November 4, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

The Lack of Compassion

Willy Wonka has a good question

No one wants to be on food stamps. No one wants to see their children hungry. It is embarrassing to be on WIC or SNAP. Those of you in the 1% of the country that holds the wealth don’t realize what it takes to feed a family. You have servants and chefs to do this. You don’t worry about choosing between paying the gas bill to keep your children warm and healthy, or feeding them. You aren’t the ones who have to look at your children and say they can’t have a snack because you couldn’t afford one.

People will end up having to buy food and skip the winter boots because there isn’t enough money. Many people will have to make decisions you can’t even conceive of.

How can religious right wing people of good conscience not care about the lives of others? How do you look at yourselves in the mirror? How can you look past poor people and act like you see nothing amiss? How do you go to your church and stand before your god and not care about the suffering of fellow human beings? We are all equal. Your money gives you the ability to buy more stuff; it doesn’t make you better people. There are many poor and middle class people who can’t afford your Aspen vacations or the anniversary party that costs $20,000 but they will share what they have with someone who has less. They will sharebecause they believe in equality and compassion.

Now, you the people of the 1% convinced our sons and daughters to go to Iraq, an illegal war. The American people were lied to concerning weapons of mass destruction. So our children and grandchildren are still being deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. We are asking them to “serve their country” and leave their families and put themselves in harm’s way. Then they come home with PTSD or terrible wounds and missing extremities and you don’t care if they get treatment or even food. Why should they be risking their lives for people who don’t know the meaning of compassion? I suggest you take a long look in the mirror today or tomorrow. Introduce yourself to the hateful, selfish, cold, and uncaring person staring back at you. Shame on you. It doesn’t matter what color you are,if your attitude comes from racism or bigotry, or just the belief that money makes you better, you are a sad specimen of a human being.

October 9, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

Domestic Violence Must End

You Can Help End Domestic Violence

According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development domestic viollence is the third leading cause of homelessness among families. If a couple has a violent arguement in the home, it is usually the woman and children who flee. They flee with little but what is on their backs. This is another reason why Domestic Violence Shelters are so important. They can place the women and children into temporary housing. Most can then also help them to find housing for her and the children. In my long experience I have never known a man to leave unless he is the victim.

End Violence in the Home

Survivors of domestic violence face higher rates of depression, sleep disturbances, anxiety, flashbacks (PTSD) and other mental disturbances. Many are too ashamed of being beaten to go to a doctor or mental health workder and ask for help.

You Can’t Beat a Woman.

Domestic Violence contributes to poor health in survivors. Chronic conditions such as heart disease, gastrointestinal disorders can become more serious due to repeated battering. Fear and anger build up in the victim and the stress can lead to other health issues.

Among women brought to an Emergency Room after being beaten, were socially isolated, and had fewer social and financial resources than women who were not abused. Part of the emotional abuse is social isolation. The victim is cut off from friends, family, therapists, neighbors because the abuser needs to have total control over the victim. Abusers don’t want women to hear there is a place to go and get help. i often would put the hotline number on a piece of paper and pass it to the victim without being seen. Each city has a hotline number and you can help save a life by getting the number and gently putting it into a woman’s hand.

Without help, girls who witness domestic violence are more vulnerable to abuse when they are teens and young adults. Without help, boys who witness domestic violence, are far more likely to become abusers of their partners and/or children as adults. This continues the cycle of violence into later generations.

August 11, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

Sunday with the Children

This week’s video should bring a smile to everyone’s face. These two 4 year olds are talented and precious. I hope they add to your heart’s well-being and joy. Have a great Sunday afternoon everyone.

The wisdom of Pooh

July 29, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

A Battle Won

Justice and long prison sentences for the people who buy and sell people.

Today, the FBI orchestrated a large sting to find and help boys and girls in slavery.
Many pimps were arrested. They were arrested under Federal laws because they had moved the children across state lines.

The children were set free and they ranged in age from 13 years old to seventeen years old. They were being made to sell their bodies and commit many terrible sex acts. They had no choice and were often threatened with death unless they satisfied their owners/pimps.

