Social Justice – Page 2 – 2 GALS 4 PEACE

Then and Now

As we sometimes do, we recently had the TV on in the background as we went about doing other things at home. The show that was playing was The Waltons. As most know, this is the story of a multigenerational family that lived in rural Virginia in the 1930’s and 40’s. As per usual, the eldest son John Boy, read the introduction to the episode. And, for some reason, it garnered our attention so much that we stopped what we were doing to listen. John Boy read on, “In the late spring of 1940 our world on Waltons Mountain was very quiet and uneasy. For the first time ever, people stopped work in the daytime to turn on the radio.…

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December 15, 2023

Social Justice

Another Year to Go

Maggie recalls as a young child back in November 1960 when the presidential race was won by John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic President. She clearly remembers that her father and grandfather were glued to the TV set that evening following dinner during which would have normally been dessert time. And that night, a birthday cake! Being a child, Maggie, understandably was more concerned about the timing of her birthday cake than about politics. That kind of focus on self is a childhood characteristic that most grow out of in time, thank goodness. There is something about birthdays in general that sets a mark in time, your own time. For a moment you may realize that you have survived on…

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November 11, 2023

Social Justice

Like A Good Friend

We recently took some time off to contemplate life and the state of the world. As we did, this country experienced yet another mass shooting in Andrea’s beloved State of Maine. Despite this and the death of all those ensnared in previous mass shootings, lawmakers remain frozen in place and not able, once again, to change the rules to protect the innocent. Once again, the new GOP offered prayer and a moment of silence as their solution. This type of inaction does not help the grieving families or those yet to become victims of sniper rifles and weapons of war here at home. We ask, what does a moment of silence mean if not followed by action? We naively did…

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November 7, 2023

Peace / Social Justice

In Sorrow

We put all of our other writing aside to express our sorrow today for the people of Israel. We can’t say it loudly enough that we ardently support the Jewish people. Today, we received an alert from a friend who served in the Israeli Army who asked us to share this with our Jewish friends. The warning is: Friends and Family Outside of Israel One of the Hamas Leaders, Khaled Meshal, appealed to all Muslims of the world to “arrange a real Pogrom for the Jews.” The date of the “worldwide Jewish Pogrom” has been announced – Friday, October 13. BE SMART, BE VIGILANT, BE SAFE. We read this in horror and immediately did send this to…

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November 7, 2023

Social Justice

Lord of the Lies

It is amazing how literature can predict and reflect real life. In 1954, William Golding wrote a gem of a novel that was a depiction of societal power and cruelty. The novel, also made into a movie in 1963, has been the eighth most frequently banned book in schools due to language and violence. The hailed work of fiction is filled with bullying and some pro-slavery ideology. It is a chilling story that was called a display of the dark side of human nature and was deemed to be fearsomely realistic. The novel details a crisis caused initially by war and a subsequent plane crash, leaving only a group of schoolboys to survive on a stranded island. Left to fend…

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November 7, 2023

Social Justice

The Thug

For those of us waiting for Trump to be prosecuted, found guilty, thrown in the slammer, let’s remember one thing, he has already lost. He is a lonely, unstable, sick man with friends now only at the bottom of the barrel, many of who have themselves committed crimes and spent time in jail. He is a forlorn person whose followers seek attention and reflect his personality and behavior. He is not esteemed by any person of class or true notoriety. Trump has lived his entire life sentencing himself to Hell by his own actions and there he will reign. And for those who want Trump to be seen as another Jesus, another Jesus on the cross, so be it. Looking…

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September 10, 2023

Social Justice

Florida’s Whitewash

When Maggie’s mother was a young RN in Virginia, she was assigned to attend to an extremely ill patient. In Nursing, you do not get to choose your patients. Her mother found out that the man was a KKK member. Maggie’s mother attended to him in his final days up until his death. Her mother shared this brief story with her when Maggie was in Nursing School many years later. She disclosed to Maggie that her dying patient, in his final moments, had shared with her the KKK mission and his vow of secrecy. Sworn to patient confidentiality, she never shared that with Maggie but only that both existed. Our understanding is that the original Ku Klux Klan consisted of…

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July 22, 2023

Social Justice

The Recipe for a Hot Day

A sizeable, Saharan dust plume found its way to Florida this weekend. The sand brushed the sky with a dusty hue that buffered a bit of the intense Florida sun. All the way from Northern Africa, the dust was transported thousands of miles from its home by thunderstorms, cyclones, and high-speed winds. The Saharan dust traveled like the carnival adage, “round and round it goes, and where it stops nobody knows.” Weather advisories encouraged Florida residents not to take deep breaths and to walk instead of running… July 3rd marked the hottest day ever on this planet. Followed by July 4th, 5th, and 6th. Those in the southern portion of this country can attest to this. Residents heeded warnings, like…

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July 22, 2023

Social Justice

Colonel Mustard with a Box

We just finished reading an article about how humans have pumped out so much groundwater that the Earth’s axis has shifted. And, this could be linked to changes in the mass of glaciers and ice sheets. Another matter is the emergence of malaria in Sarasota which is accompanied by the arrival of Giant African Snails that carry a parasite that can cause meningitis and even eat stucco. Now that is news! While politicians and Congress take on minorities, drag queens, pole dancing and book banning - the world is flooding and burning. Wildfire smoke from the eastern Canadian provinces continues to descend into the mid-west and eastern US producing the worst air quality index ever in many cities. The deadly…

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July 2, 2023

Social Justice

The Silent Exodus

The Facts - There are now around 64 UN member States that have laws that criminalize being gay. In Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, the death penalty is imposed across the country. Uganda just joined other countries in criminalizing being gay with a penalty of life in prison. To note, no European countries have a law against being LGBTQ+. And now the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s top LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, has declared a state of emergency for the LGBTQ+ population in the United States. This follows the spike in “unprecedented and dangerous” anti-LGBTQ+ assaults sweeping State houses this year. What comes to mind when you think of an exodus? People fleeing Germany during WW2 or…

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June 18, 2023

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