FAILING A CHILD BECOMES A LEGACY

Last night I read a report about a boy of 7 years old that made me cry. The heaviness is so powerful that it takes over. The unprotected boy lived a life of hell. He has grown since and is living as one who lived a childhood of hell. He didn't escape the eternal and internal prison that could be expected of one who was immersed in a life of neglect, abuse and rejection. Children lost become all of our legacy.

This child was failed by his mother, his father, his extended family, his community and in the end by one state's foster system that made the wrong decision to place him back with his mother when it was the one place he should never return.

One state's jurisdiction had to be handed over to the adjacent state when the boy's mother moved over the state line at a critical time in his life. The boy's report's recommendation - after a long residence stay in a caring facility for the boy, that he not be returned to the mother - was overturned by the new state. It could not have been clearer in the report that this would be disastrous for the 7 year old.

We - as the larger community - fail our children when we don't search out the truth of these children's private lives and act accordingly. The thing about this boy is that enough of his truth was known and still he was not placed in a safe home. This boy's story will never be told. The honoring of confidentiality will protect those who made the wrong decisions. Light needs to be shed on the horrendous truth of the quiet lives of desperation that children live right here in the United States of America.

Hell is For Children
Lyrics

They cry in the dark, so you can't see their tears
They hide in the light, so you can't see their fears
Forgive and forget, all the while
Love and pain become one and the same
In the eyes of a wounded child

It's all so confusing, this brutal abusing
They blacken your eyes, and then apologize
You're daddy's good girl, and don't tell mommy a thing
Be a good little boy, and you'll get a new toy
Tell grandma you fell off the swing

Because hell
Hell is for children
And you know that their little lives can become such a mess
Hell
Hell is for children
And you shouldn't have to pay for your love with your bones and your flesh

No, hell is for children

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Love Rescue Me - U2
Written by Bono and Bob Dylan
Uploaded by Impulse032

You can adopt children who are waiting while in foster care: foster-adoption

www.fosterparenting.com

rhode-island.adoption.com

Who May Adopt In Rhode Island

In Rhode Island you may adopt a child if you are over 21 years of age. There is no upper age limit, and adoptive parents in their 40s and 50s are quite common. You do not need to own your own home and either single or married parents may adopt. Your sexual orientation doesn't matter in Rhode Island for adoption.

At 4:36 of the Youtube below, Odetta speaks from the words of the quote I have included here:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you, not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson
in Return to Love

We must answer the call when asked to step up and be a help to others. We must. Or we risk living at the mercy of those who grew up in childhood hell.

We each can do our part.

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Odetta
Uploaded by justjoshfunk1

NEVER FORGET THAT EVERYTHING HITLER DID IN GERMANY WAS LEGAL ~ MLK. Jr.

Means we use, must be as pure as the ends we seek.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

ACKNOWLEDGING OUR MISTAKES AS A NATION WOULD BE OUR GREATEST STEP TOWARD HEALING OUR DIVISIONS

Charlie Rose ran his repeat show with John Hope Franklin, author, "Mirror To America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin" last night. Professor Franklin speaks of his family being thrown off the train when he was 6 years old and his mother asked him why he was crying. He said because they were thrown off the train. His mother told him, "'if you have any energy, I want you to use it proving to yourself and everyone else that you're as good as any of those people on that train, regardless of their color. Now you dry those tears. I don't want you to cry about that anymore.' And I've not cried about that anymore."

The only way this country will ever come together is to face, acknowledge and atone for our mistakes. We stole this land from the indigenous people who were here first. So that immigrants could leave their lands of discrimination in Europe, this country's government was built with systemic prejudices interwoven into even the Declaration of Independence:

"He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions."

The indigenous people were forbidden to live their lives using their traditions, culture, spiritual ceremonies, wearing their hair the way they chose to or even speak their own languages. The natives were also used as slaves. One of many examples of systematic abuse was the Trail of Tears. A great source for how the indigenous peoples were repeatedly unjustly treated is Custer Died for Your Sins.

The Trail of Tears

And it isn't all in the past. The very government agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has lost billions of dollars belonging to the Native American peoples. I wrote about this in an old post.

And then we imported slaves.

We cannot heal what we do not acknowledge. Imagine a doctor who tries to heal someone without admitting there exists an illness. There would be no diagnosis or plan to heal.

Professor Franklin aptly addresses this very issue. And atonement is a part of how to address this. Without it there will be no progress or movement toward our nation coming together and indeed being the United States.
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John Hope Franklin interview

PBS source about the beginning of the Europeans taking over North America

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Darfur

I think it is time for those who vote on the basis of abortion to step up and vote for preventing and ending genocide.

Matthew 25:31-46

31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Quotes of Martin Luther King. Jr.

Don't believe everything Hillary claims is true,
especially about Barack Obama.

By the Way...about Rafael Nadal

Jarkko Nieminen’s splendid run at the Australian Open - the tennis season’s first Grand Slam event - came to an end in the quarter-finals, when he succumbed to 2nd seed Rafael Nadal of Spain, who won 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 in two hours and twenty minutes. Efficient Nadal Brings an End to Nieminens in Melbourne

Rafa is now in the Semi-finals and will play the unseeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, for a place in the final.