Cup of Coffee
Good friend and fellow Wide Awakes blogger GM Roper of Gm's Corner has shared some excellent news with us concerning being Cancer free on his 60th birthday no less...He is retiring the medical category so stop on by and help him celebrate big time!
Twas the night before Easter and all through the house...The eggs are all colored, the baskets filled, and my heart is heavy and worn. How do I write...How do I?
As has been my experience before, I find prodding as well as comfort in the blogosphere and the Wide Awakes community. Over at Cao's I see a beautiful rose in honor of Terri and the roses that will be placed at Michael Schiavo's home in protest. Eric of Vince Aut Morire inspires with this post and his Wide Awakes post Blood, Toil, Tears And Sweat .
Perhaps the greatest comfort and inspiration came from an e-mail from Kender of Kender's Musings: (printed with honor and permission):after commenting on Eric's fantastic post he wrote:..
I believe I can speak for almost all of us, if not every one of us, when I say
We Are Tired!!
We are Disheartened.
We are Crestfallen and our Hearts Ache.
It is a sad irony that on the eve of the day that Christianity celebrates the Resurrection of its' Savior that we have been forced to accept the unacceptable.
That, on this night before we rejoice the promise of Life Renewed and Eternal Life, we must dry eyes that well up with tears for the life of an innocent woman who was the victim of evil men and the pawn in a game that would see us led down a dark and evil road.Tomorrow is Easter. Spend the day with loved ones, and let not the sorrow that grasps your hearts with a heavy hand cause you to forget that, though this battle may be lost, there will be more to come.
I choose to believe that had Terri known of our feelings, our words, our actions, our Love and our hearts that surely she would have said,
"Weep not for me good people, but neither forget me when yet again you shall be called to battle the forces of darkness. Instead use the memory of me to steel yourselves and carry on the fight, for the very future of all that is Good and Right may depend upon your resolve, your fortitude and your Faith."
Yes, this I choose to believe. Rest my friends. There is much yet to be done.
Well said and greatly appreciated...
My prayers and thoughts are with Terri and her family, who have shown me faces of faith, strength, courage, and grace.
Blessed Be
My View of the World has the lengthy audio snippet (via the Drudge Show) of Terri Schiavo with her father after her feeding tube was removed Friday.
As I sat mesmerized by the sounds and had to yes, struggle to hear and understand Terri's words, I sadly realized there are going to be a number of people who will sadly give a very different meaning to her voice than the meaning I and many others give her voice. Right before I listened to the audio, I was getting Nethan ready for bed. I told him it was time for bed and he made noises and sounds and a face that would let any parent know, he wasn't ready and was not going to have it. Good parents become attuned to their children's noises, utterances, and moods. Outsiders are at a severe disadvantage when trying to understand those who are compromised in any manner. Terri's sounds or words seem yet another example of how different people experience her life and the meaning her life has for all of us.
I am convinced there are a group of people who are highly uncomfortable with Terri's dependence and need for others to care for her and will disgustingly never have the capacity to give or take any meaning from her voice other than random guttural noises and groans. This group of people from the congress, senate, MSM, and bloggers seem more intent on seeing Terri as an example of a"right to die", a not have to "live like this", and an issues of privacy case than someone who gives great meaning to others in her life and who should not have Michael Schiavo, George Felos, and Judge Greer interfering in HER LIFE. People who most certainly NOW all have more interest in her death than her living. The fact several Florida courts have found hearsay testimony Terri would not want to "live like this" clear and convincing is in my opinion worthy of contempt and federal intervention.
There is not a single reason to believe she is suffering...with her feeding tube in place of course...
There appears to be a group of trolls and bloggers and even a few readers of my own who are intent on seeing her and hearing her as a vegetable.
A recent e-mail (I didn't ask if I could reprint it, and he is a relatively frequent I believe reader and respected by me so won't print his email) wrote me... which I knew of course was coming even with all the disclaimers I have provided along the way...
Is it appropriate for a therapist to diagnose a person without ever having met him?