The profit from owning people and forcing them to have sex to remain alive is twenty seven million dollars. Yes, I said twenty seven million.

The children are now free. Can you imagine how that must feel for them? Can you imagine how their families feel? The grief they have endured thinking their boys and girls were dead. Pimps were arrested and I think they need to have 1000 year sentence. Once out they will go back to their slavery rings and begin again. Long sentences are vital.

For the newly freed children, this picture is ended.

These families and friends must get to know their children again. This is going to require quite a long transition. These families have a long journey ahead. I am so happy for these kids and I worry about all of their memories. The ones that will remain for the rest of their lives. We do know that they have had the worst of living nightmares.

It is important to realize that supply and demand play into this story. The Johns, the people who buy sex are the reason that the millions of people are kidnapped and sold and become sex slaves. Johns are hardly ever arrested. The FBI says the demand is growing. Johns need to be stopped and held responsible for their actions. Men who buy sex are disgusting and need to be arrested and face jail time.

The sexual slaves have no choice except death

So, we have won a battle, but It still leaves millions of slaves in the world today. If you see someone who seems to be at risk call, 1-888-3737-888. This hotline helps people and prevents some children from being taken as slaves. We can also all pray, however we do it and pray for more people to be saved and allowed to be free once again.

July 23, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

Meet a Child Soldier

Child soldiers forced to fight and kill

You may have guessed, I am taking an online course on Human Trafficking. I have known about this terrible crime for a long time. I haven’t known anyone personally that has gone through this. Of course, when women and children disappear, they might be dead or sold into slavery.

In my research I found a book. It is called, “To live and to Tell, written by a young man named Francis Duworko. This boy was taken from Liberia. This country was founded in 1816, as a place of settlement for freed North American slaves. There were many issues that centered around the different groups of people. 1980 was the date for its first bloody coup d’ tat.

The first Liberian Civil War was 1987-1989. Then there was a second Civil War which lasted until 2003. Many people were wounded, killed, raped and tortured.

Francis was born in 1982 in Monrovia, Liberia. He was abducted to be a child soldier when he was eleven years old. What happens to these children? Francis tells about children being made to kill their parents, or die themselves. Children are forced to rape sisters and other female family members.

Frances got out and surprisingly he came out of it an optimist. My sense from reading his book is that is rare. He wanted to make a difference in life and help other children get away. Many of these children are still suffering from what they experienced.

” Never let people suffer what you suffered, when you can help them improve their situation.”
—–Frances Duworko

Somalian boy soldier

Frances puts everything in a positive light. He now lives in Canada with his family. He advocates that if we think we can change the present situation, it can be changed for the better. Francis encourages everyone to have a goal, a dream and to write it down and focus on your dream.

This is a small book, with a heart that is open and filled with compassion. He even encourages people to meditate on their dreams. Learn to dwell on the goal and not on the past. The past is gone, and can’t be changed. Live in the present moment to make your dreams come to fruition.

Save children from hell on earth. Stop the wars. Then these children won’t be at risk.

April 27, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

You Know Someone Who Has Been Abused

Children Learn What They Live

One in every four women will experience violence in her lifetime 85% of DV victims are women. An estimated 1.3 million women will be abused each year. Abuse is a generational thing that children learn because they see it happen.

Stop the Violence

Almost one third of female homicide victims that are reported in police reports are killed trying to get out of a battering relationship with an intimate partner. In 70 % to 80% of homicide victims were battered by their domestic partner prior to their demise. Less than one fifth of victims who report injuries seek,medical help.

Witnessing abuse between intimate partners is the strongest risk factor to children growing up to be a victim or a batterer. 30% to 60% of perpetrators also abuse the children in the home. Forced sexual assault is also abuse. It is illegal to rape your wife and a person could go to prison. Marriage doesn’t mean you own a person. They still own their own body and you may or perhaps not be able to use it.

There is no specific time you can expect abuse to start.

The cost of intimate partner violence exceeds 5.8 billion dollars a year. Victims of intimate partner abuse lost almost 8 million days of work because of the violence perpetuated against them. This loss is equivalent to 32,000 full-time jobs. Another 4.1 billion dollars is for medical care of the victim. There are 16,800 homicides each year. More victims are murdered trying to leave an abusive relationship that at any other time during it. This is why women often go back over and over again.

