I Am Not a Piece of Plastic

About 40 years or so ago, while I was earning my Master of Science in Social Work degree at the University of Louisville’s Raymond A. Kent School of Social Work, one of the ongoing dialogues regarded the unjust nature of the “plastic society” that was and is the norm of the United States.

Plastic, as you know, is inexpensive and therefore disposable. So we dispose of all sorts of containers made of plastic, easily broken toys we give to our children, bags in which we carry our purchases, etc. American society has so bought it to the idea that things are disposable that we create even automobiles, appliances, houses, and much more that are made not to be permanent but to be used up and subsequently disposed of as trash. Sentient beings such as pets and even we ourselves have come to be seen as disposable once our society judges them (us) as no longer having intrinsic value.

We Americans have exported this concept that everything and everyone is disposable to the entire world—a world culture that is based on the monetary worth of things—all things—including human beings.

As I have grown older I have come to realize that I am seen as a plastic “thing.” For example, the United States Veterans Affairs bureaucracy has treated me as a commodity negating my humanity. I qualify this statement by emphasizing that, for the most part, this is not true of VA medical staff. It is quite true of those bureaucrats with whom veterans must deal in order to obtain the promised medical care. One of the ongoing “jokes” I have encountered since I began my association with Veterans Affairs goes:

Thank you for serving. Now, how can we fuck you today?

I have experiences of having my humanity denied, of being treated as a commodity by the Department of Veterans Affairs; I have heard many stories from and about other veterans who have experienced similar treatment.

Many of us have sought justice within the VA. The usual result is that our pleas to be recognized as human beings have been ignored. “Rules” are more important to the bureaucrats than justice, compassion, and humanity.

This injustice and dehumanization goes far beyond the federal bureaucracy of the United States. It is in the corporations of this world, using up their workers and then disposing of them like pieces of trash. It is intrinsic to capitalism and the class system of the United States that has been exported to the entire planet. It is a basic cause of poverty; of genocide and slavery; of the abuse of women, children, the elderly, the physically and emotionally ill; of people smuggling; of racism; of every form of human exploitation.  

My request—my plea—is simple: recognize that we are human beings, not things to be manipulated and disposed of like pieces of plastic. This plea is on behalf of all sentient creatures on the earth. We need a prophet to deliver us from injustice and slavery!

(YHWH) said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.  The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” ~ Exodus 3.6-10

Here am I, Lord. Send me.

Another Side of Christmas

I encountered this poem while I was searching the Internet for something else. It touches me, both personally and professionally.

The poet is named Steve Woodman. Searching the Internet has provided very little information about him, except that I believe that he is Canadian and these are his words about this poem, Unhappy Christmas:

It saddens me, that every day, children around the world suffer abuse from drunken parents, and at Christmas, a special time for children, parents use it as an excuse to get smashed and then take it out on their children.

This poem was written especially for the children.

Now the poem that shows a side of Christmas that I believe too many children have seen:

What did you get for Christmas?
Was it something nice?
I'm sitting here in Casualty,
My face is packed with ice.

I dread it every Christmas,
They never give me toys,
Daddy will get drunk again,
His nights out with the boys.

I know he doesn't mean it,
He's far to drunk to know,
He hits me hard for nothing,
And bruises always show.

A Christmas to remember,
The policemen had to call,
They took my Dad away this time,
He said I'd had a fall.

He's really done it this time,
An ambulance had to come,
That's why I'm sitting here in Casualty,
Waiting with me Mum.

~ Steve Woodman

Domestic Violence and the Swedish Bride

The Domestic Violence Awareness Project (DVAP) supports the rights of all women and girls to live in peace and dignity. Violence and all other forms of oppression against all communities of women and their children must be eliminated. To change belief systems and practices that support violence against all women, the DVAP recognizes and promotes the participation of the entire community in building social intolerance towards domestic violence.

The purpose of the DVAP is to support and promote the national, tribal, state and local advocacy networks in their ongoing public education efforts through public awareness campaigns, strategies, materials, resources, capacity-building and technical assistance. These strategies include campaigns that address the victimization of women throughout their lifespan. The voices, leadership and expertise of women who have been battered are acknowledged as critical and necessary components of these campaigns. ~ Statement of Purpose, Domestic Violence Awareness Project, 2000

This month is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. My own awareness of domestic violence sort of crept upon me slowly.

For example, when I was an army officer stationed in (then West) Germany and Adjutant of the Rogue Battalion, one of my duties was assisting the dependents of the soldiers assigned to the battalion. One day a woman—a Swedish national who recently married a sergeant—came into my office to complain that, although she had been married for close to two months, she still did not have a U.S. Army dependent’s ID card. She wanted to shop in the PX and could not without the card.

She said that her husband told her that the army was delaying the issue of the card because she was from Sweden. That sounded absurd to me and I told her I would do what I could to speed up the process. I assigned my sergeant the job of getting the needed information from her and submitting through my office an inquiry into the delay.

Before we received the response to our inquiry, the local German police contacted us and told us that the woman was in the local hospital and asked to see my sergeant. He and I went to the hospital and found that the woman had been badly beaten: both of her eyes were blackened; her face was swollen; her wrist had been broken, etc. She told us that when she had told her husband that she had been to our office, he had beaten her, but she had not told the German police because she did not “want to get him in trouble with the Polizei.”

I was alarmed by her appearance and even more shocked that she had not identified her assailant to the police. Of course, way back then I was not familiar with the dynamics of domestic violence.