I have been very careful to not diagnose him. Early on I kind of pussy-footed around a bit and then did indeed become more specific with my thoughts and reflections. I have several therapists who read and have been requested to keep me in line if they feel at all if I cross that line..
Especially when you are picking a choosing evidence to fit your theory? For example, if Michael is really involved in Terri's condition, why wouldn't he want to keep her alive? You can't be convicted of murder if your victim isn't dead. Why hasn't he taken the $10 million? Etc...but that's really not the point.
I have not at all picked and chosen evidence to fit my theory. I have taken a great deal of documents, quotes, and interviews into consideration. If anything, I would say I have been quite fair in seeing him and presenting him as a husband who did or does believe he loves his wife. I am always open for more information or thoughts. As far as why Michael wouldn't want Terri alive, I believe I briefly explained that in this post. Michael's court approved plan (despite Terri was raised and married in the Catholic church) is for immediate cremation upon her death. Many of us are going to of course work very hard to make certain that does not occur.
As far as the money offers, Michael is being honest when he says this is not about the money. He is most definitely defending his integrity. He has so distanced himself from the Terri he loved and married, this has over the years become about being seen in his eyes and the public eye as the "good & loving husband following her wishes". Taking millions of dollars from anyone would of course shatter that picture in the worlds eyes as well as the sense of his self he has integrated over the past decade of this battle. Also if you notice in interviews he refers to his disgust at Terri's parents keeping her alive even if it meant cutting off limbs. He finds that, as do many who objectify people as bodies, disgusting and reprehensible.
In my opinion, certain personality types find it very easy to toss the weak, needy, disabled and disfigured aside. It seems to follow, these personality types project their own discomfort at being vulnerable, needy, and trapped onto the elderly,disabled, and terminally ill. I am not
speaking with regards to actual physical pain and suffering. Nevertheless, some individuals indeed really do see suffering because they imagine or believe they would be suffering in that same experience. There is a profound discomfort and disdain with that which is not beautiful, healthy, and perfect.
For these types, movement from that place of personal discomfort means needing to stop seeing someone you love being weak, needy, disabled, or disfigured. You can't have your wife be alive and loved and enjoyed by her family and others because that would not fit with your sense of your own self and would mean you are a pretty shallow person if you couldn't stand being around your severely brain-damaged wife whom you took vows to love, cherish, and honor til death do you part. In this case, I believe it means convincing yourself, you are doing what your beloved would have wanted even if you know it is only what you would want if you were in that situation.
I just think that, in your desire to respect the life of Terri Schiavo (although I disagree that keeping her alive is the best way to respect her), you have done yourself a great disservice by attacking an innocent man. Please reconsider your position.
I considered a position before I knew all the facts I now know. I did reconsider my position after critical thinking and personal reflection on all the information I gathered. As I wrote in my previous post, I was not quick to villify "an innocent man". I have come to my own opinions based on what I have found, read, seen, and makes the most sense to me. I genuinely wish there would have been a thorough investigation years ago into Terri's collapse with the bonescan and other allegations completely explored.
I find it difficult to emphasize the loving,caring, and good side of this husband when he was so hell bent on seeing his wife dead he had the feeding tube removed all the while KNOWING Congress was taking action to keep the feeding tube in place. How loving is it to put his wife through THAT unnecessary procedure? Seems those actions speak Crystal Clear volumes and are more fitting with the other thoughts I have shared than of an "innocent man".
I maintain faith we will all see truth and justice finally come to pass in this case. I most certainly am not immune from being wrong or arrogant but I promise if I have been unfair or inappropriate in any fashion I will step up to the plate as promptly as possible to admit it. If my opinions or position are proven correct, I hope those of you who have considered me unfair or out of line will also come back to step up to the plate.
I have written before about my belief Michael Schiavo's history and pattern of behaviors and actions fit those of the type of an abusive man. Commentators on this blog and other blog(s) who read and view the press renditions and legal decisions by Greer regard Terri's family and friends as disgruntled and motivated to basically say and do anything to stop her murder via starvation and dehydration. I believe some project their own need and belief their own loving spouse knows their wishes best, would act according to their wishes, and would therefore greatly resent any family intervention in a situation like this.