Don’t teach your children to be victims or batterers.

Domestic violence is one of the most underreported crimes. Now, cities like Norristown are penalizing the victim for calling the police, (please see previous blog), Who wants to be homeless or have their children being homeless? Only approximately one fourth of physical assaults and sexual assaults are reported. States differ on the type of relationship that qualifies under domestic violence laws.

For more information or to get help, call:

THE NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE 1-800-799-7233

THE NATIONAL TEEN DATING ABUSE HOTLINE 1-866-331-9474

Stop the Violence

December 27, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

The Conection of a Promise

All children need to know their place in the world and to trust the people in it.

I have nine grandchildren. I am as surprised as anyone could be. One of my nine is a grandchild by marriage. I love him as much as any of the others and I quite fell in love with him when he entered our family at five. He was distrustful and a drama queen. He was nervous around people and unsure how to act in different social situations. I decided that had to change.

I have watched him a lot as time passed. I could see his strengths and weaknesses.We had some really great days together and some that left me feeling like I needed a week in bed. What he had was a good loving heart and a huge amount of kindness for someone so young.

What he lacked was self-confidence, trust and an understanding of why things happened and how to do the things he wanted to do. He could be an angel or the most tiring experience I have ever had.

I was determined that he would find his balance in life and his security. We were talking one day and I said I would do something. He looked at me with disgust and said with pure attitude, “No you won’t.” I looked at him and decided I needed to gamble on this child. I said sure I would and he asked if I would promise. I agreed to a promise and he asked for a pinky promise. We made a solemn pinky promise and I kept my promise.

The next promise was easier. Our talks about how to handle situations grew longer and less adversarial. Not only have we formed a strong bond. Pinky promises are the utmost sacred pact. He will even ask me if something someone else has told him is true and if I answer in the affirmative, he asks for a pinky promise.

So slowly but surely, he is finding out who he is and where he fits into this world. He is learning what he likes and doesn’t like. His talents are coming out like popcorn and he makes me laugh like I have never laughed.

Now, I am not sharing this story because of anything I did. I am sharing it to make the point that often we make promises without thinking about them. Promises to children, parents, friends, co-workers. Sometimes we don’t call it a promise, we agree on something. The other person is counting on us.

If we make a promise, we need to keep it and we should not make promises without thinking them through..No matter who we give our word to, it is important to keep it. It needs to be part of our character to keep our word. People notice that about others and know which people they can trust. That is an important thing in this twenty first century we live in.

Happy children at play without worries

Security helps children feel free

December 19, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

Time to Begin Healing

He is my brother

The town of Newton and the country need to begin the long process of healing. There has been a frightening amount of negative energy released into the world this year. Yes, it does happen every year, but somehow this one felt worse. So what to do? What is the response of rational, thinking, feeling, caring citizens?.

There is a lot of negative energy right now and the numbers of people who have died due to violence is escalating. How should we react in the face of all of this negativity? We use love and light. We walk our spiritual paths and we surround our country with white protective light.

I am talking about working on the spiritual plane right now. The government can and I hope, will handle the issues of violence and gun control facing us now. When we face people with negativity, hatred, greed or power seeking, we need to use compassion, love, and light to carry the message of love and peaceful living into the world.

The idea of meeting violence with violence is not good because it escalates the issues. Caring about other beings is vital for us as children of the Universe. Meeting violence with love is the place I think we need to begin. We need to use forgiveness, compassion as well as light and love to heal our own hearts and to prevent hearts from filling with hatred and violence.

There are a lot of people who are working very hard to doom our beautiful world into darkness. We need to be more positive, show more kindness, act with more compassion and find more of the beauty that is in our lives. We need to give more, stand up and speak the truth more and deal with our anger. We need to go to anger management or therapy. We need to realize our anger does not give us the right to react violently when we disagree with someone.

We need to praise good work and honest effort. We need to listen to the wisdom, gained through years of living, of those who have earned their wisdom from facing and dealing with the many issues that come up in the journey of a lifetime.

