not know the young man personally, I could feel, and still do, the enormous sense of loss associated with his death. My heart goes out to his family and his friends.
Questioning God
Contemplating this tragedy has once again brought me to a place where I feel I have to question the existence of God. I mean, how could God allow such a thing to happen to an innocent young soul, who had yet to live his life? Some say that when a person is taken too soon it's because God needed them, but I still don't get it. Then something else happened.
The death of this young man was but one tragedy I experienced recently. Over the past several weeks, I've borne witness to the suffering of other innocent children at the hands of the violent, and I feel helpless in trying to make things better for them. Perhaps I just have to accept that I am powerless to prevent such things.
All I know is we all need to appreciate the things that we have, while we have them. I believe the timing of these things in my life has made the Thanksgiving season even more relevant, and a reminder to practice one of the Keys of Life: Live in the Present. We all need to live life not dwelling upon the past or contemplating the future, but always in the present, aware and appreciative of the things around us. Again, do not sweat the small stuff!
Here is a piece of poetry I penned after this week's events. It will soon appear on the Yahoo Contributor Network, but I present it here first...
Why God?
I believe in God
Sometimes I just don't understand Him
Especially in times like these when things make no sense
Tragedy and suffering afflicting the children
A young boy
An unexpected tragedy
Taken too soon
Why would He allow that to happen?
Some would say it was just his time
A young angel called to do His service
Perhaps this is true, yet it is still tragic
But what about the living who suffer?
A young girl, scarred for life
Unconscionable acts perpetrated against her
Mistreated, abused, unloved
Why would He allow that to happen?
Suffering such is an even bigger tragedy than death
Innocent souls tortured in perpetuality,
Body, mind and soul
God save them from their misery, not!
Yes, I still believe in God
Sometimes I just don't understand Him
Perhaps I'm not supposed to
But I wish He wouldn't allow these things to happen
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