I truly can appreciate the need to avoid unnecessarily villifying Michael Schiavo. I didn't easily come to my decision and choice to indeed villify his actions, behaviors, and especially now... his choice in murdering her. In fact, I found as I went through the early court documents and history of the case, I could see where people would consider it a stretch to even see him possibly guilty of hurting or harming Terri in anyway. His behaviors most certainly were those of a loving and caring husband for quite a while even after she was incapacitated. So how did I bring these loving and kind behaviors into an alignment with those of an abusive and controlling husband?
One of the perhaps most misunderstood things about abusive, controlling, narcissitic/borderline men is that they are not consistently 100% monsters through each and everyday of their day to day lives. The vast majority do have a conscience and can be quite loving for their own purposes. Additionally, they usually most display their pathology in intimate relationships where they experience emotional vulnerability as terrifying and threatening. The love-hate dynamic plays itself out in what we call in object-relations theory good object /bad object. Rage can be seen as coming from fear and worry of being either abandoned or the flip side, swallowed up out of existence by the object and thus rage can be seen as serving as a very primitive means and attempt at re-gaining a sense of control for sense of emotional safety.
There is a reason professionals call it a cycle of violence. There can be years between events of violence as well as mere hours or days. Unfortunately we see the cycle escalates over time without intervention and treatment. Also professionals time and time again see a pattern regarding behaviors on the part of the batterer. As an interesting aside and more evidence to myself as to nature of the pattern in abusers and those they abuse is that we also see the exact same patterns in same-sex intimate relationships.
With limited time on my lunch break, I will only cite a few examples from the media and Terri's family and friends here. I also understand there are a number of other incidents and experiences by others who experienced Michael's bullying and intimidation. This link is a good compilation of statements by Michael that also display his highly controlling nature. I would urge you to please read all information yourself. In my eyes I am not looking at one example or incident as an A-ha! moment...it is the gestalt I have written about before of an intimidating and controlling man who seems to fly into rages...
Let us get back for a moment as my time runs short as to how I was able to reconcile these things and more with regards to Michael being a loving husband and where we sit today concerned he may be allowed to murder her. I am writing now and speculating from my personal thoughts and beliefs and opinions. If you feel there is something I missed or want to bring to my attention to answer or clarify. Please do so. You are absolutely and obvisouly free to agree or disagree with any and all parts. Crystal Clear?
I believe that night in February 1990 it is possible it might have been a mixture between Michael strangling and suffocating her and her collapsing from the imbalance related to her Bulimia. I believe he may have known or had a feeling Terri was considering divorce or was feeling her emotionally separating from him. Perhaps he himself was feeling an ambivalence of loving her but blaming her for his own inadequacies or previous rages. If there was indeed a cycle of abuse going on, there may have been a slow on-going building of tension. Perhaps with regards to not getting pregnant, financial concerns, or something seemingly small like her 80$ hair cut and hair color. This may all have been building up inside with no means of constructively "working it out" earlier, the way healthy couples do as they face the never-ending line of problem-solving events in marriage and life.
Michael gets home late in the evening after a hard night of work at the bar/restaurant. Somehow...Obviously I am guessing here...something she said or did pissed him off...perhaps he was flirting with a pretty woman earlier at work and felt trapped being married...perhaps she got up to wretch or just was making too much noise for him as she used the bathroom and he was trying to fall asleep...whatever it is...
SNAP!
He goes into rage mode...How dare she?...Doesn't she know how hard he works?...He goes into this rage mode not necessarily with the intent to murder her...but he is huge and strong...she is small and weak...He just wants her to shut up and be quiet so he can get his well-desrved rest... ...She, perhaps because she has wretched recently, collapses completely because the stress of his smothering/strangling her on top of her recent wretching is too much for her stressed body...Or perhaps she may have struggled a bit but she just knows he really does love her and she really believes he will stop...His rage eventually comes to an end and there she is....What the heck has he done to the woman he loves??? What the heck has he done to his wife???