The Wild Rose of Praise

“Those unable to grieve,

Or to speak their love,

Or to be grateful, those

Who can’t remember God

As the source of everything,

Might be described as vacant wind,

Or a cold anvil, or a group

Of frightened old people.

Say the Name. Moisten your tongue

With praise, and be the spring ground,

Waking. Let your mouth be given

Its gold-yellow stamen like the wild rose’s.

As you fill with wisdom,

And your heart with love,

There’s no more thirst.

There’s only an unselfed patience

Waiting on the doorsill, a silence

Which doesn’t listen to advise

From people passing in the street.”

————Sanai

The poet Sanai lived in the twelfth century. Children laughing once again

Let Peace Happen

November 24, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

The Reason for Peace

Children deserve to live in a world where they are cherished, educated, loved and live in peace. We have the responsibility to give that world to them.

We have a world where some children will never even walk into a school. We have a world where some children will die of hunger in their Mother’s arms. We have a world where some children have no shoes or clothes. We have a world where some children die of smallpox, whooping cough, and malaria. They die because there is no medicine for them.

We live in a world where they live and die and no one knows or cares.

We live in a world where some kids go to posh prep schools, and some kids are bullied for being dressed differently. We live in a world where many bright kids can’t go to college. We live in a world where no one really cares.

We live in a world where we look for peace to protect our children and grandchildren. I look for a world where a grown angry man full of hate, with an automatic gun is his hand, isn’t the last thing that a child sees. I look for a world where we love the poor and hungry and homeless as much as we love our comfortable neighbors.

I pray for a world full of peace, not greed for money,oil, land, power and a world where people don’t die because they believe in a God/Goddess that is different than someone else’s.

I pray for a world where we put our arms around children and tell them how good and precious they are. I pray for a world where is doesn’t matter what color their skin is. I pray for a world where they will know only kindness and compassion. I pray for a world where we give love without restraint because we know we can never run out of love and it will only come back to us. I pray for a world where we can all hold hands and it is important that everyone on our planet has food and clean water. And that we will work to find solutions to make that possible. I pray for a world where everyone cares.

Beach 4; Presque Isle, Pa.;Photo by Barbara Mattio

Power of Peace in the World

October 23, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

Rights for Women Won’t End on November sixth

November 6, 2012 does decide who will be our President for the next four years.What won’t be decided is what will happen to women and our rights and issues.

In 2013, we face another important battle in Congress. We need to have passed the legislation to make women legally equal. Think it is not necessary? That is what they said about women voting. Essentially, they said we weren’t smart enough to vote. Not only are we smart enough but we are smarter than some men. Nothing personal.

Women are still going to require access to contraception. The whole “be fruitful and multiply” thing is well past the point of no return. We have seven billion plus human beings on this planet and I believe we have fulfilled the directive.

Children around the world are dying from hunger, lack of clean water, violent revolutions, greed, bigotry, racism and in some countries if a girl is born she will be left to die. Baby girls die alone, unwanted and unloved. Even if their mothers want them, the husband will throw both of them out, if necessary.

Here in America, the most prosperous country in the world, our children aren’t golden. They often lack proper education, health care, food, love, encouragement. Why you ask? Because they weren’t born into rich families, but into poor and disadvantaged families. Most of society turns away from the reality of what these children lack and what they suffer.

Domestic Violence is gaining victims. The laws we worked so hard to get on the books, are often not being enforced. Young girls are not being told no one has the right to pinch, punch, slap, rape, hit, demean, kick, or call them names. We must tell these girls there is help and they should not be forced to live in violence. There are help lines and shelters where then will be helped and legally protected in every state and in almost every town.

Human trafficking is where many boys and girls end up. Sold into sexual slavery and facing decades of being objectified and beaten by any man who has the money to pay for their services. These kids live in hell on earth. Their innocent souls corrupted and ravaged by men who only care about themselves and what their money can buy them.

All people have the right to live authentically. No one should have to pretend to fit in. Everyone needs to be accepted for who they are. Parents, society and governments need to make this possible…

I have barely scratched the surface, but I will continue to address these issues as time goes on.