Jumping forward to the conclusion of this horrible situation, after I informed her husband’s company commander of the incident, Courts Martial charges for assault were instituted against her husband, to which, after we received the results of our inquiry into the status of her military ID card, charges of polygamy were added. Her husband had never submitted his new wife’s application for an ID card because he already had a wife with an ID card back in the United States. My memories of the results of the Courts Martial are that the sergeant was convicted, sentenced to prison, and issued a dishonorable discharge.

That was my introduction to the horrors of domestic violence. A few years later, after I left the army active duty and became a social worker, I learned that the situation I had encountered in Germany was mild compared to other incidents of domestic violence with which I dealt. I shall share some of them next week.

Protecting Our Children from Sexual Predators

My college buddy, Rudy, who a retried FBI agent, emailed me a web site, Family Watchdog that was developed by John Walsh from Americas Most Wanted.

Remember: you may click on any graphic to enlarge it.

When you visit Family Watchdog you may enter your address. A map will pop up with your house as a small icon around which are red, blue and green dots which indicate convicted sexual offenders.

The above map is centered on my home. The dots do not show on this graphic due to their being hyperlinks that would not copy to the image. The legend to the left of the map shows what the colors of the dots indicate.

When you click on these dots a picture of a criminal will appear with his or her home address and the description of the crime he or she has committed. You may also type in the name of a person. If that individual has been convicted of a sexual offense, the site will provide information as below.

The above is what the site provides about my ex-father-in-law, convicted of incest, who sexually abused each of his four daughters from the time they were preschoolers until they left his home. I wrote much more about this in my blog post HERE.

Against Child Abuse

March 2008 Blog Carnival

Against Child Abuse

hosted by

~Enola~

I’ve entered this Carnival with a personal reminiscence I wrote in 2006.

I invite—urge—you to click HERE to attend this very important Carniva!l

My Saint Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day (February 14) when lovers express their affection with greetings and gifts. Although there were several Christian martyrs named Valentine, the day probably took its name from a priest who was martyred about 270 AD by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus. According to legend, the priest signed a letter to his jailor's daughter, whom he had befriended and with whom he had fallen in love, “from your Valentine.” The holiday also had origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid February. The festival, which celebrated the coming of spring, included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery. At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with St. Valentine's Day. It came to be celebrated as a day of romance from about the 14th century. ~ From Encyclopedia Britannica

My Valentine’s Day 2008 is my 62^nd birthday.

Yesterday, when she came to work, Tasha brought me this huge heart filled with candy!

Alex has celebrated my birthday by thus far not clawing me once!

(Of course, it is only three hours into my birthday).

Give yourself something special today and click over to Enola’s blog to read the beautiful and gripping Valentine’s Day essay she has written (in two parts) about what love is—and what love isn’t.

What is Love Anyway (Part 1 of 2)

What Is Love Anyway (Part 2 of 2)

My Next Post will be Part X of The Muffin Saga

The Muffin Saga, Part I

The Muffin Saga, Part II

The Muffin Saga, Part III

The Muffin Saga, Part IV

The Muffin Saga, Part V

The Muffin Saga, Part VI

The Muffin Saga, Part VII

The Muffin Saga, Part VIII

The Muffin Saga, Part IX

Song for My Birthday:

Vick’s Victims

When I read this morning that two of suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick’s dogfighting cohorts have been sentenced to prison, I felt the need to write about the situation. For those not familiar with the Vick story, briefly professional football star Michael Vick has plead guilty to operating a dog fighting enterprise. His sentencing is scheduled for December 10^th; he has already been ordered to pay close to a million dollars to care for 49 to 54 (number varies depending upon source) pit bulls confiscated from his Virginia farm during the dogfighting raid.

However, this post is not about Vick. It is about his victims: the dogs. According to CNN, most of the pit bulls will be placed with families or put in a sanctuary, “where they will interact with people to overcome their fear and lack of socialization” that is the result of being forced to fight one another for the pleasure of Vick and his clients. One dog, however, number 2621, was euthanized because he was deemed unfit for rehabilitation.

I feel like writing a diatribe directed at Vick and all who are involved in this horrible activity. Rather, I shall share this video:

WARNING: Graphic Dogfighting Photographs

Back on September 27^th, many of us bloggers united in posting against abuse of all sorts. Even Alex joined ith us, blogging specifically about the abuse of animals on his Blog, Alexicon: A Feline’s Life with his Human. Of course, all sort of abuse of humans as well as animals continues.

There are, however, actions activists can take to counter the evil of dogfighting. Below are just a few links you may wish to peruse if you are moved to take action:

Dogfighting a booming business

The Human Society of the United States Dogfighting Fact Sheet

How Dogfighting Works

What Are the Dogfighting Laws in Your State?

Dog Fighting - The Truth

Willie Nelson Works to Stop Dogfighting

Stop Dogfighting Now Petition

STOP the ABUSE

Abuse takes so many forms—just about anything one can imagine that can be done to hurt a creature or a thing. I suppose if we pondered all of the abuse our world, we could become overwhelmed by its magnitude. I we are moved to work toward preventing and stopping abuse, we can easily give up—overwhelmed by its magnitude.

However, if we each would act to end abuse one person, one creature, or one thing at a time…maybe—just maybe—all of us together cold make an impact.

I take to heart the words ((in the above graphic created by my friend Thomas) of Jerry Garcia: Somebody has to do something about abuse and, like it or not, that somebody is us—you and me!

If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, here is a book to read in a few glances:

YOU MAY CLICK ON ANY GRAPHIC TO ENLARGE IT.

Alex’s Post: Please Do Not Abuse…