I can see how the good husband behaviors of Michael continued for quite a while from this point...Out of both guilt and love...Perhaps I will write further on that another time...
Cross posted at The Wide Awakes.
Although the arrogant-beyond-a-reasonable-doubt Judge Greer shoved his big ol' foot in his own mouth & that open door I wrote about ...I still have without the smallest bit of hesitation or doubt , complete faith Terri will not be murdered via starvation and dehydration. I am still saving for that bottle of Cristal. Let's be Crystal Clear...Judge Greer may think he can deny DCF the right to intervene and he may think he has interpreted the law to cover his grandiosity, pride, and ass but HE CAN NOT OUTRIGHT DENY DCF intervention. Nevertheless, it does not mean there is still not work to be done and tasks to be managed. Please see Contacts Who Can Make a Difference , Blogs For Terri,and Terri's Fight. Just frankly now I know I must also start saving enough money for when that waste of a bench warmer is rightfully impeached and held accountable..
Granted everything I am about to write comes with the following readers please beware tonight:
Here is a PDF of the actual evidence of Greer's audacity and HIS malevolence in trying to circumvent DCF's mandate to PROTECT Terri and INTERVENE regarding guardianship OF Terri. It definitely is full of a bunch of legalese, bluff and blunders and absurdity...It really is shocking...If it were earlier in the evening I would fisk it...I can bet the people in DCF are... if not snidely laughing at him right now in a "Oh you want to bring it on???" fashion...they are most definitely not going to just smile and swallow this gross mockery of their VERY PURPOSE and just slink back into losing children in the system. Nope...DCF definitely took a very needed risk in admitting they needed to and wanted to look at the previous reports of allegations in the context of new allegations. I am guessing they took it first to Greer to give him a way "out" as I wrote before..I am pretty certain DCF knows the truth about Michael and his type and I can't help but believe and feel they really want a chance to set things right...(or I guess for the cynically minded they want to avoid the legal case that will definitely ensue if she is murdered and they didn't protect her knowing there was reason and cause to remove Michael as her guardian) What they need to do now is to take it to another judge, a judge who knows the laws and doesn't interpret the laws in such an obscene and twisted fashion to get Terri representation &/or safety, or they could also complete their investigation very quickly and remove Terri's wannabe murderous by law only husband Michael Schiavo.
There is work to be done. We will keep the faith, do the work, and we will not fail.
For a more levelheaded and eloquent commentary please see Will Pride be the Fall of Judge Greer? over at Ravings of John C. A. Bambenek
The weather the past few days to a week have been absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous here in Ventura, Mexifornia. The sky is blue, the sun out, puffy white clouds, and temperature in the 70s. Days that years ago, I was able to smile, shake my head, and say "Yep, this is a big part of why I pay outrageous prices to rent..and will probably never be able to afford to buy a place on a single mom's income."
Having made the 112 mile round-trip drive from Santa Monica four days a week for 4 years, I moved to Ventura in 1997 after Bryceton was born. I was so used to driving through fields everyday to get to work I didn't really give it much thought and I guess if anything I thought it added a bit of quaintness and rural feeling to this city by the ocean. I didn't really think about the possible impact on our health to be surrounded by fields and the spraying of pesticides. I was happy my drive to work at a non-profit medical clinic was about 5 minutes. I have always enthusiastically and wholeheartedly and will always continue to wholeheartedly embrace the mission statement of my employer and work to serve the under-served. What joy and relief it was to also spend less time in the car, less money on gas, less money on car insurance, and more time with my infant son.
Over the past 2-3 years I started looking around at our surroundings and local politics (Ventura, Los Angeles, & Mexifornia) and started thinking and feeling very differently about what I see is going on around us. I have come to put it together into a different picture with a different meaning. A different meaning that although might be only personal in nature, I believe has implications for millions across Mexifornia and the United States of America.
What do you see when you look at this picture taken half a mile from my home?
