Day 256: My Sister the Super Hero

To say that this Christmas didn’t go to plan is an understatement, yesterday we found out that money we had planned to use for several needed things including getting me an easier to work cell phone with a local number for when doctor appointments. Etc come up wasn’t there anymore. Since doctors appointments and discussions with insurance people are imminent with the coming New Year, being without a -phone meant an extra layer of difficulty, I mean Google Voice only goes so far.

Enter my younger sister who has been the super hero of my life, or so it seems. I originally asked for her help buying a basic phone and her immediate reaction was.” WHY do you not have a smart phone? With all the apps those things are meant to make the lives of people like you easier. For the clarification of anyone who might be new to the blog “people like you” means people who live with disabilities. Next thing I know she says that I should have a phone in 3 to 5 days. This is my sister the super hero I meant to get her a Christmas present but I wasn’t able to get it in time and I don’t think anything I could buy would be worthy of her. I love you Morgan.

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Day 255: Explain This to Me…..

christmas tree (Photo credit: fsse8info)

If you ask my parents to put a label to there beliefs my dad usually says he is agnostic while my mother says universalist Unitarian, which in a nutshell says that no one faith has all the answers and that everyone search for their personal truth is valid. Some people may say that growing up and such a home couldn’t possibly have sent clear messages about right and wrong or provided much of a moral compass. The fact that some people who know me actually think this just goes to show you they weren’t paying very much attention. Our family has always celebrated Christmas admittedly more as a secular holiday than a religious one (much to my grandma’s annoyance I’m sure) but starting around Thanksgiving my parents called us to say Merry Christmas or happy Hanukkah if we ran into people we knew were either Christian or Jewish and Happy Holidays if we didn’t know a person’s particular preference still wished to be friendly.

 

One of the things that bothers me a lot this time of year is some peoples reluctance to acknowledge any holiday other than those they personally believe it. I especially think this is silly during the Christmas/Chanukah/Yule season since all of the aforementioned holidays focus on sacrifice and are meant to encourage cooperation and fellowship during dark or difficult times. Most of the holidays this time of year are meant to foster a sense of community so let’s just stop the bickering and enjoy the fact that we are all still on this planet.

Another thing, since when are books “boy books and “girl books”? I love books of all kinds. Pick any genre, fiction or non fiction and I can probably name at least two books that I’ve read that fit in the genre you chose. I believe labeling colors, clothes, and toys etc as either “boy” or “girl” is narrow minded at best and sometimes downright harmful. Books are ideas and stories and should never be confined to one gender over another. I was surprised and a little dismayed to hear that that is exactly what is happening in a first grade class gift exchange before school lets out for the holidays. Some things I will never quite understand.

Day 254 :The Underground Railroad v 2.0 or Making Humanity My Business This Holiday Season

 

 

 

 

 

Marley’s ghost, from Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. With Illustrations by John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. First edition. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Growing up in an active military family tends to foster a certain mindset or at least it did in my family. My parents taught my sister and I that if we saw a wrong in the world that we had the means to destroy or help destroy we should. Most of the men in my family were military. Several of the women were victims of child abuse. I HATE child abusers. I get up everyday and go about my day thankful that the kids I know are safe. The sad and terrifying truth is is that are close to 2 million children are circulated between the US and different countries as part of an underground sex trade. This is not acceptable. The hands of the US and other governments are often tied because there are no US statute being violated. Sometimes the children are in countries who do not have the resources to get them out. Enter Operation Underground Railroad, a group of former FBI, CIA, Green Beerets and Navy SEALs. I am not nor have I ever been a Christian but I believe that as you sow so shall you reap. I believe in avenging angels and I believe in making humanity my business.. My disability means I couldn’t be a soldier, but I can be what my parents raised me to be a warrior who defends those who can’t defend themselves. If you know me personally I would ask that you take the money you might have spent on a Christmas gift and donate to Operation Underground Railroad instead.