My Daughter (Who is overseas in a Muslim country) And a little Muslim Boy Who Has Been Ravaged By War: Thoughts Regarding Charlottesville (printed with her permission)

From my daughter who is overseas... I am so proud of the writer she is becoming... and what she stands for.

"Some of my many thoughts regarding Charlottesville*

Last month, when I was traveling through Malaysia (a Muslim majority country), I met a restaurant owner with a 7 year old son, and both wanted to practice their English with me. They were so kind; the father kept asking me questions about my travels and told me that he hoped to travel someday too. And the son had just gotten a good grade on an English test and told me that it was his favorite subject, moreso than even his own Malay language classes.

After a while, I needed to leave and asked them if they had any questions for me. I then told them that I was an American and asked the little boy if he had any questions about America, "as long as it's not about Donald Trump," I said to his father, while laughing it off.

The second I mentioned Trump's name, the little boy panicked. He ran to his father's side and started hyperventilating. "Donald Trump wants to kill me!" he said. "Donald Trump wants to kill my country. What did we do?" Even the father had nothing to say as his son cried. Only later did he tell me that they were refugees from Yemen, a country that suffered 70 United States airstrikes in one month, under Trump's command.

I couldn't do anything. I was so shocked that I couldn't do anything but cry with the little boy for the first few minutes. Then I put my hands on the boy's shoulders and said, "I want you to listen to me. There are good people and bad people in every country. There are people who are so miserable that they want to hurt people, and that's what Donald Trump is. But the good people, they won't let anything happen to you. They love you and want you to be safe." The boy seemed unconvinced and I couldn't blame him. I couldn't even convince myself.

Because now, I look back to that little boy and all I can think is, "Was that a lie?" Would the "good people" of my country care about that little boy? He was (1) Muslim, (2) non-white, and (3) poor. Would my neighbors, who are polite, God bless them, but "just don't want to get involved in politics" see someone like him as worth protecting? Where is the line drawn? What if he was Jewish and saw the Neo-Nazis walking up and down our streets?

What's worth protecting now?

My friends, in the wake of Charlottesville, we no longer have the option of remaining neutral in American politics. The whole world is watching us, including the children who are learning what America stands for. On our own soil, Mr. Trump has turned our country into a battleground between Nazism and those who fight against Nazism, by equating the two as comparable evils. And as always, when fighting against pure evil, there cannot be a middle ground.

Our country is having an identity crisis right before our eyes. So now is our time to decide what our country truly stands for. We have to remember who we have to protect.

The State Of America

This is sobering.

EVERYONE who thinks that the Nazis aren't trying to organize here in America (And everyone outside of America) needs to watch this. This is, up close and personal, the state of America.

One Nazi said that this was the biggest "nationalist" (Might as well say it RACIST) rally in over 2 decades.

THIS is what we are REALLY dealing with. (My husband has said he thinks they are organizing even before this happened, and I think hes right.)

What this Nazi man is trying to justify... someone ramming a car into a crowd saying "The right wants violence and that they are only meeting the demand" (With him showing all of his guns and a knife to the journalist telling her what the nazis are planning to do) is absolutely horrifying and just a peek into a seriously demented state of mind.

I am sorry, I have heard others say we need to just "talk to them" This journalist did, and what she found was terifying. We need to make sure these people NEVER do this again. Protest is fine, but these people are not just protesting, their intention is to incite violence and promote fear in the American public.

This is DEEPLY troubling. Some one died here. We need to be actively looking for ways to make sure this doesn't happen again... (In my minds the police being there could have stopped this!) It should NOT celebrated by these deeply twisted people as if its some kind of Victory.

What the HELL America????

Video below:

https://news.vice.com/story/vice-news-tonight-full-episode-charlottesville-race-and-terror

And lets not forget Heather, the woman who died in Charlottesville...here is the incredible speech by her mother...this mothers speech is what got me to march in Portland against the Nazis... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J7vHogeubI

Owned By A Cat (Ode To Jezabel)

Woke up at 2 or so with thoughts in my head about Jezabel, my sweet cat who died last month) I've been waking up around 2 or 3 am every morning with memories of her.  I am collecting them and have started writing about her. I imagine I am ready to write her story, though I will do it slowly. They are happy memories, though I imagine writing about the end is going to be excruciating.

I've never written a poem (if that's what this is...) and not sure this is finished...but here it is.

Kevin O'Conner I'd love your thoughts on this...

Hilariously, a couple of the stanzas came about because of Game Of Thrones... (See if you can figure out which lines they are) Thank you G.O.T. for helping me write my poem,...HAHA! 

Owned By A Cat

(Ode To Jezabel)

Young kitten
So soft, so sweet
Mewing and kneading
Your soft little paw in my hand
Begging for food
Kneading love

Strong cat
walking, stalking as you do
Invisible tiger in the grass
"You don’t see me"
But I do

Sitting in the sun as if you own it
Sharpening claws on trees as if you own them
Sharpening claws on me.

I
I am smitten,
Owned by a cat 
Whose “eye kisses” make my day
Just a little more sweet.

The blanket is not mine
My legs are not mine
She sleeps between them
And insists on hogging the bed
Until the bed is not mine.

I am in love with a creature
Who wakes me with hairballs
Running around the house at night
Attacker of toilet paper rolls and socks

A tiny dragon slaying mice
Who pounces on spiders
And pulls birds from the sky
To lay them at my feet

small gifts of death from a queen

Surveyor of her kingdom

And now she lies in my arms
She who was so majestic
And hilarious
And still loved
"Help me" in her eyes
Hardly breathing, frail, and begging for relief
Her soft little paw in my hand

I will release her

Though it will haunt me all my life


(C) 2017 Heidi Vesser