This piece might be more Crystal Clear if you do a bit of background reading of my posts concerning Ceres Police Chief Art deWerk, Andres Raya, & Gangs (aka domestic terrorists in my mind). Those posts are linked below
The blogosphere and e-mail are as Forrest would remind us, a wonderful box of choclolates. "You never know what you're gonna get."
I started blogging and following this tragedy because I feel a strange and strong connection to a young man who was one of the few, the proud,... a Marine who served our country who was also sadly a gang member who never truly left home. For those gang members and gang affiliates I work with who are by their own expression open or encouraged by staff members to explore the military as an option, and seem in my opinion to be appropriate for the military, I loudly and consistently encourage them to enter the military as a way out of a dead-end choice as a gang homey. I am personally aware of a very small handful of success stories that did end up serving proudly in the military. I am also sadly and personally aware of multiple handfuls of stories of young men who are now in prison or headed there shortly who couldn't find a way out of the stupidity. For whatever it is worth, it is Crystal Clear to me, I would rather see one of the young men I work with die in service to our country than to die a meaningless death in cohoots and in service to his homeys.
Recently, as published in a post concerning a Long Beach gang killing and Police Chief de Werk, I included a forwarded email by Fred Heraman, a strong voice for the ACLU largely condemning Chief de Werk regarding the recent "gang sweeps" in Ceres. Crystal Clear to me from his first reply e-mail to me (when I asked for his thoughts and comments regarding the post), he is an extraordinarily brilliant, experienced, and opinionated man. He responded with a polite, thoughtful, and lengthy e-mail full of comments regarding the Andres Raya and gang sweep situation from people he himself corresponds with and encouraged me to use them &/or comment at my will and discretion (saved in a draft to perhaps be used!) . In the meanwhile this past week, Chief de Werk and a number of other community members held a gathering concerning racial tensions regarding the gang sweeps, which we all know how useful those types of meetings are...I later receieved an email from Mr. Herman which greatly surprised me and made me smile. Well of course almost absolutely every single question, comment, or e-mail I receive does that to me! I am absolutely thrilled and challenged to have him share his point of view which is so Crystal Clear different from my own.
As I read his experience of and take on the meeting,
"But then the Ceres participants were clearly divided into two camps, for want of a less simplistic label The Establishment and the victimized, many of whom left grumbling "this is not a community meeting.
...A former state legislator seated next to me called the proceedings "a waste of time." I agreed, suggesting that it was using a band-aid on a broken arm, an aspirin for a malignancy. The major issue, the sweeping of civil liberties under a carpet of blue, was simply ignored.
...A start, it seems to me, might be prosecuting crimes (murder, robbery, rape, tax evasion, embezzlement) and not the people with whom one associates ... or their tattoos. "
I found myself not only begrudgingly agreeing with a few of his points (not quoted here!) , I found myself wanting to suggest and ask the obviously quite absurd question,
"Just when was the last time the Nortenos or Surenos or Longos or Crips or Bloods or ANY gang ever invited Chief de Werk or ANY police department or officers to a meeting?"
It seems to me community after community, all the while well meaning, misses the difference between gangs and racial tension. Gang members, for the most part almost the whole part I know about , do not go up and shoot someone because they are a different race or color. They hit up people who they know are members of a rival gang or people they have questions or doubts about and want to know what they "claim".
I am angered by claims and accusations of the ACLU as well as community members who don't assist police officers in ridding their very neighborhoods of these yes, domestic terrorists. All involved and those sticking their noses in counterproductively would do well to remember and appreciate the rules each gangsta on probation agrees to and signs when he/she is released into the public. Every summation of probation RULES I have ever seen always includes but not limited to:
As I said, these are the very basics I am taking off the very top of my head....I promise you...if I learn the mandatory random searches are not of those on probation or I learn of things specifially wayyy out of control...I too would be screaming loudly... I just happen to have a great deal of knowledge and experience to know there are more than enough gangstas out there, yes in certain communities to keep law enforcement more than busy.
