Edge of the Wilderness

Randall, this just maybe my all-time favorite post from you. It speaks to me on so many levels. Thank you.

Global Sojourns Photography

“Standing on the precipice of a wilderness unknown. Alone. Resistance, both past and present, pushes from all sides.” I stare at the words written and wonder what it would feel like to walk along a razor’s edge, day-after-day, your existence always in the balance.

My room fills with the warm yellow hues of the evening sun inviting me for a walk, but I am paralyzed. Mystified by this invisible force of power used to manipulate people. Used without empathy. Used without acceptance of responsibility.

From the American Indians pushed around in the 19th century, to the American People pushed around outside the White House just a few months ago in the 21st century ~ use of force, power without responsibility.

I’ve come to realize while this is a beautiful world, rich in love and life, it is a beauty balanced by hardship for those not in power.

There’s a sentence…

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United

Dark Matter

You could just pretend
it’s a united country.
That has worked for you for years.

You could tell yourself everything
from the ice cream truck to the singer at the ball game
was singing our song.

You could admire the colors in the flag
without ever conjuring the words
“bleeding out,” “erasure,” or “suffocation.”

You could stay home just long enough
to claim it’s a hardship not to work
at the job you whine about seven days a week

but you’ll do it for your family
and your country — and what
are your neighbors’ names, anyway?

You could watch the gunners and bombers
and sigh about how the country’s fallen so far
and never even think of bounties placed on scalps,

a Klansman serving in the Senate for decades,
murderers laughing at their trials while in the courtroom,
everyone forgetting all of that happened

because that’s what “united” means.
United in memory loss. United…

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Danny the Dog Changes the Course of History #4th-of-July🗽#SecondCivilWarLetters #humor

Great Barb, next time let’s take off the gloves! Seriously excellent and I hope you will pop by here on July 14th and hopefully have a laugh.

Barb Taub

[NOTE from Barb: With this year’s Fourth of July approaching, I know I’m not the only one conflicted about the holiday. Like so many others, I’m facing the reality of how far we still have to go just to approach being the country so many of us already thought we were. But I’m also in awe of the Americans who took to the streets to protest the ways our country has fallen so short of our self-image. At the same time the protesters are affirming their belief that we could and should and need to become that country, with “liberty and justice for all” and not just for all who have the right skin color, gender, and religion. So I’m wishing my readers more than fireworks and a barbeque this year. I wish you the country we were always supposed to be. That really would be a Fourth of…

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Night on the town

“People who are homeless are not social inadequates. They are people without homes.”    – Sheila McKechnie

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” – Albert Einstein

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked, and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.”    – Mother Teresa

 

Night on the town

 

Hunched slightly forward

He shuffles

From the steps

Of the coffee house

An old yarn cap

Pulled down

Hiding shaggy grey hair

Hands tremble

Clinging to a small paper cup

Hand out coffee

Black skin

Mingles with the night

His slight form

Hovers over

The un-cleared table

On the sidewalk

A ragged coat

Nearly swallows him

Turning cautiously

Side to side

He claims a half-eaten baguette

As his own

Huddled tightly

In a white plastic chair

He savors this feast

Morsel by morsel

Plucked from a hiding place

Beneath his arm

Tonight will be good

Without the pangs

Of hunger

He can brave the cold

 

Bisous,

Léa

Crying Child Monument

As one who has buried a child, I know the pain all too well.

Un_maestro

This monument was constructed to commemorate the children in Jamaica who’s lives have been cut short due to vile, callous individuals who in truth deserve to be eliminated from the face of this Earth,
It began on September 2008 when eleven year old Ananda Dean was abducted and subsequently slaughtered leaving the nation in a shock as the search for this missing girl remained televised up to the point where her body was finally discovered,
Surely while heartbroken many of us wouldn’t fully be able to comprehend the emptiness and grief experienced by her parents, siblings and immediate loved ones.
While nationally renowned it is also a fact that she is merely one of many children who have lost their lives on account of forces lacking empathy, compassion and values; as of 2016 the monument has officially ran out of space covered with the names of children who met their…

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Oppose Racism — charles french words reading and writing

Charles, thank you for saying what shouldn’t need to be said. Unfortunately, the malignancy is rampant and fueled by the swamp.

 

(https://pixabay.com) No matter the political party to which you might belong, no matter where you fall on the political spectrum, racism is completely unacceptable in the United States of America. Donald Trump, who has a history of racist tweets and behavior recently attacked Congressman Elijah Cummings in a way that can only be racist. “As […]

via Oppose Racism — charles french words reading and writing

For Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892 – 1984)

What will we do on that day? That day is here.

Scribbled Verse

For Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892 – 1984)

when,

the hushed rage of prejudice rejoices in triumphant pomp and hateful ceremony,

and,

the silent dagger of complicit racism plunges deep into the soul of a world bereft of hope,

and,

the long knife of embraced apathy twists and turns,

then,

perhaps we’ll open our opaque eyes,

and perhaps then we’ll open our sewed-up mouths,

and perhaps only then will we whimper in mock shock and startled surprise,

for,

the festering hate that spirals around us,

in the fertile minds of quasi-religious bigotry,

is unafraid,

and speaks in the loudest baritone.

2.

Yet,

we accept,

we acquiesce,

we wish it all away,

but,

there will come that time when the lines are drawn,

when the purest hearts of silently smiling bigotry will hold the world in their sway,

with their cherubic, agreeable arguments sprinkled with pieces of fact that will kill, rape…

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L’amour – Creed of Greed

Once again, a challenge from friends at fandango: https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/79388113/posts/1958222579  This may not have been the intended response but where the muse directed. 

“It is the logic of consumerism that undermines the values of loyalty and permanence and promotes a different set of values that is destructive of family life.” – Christopher Lasch

“If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without them knowing it.”                                                             – Edward Bernays

 

–

 

L’amour – Creed of greed (Love for sale)

A fortunate few
Born to this estate
Others spend their lives
On the quest

Many will promise it
If you wear their clothes
Buy their perfume, make-up
Nothing to do with who you are
That inadequate lump of clay

Corporations take you to the fountain
Where love is hidden
Yet I warn you
It is beyond their reach
Cannot find what they don’t comprehend

Consumerism is a lethal cliff
Closer and closer to the edge
You buy, buy, buy
The next item will complete you
Financing the creed of greed
It will bring you down.

Bisous,
Léa

One-Liner Wednesday — Home of the Brave

This, That, and the Other

“This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.”

Reporter and Peabody Award Recipient
Elmer Davis

I found out about this quote from fellow blogger Léa at Found In France. I’d never heard of Elmer Davis, so I googled him and learned that he was a news reporter, author, the Director of the United States Office of War Information during World War II, as well as a Peabody Award recipient.

Davis had been a reporter and editorial writer for The New York Times before joining CBS radio as a newscaster. In 1942, Davis was appointed to head the Office of War Information, where he won respect for his handling of official news. His liberal stance, however, especially his opposition to military censorship, generated controversy. In 1945 he resumed his career as a news broadcaster, this time with ABC, until 1953…

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Open letter to all Leaders – Time’s up

Incorrectly reblogged from another source, I stand corrected and bring you to Anna’s own blog. If you haven’t been here before, it is time! It is truly a favorite.

Annas Art - FärgaregårdsAnna

If you wanna spread this letter, you are welcome to share it worldwide. Tag it with #timesup if you want. If you want to make a translation of the text to other languages and share it, do it. We all have to help out saving our planet. This is one way among millions to help.

The image is free to share.

Anna

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