Greatest problem as exemplified by ganstas and sociopaths though is they don't care about our rules or any rules. What minimum rules you provide to keep others and their property safe and the rules they sign by their own agreement to be in society...really have little meaning. They really think the rules don't apply to them. Just to others. They think everyone tries to get away with as much as possible. Thus...as for the police... well of course all rules and more apply to THEM. The shared delusion is the police must be breaking the rules as well. If after curfew they are kicking back with their homeys at home or in a car without current registration just smokin' some chronic and they get questioned and the car taken away ...well the cops too simply must have done something inappropriate as well....Sheesh...
Yep ACLU, good thing we have that good old useful piece of paper...the constitution. Now if we could just get communities, the media, and the fringe ACLU to realize where there is smoke there is fire. Let's let the system that really values and follows the rules put out the fire so we are all safer.
Continue reading "Just How Many Times Has Chief de Clerk Been Invited to Gangsta Meetings?" »
Mexico's long time dream and entitlement with regards to annexing the Southwest is well-known to many of us in the Southwest who have been watching the invasion of illegal aliens over the past few decades and is becoming increasingly Crystal Clear to those who live in other areas.
President Bush's ridiculous and insulting Guest Worker program is an affront to many and perhaps especially to those of us who remember and see what Reagan's amnesty back in the late 80s has encouraged and left us with today. Although here and here I have found writers suggesting the answer to this Re Conguista is to invade Mexico, with a bit of inspiration from Glenn Spencer's American Patrol, I suggest perhaps another answer lies with a large cash offering to Mexico &/or Latin America and the longstanding corrupt and greedy who are benefitting the most from La Re Conquista. I believe annexing Mexico and/or Latin America could have beneficial consequences for all concerned. For example, Mexico and Latin America are full of awesome beauty and resources including but not limited to hard-working and yet presently exploited workers by everyone on both sides of the border and both sides of the issue. In my opinion the removal of the restriction to foreign investment and the removal of the border issues would transform all involved for the better. I personally would love to see the fields that surround me here in Ventura and the agriculture sector with its illegal alien migrant workers move and remain down in Mexico. I personally would love to see Mexico and Latin America developed and improved for both its citizens benefit and for more American citizens enjoy it without fear. We have seen what Mexico has accomplished with its resources and cititzens ; remittances from the Mexican population in America to Mexico have now replaced foreign investment and tourism as it main sources of income.
Although neither the conquest or annexation of Latin America by the USA may be the perfect solution, with such a beautiful country full of amazing resources and hard-working individuals, it seems Crystal Clear , at least to me, either one of those options benefits more people from Mexico and more Americans than the guest worker plan or continuing to turn our heads away from where La ReConquista is heading all of us.
cross posted at The Wide Awakes
If La Raza, LULAC, MALDEF, NALEO & the ACLU are Against The REAL ID Act , It Is Crystal Clear It Must Be the Right Thing for America.
It was my turn for The Wide Awakes and I am far too tired to even cut and paste it again over here so please head on over there, have a look-see at the post and the great work of the other bloggers, and please comment and take action!
Cross-posted at The Wide Awakes
Once upon a time in Los Angeles there were some very well-meaning people with very big hearts who wanted to make certain illegal aliens innocent of other crimes would report crimes to the police and obtain health services without fear of their illegal alien status being used against them. This ordinance,Special Order 40, forbids police from asking people about their immigration status until after they’ve been charged with a felony. Although this "sanctuary policy" is in violation of federal law, which forbids municipal employees from cooperating with federal authorities regarding illegal aliens, it still stands today as a monumental example of a disaster created by some well-meaning people and as Heather MacDonald wrote in “The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave,” in the Winter, 2004 issue of City Journal,
[Sanctuary] laws testify to the sheer political power of immigrant lobbies, a power so irresistible that police officials shrink from even mentioning the illegal-alien crime wave. “We can’t even talk about it,” says a frustrated LAPD captain. “People are afraid of a backlash from Hispanics.” Another LAPD commander in a predominantly Hispanic, gang-infested district sighs: “I would get a firestorm of criticism if I talked about [enforcing the immigration law against illegals].”
In practice what this ordinance means is a police officer can't arrest a known gangsta thug who he has knowledge of being illegally here in America just for being here illegally. The officer must have reason to arrest him for something other than his complete contempt for American sovereignty. An officer may know a gangsta was arrested, served time and/or deported and in America illegally and yet that is not enough to arrest him let alone inform the INS!!! Appallingly, 70 percent of these illegal criminals are re- arrested in Los Angeles County within five years. These are convicted criminals who have been deported and then come back to commit more crimes. It's a revolving door. In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicides (which total 1,200-1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of the fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens. Beyond the absurdity of thwarting and undermining what should be common sense, isn't it Crystal Clear this ordinance is protecting the wrong team? The people who this ordinance was enacted to protect don't not report crimes because of fear of police or fear of being deported. Without exception, the two reasons I have heard over the years time and time again for people of legal and illegal status not reporting crimes are 1) Cultural &/or social designation of being a "ratta"...or being seen as a "ratta"... plain and simple...ratta is a RAT...they don't want to be seen or see themselves as someone who doesn't take care of their own business and stand up for themselves...It isn't that the police won't take care of business and protect them... 2) However, that isn't to say there isn't the fear of retaliation of the gangstas and their affiliates..Oh no....that is also present but I find more people admit they want to take care of business themselves and not be seen by their boys as rattas...There is a phenomenal passion about violence and gang justice...Use of the police to achieve justice is seen as weakness extraordinairre...a painful blow to well -nurtured machismo . Thus isn't it obvious a part of the solution to the infestation of gangstas in LA is well within our legal and practical grasp?...Police don't want to waste their time harassing illegal aliens...As you can tell by the title of this post, I am even willing to assist the mayor, City Council and chief of police by naming it: Ordinary Order 41. How about turning away from special interest groups with a political agenda and turning towards a simple return to ordinary common sense?
People are meaning seekers and meaning givers-
For the life of me I have now for the second time in two days chosen to use a quote by an author I can not remember . My best guess is an existentialist such as Sartre. An ancillary one by Shakespeare,
"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so."
How do these relate to my somewhat provocative title, Something the Peace-Loving-at-Any-Cost & Anti-War Crowd Can Learn from Gangstas?
Initally, I entered the field of psychotherapy quite vocal and convinced peace on earth was completely possible. Over the past twelve years I have learned from working with gangstas and youth from the hood this is a grand fantasy of well-meaning clueless groups and highly improbable. In my experience, these youths give example and are very clear on their allegiance and the shared meaning they give to the various gang symbols such as Red-Norteno, Blue-Sureno, and Lightning bolt-White Pride. Gang members and those who affiliate with these crowds might acknowledge the absurdity and the never-ending cycle of violence and death but many also acknowledge they get off on it and it is their chosen way of life no matter the opportunities offered them or the consequences they face. Often their families are even deeply entrenched in several generations of violence and are career criminals having been in and out of the penal system. Loss of the status of gang member is loss of self and identity. For those who even consider leaving the gang, the opportunities offered by the military are an excellent and honorable way if not the only way to give new meaning to old habits and yes, values!
In California, funding for higher education for foster youths is pretty much a blank check. The money is definitely there, but the majority of these youths do not have the interest or educational skills necessary to pursue further education at this time in their youth. Wishing something isn't so does not help anyone and endangers many. When engaged in respectful and genuine dialogue, these young men and women have helped make it Crystal Clear to me that there are people in our world who will hate America just to hate America and will hate America no matter what America says or does. There are people who will, no matter your views and values concerning the meaning you give history or a situation, give a very different meaning to it and act according to their beliefs and values. Seems to me the well-meaning peace-loving-at-any-cost and anti-war crowd might want to address letting go of the fantasy of World Peace and realize there are always going to be terrorist promoting and war with America at any cost folk. We here in America still have choices...
Cross posted at The Wide Awakes
