Trial by Fire

I don't like this new format in Blogger; am thinking of starting a new blog elsewhere, as have not been able to take the time to figure out how to have paragraph spaces between writing, which I create when writing, though now has not shown up in a completed post. This was not the case before. Speaking of cases, have had several going at once at a very uncomfortable pace with other families affairs pending a combination of efforts. I survived the last two weeks, though still not feeling nearly caught up to where anything feels manageable. My life or my family's cannot be sacrificed further, or my help to others cannot have priority over my own child. The balancing act is very challenging and lately more often than not feels like a tightrope in an earthquake. All we can really manage is one day at a time. Sometimes it seems ridiculous that every single tomorrow depends on today. Some say it's true. Sometimes the sense of overwhelm or tunnelvision to get through creates lots of clouds that can't be seen through in a single day.

Her

Everything was deleted after a half hour or more of work. The save didn't work when it should have as before. So here's another version of the similar thoughts that just wrote a different configuration of words... The young woman on the bus across from me didn't realize the person opposite her was the granddaughter of someone just as strikingly beautiful as she. She also likely had no idea that someday she would be the person sitting across from her: aged, no longer ogled by every male in her presence, as well as others. Ironically, I'm much more secure than when I was that beautiful, not as secure as my grandmother was at her age. My history was different, though I was the daughter of her son. I didn't know what I had when I had it in terms of youth assets, and didn't make the most of them from lack of confidence, and information, though maybe there was some purpose in why the 'beauty factor' wasn't capitalized on when it was most obvious. Beauty as such only goes so far, and doesn't mean much anymore in terms of accomplishments and steps forward. What was once important no longer is. A child needs his mother as much as I needed my grandmother at a time when it was natural and usual to be cared for by grandparents who lived in the same place. Now the world is a different place. Were it not for the 'tree huggers', some of us might not be here, though no one wishes to admit it. There's much to do; I'm slowing down only as much as the age of someone who was a lifestyle athlete finds acceptable in the present, with a stage one malignancy in the past to boot. The next generation is all that matters, so that grandchildren can be cared for in the same manner my grandmother took care of me, and served as my primary role model. First things first. One day at a time. Being there for those most important, as my grandmother was for us, as beautiful in her prime as the young woman on the bus, and remembered in much the same way.

Serenity

I look forward to being serene again. Today is blog day. It's annoyingly unseasonably cold in New York. Where is it more serene? In the valley or at the top of the peak? The water is where the river is: in the valley. I'll go wherever it's warmer. I miss the four even seasons of a childhood in a much friendlier place. I'm not staying by choice now; I was left here.

Better days will come; they have to. So many children robbed of their childhoods. I can only help so many. One hand to help myself, another for another, with no less purpose.

The books are so heavy and take up so much space now, and I'm writing one. Three times over I've replaced the desired wall of tomes, upgrading the quality over time, yet not voluntarily; the other two libraries were lost to destruction. One by a flood, another by giving more than taking, with yet another taker to replace the one before right behind him.

No more. The child will not be the same. The role model for lack of a comparison cannot stick. Screaming into the wind or a black hole will cease, and the child will thrive again, unafraid of what anyone else thinks from one moment to the next, unlike the way it was, for too long.

Wherever I am at that moment, serenity will return; my hand will be there when he reaches out for it, whenever he wants, as it always has been. The barriers will be identified and broken down, their source understood, maybe even addressed.

All that matters immediately is that what remains of a childhood can be lived out to its fullest. The buried memories will return only as they are useful, and with minimal further harm. Then, if not before, we will be serene, and a family again.

Here We Go Again

Thought of entry first part of the day, then remembered after it was too late. Too much going on for one person responsible for more than one child or family. Aftereffects of situation continue for years, like those in the wrong place at the wrong time after a hurrican or tsunami. In those circumstances, those who lose the most are not held responsible for their location when disaster struck. By the same token, an individual taken advantage of or exploited, be they child, woman, or grandparent, should not ever be blamed for what happens to them at the hands of someone else or other people.

Sometimes an entire team is involved in the siege, for money, status, or power, at others' expense including sometimes their very lives. It has gone on for decades, and almost a single decade for one family in its entirety, both sides, begun by the continuing acts of a single person putting themselves before others from an instilled sense of entitlement, among other things.

It happens to lots of people, who are worth much more than a so-called net worth. They are grandparents, aunts, uncles, and extended family who are rarely if ever named as parties directly, yet they are directly affected in as many profound ways, to the extent of losing their lives early, with no one implicated or held accountable as the cause.

This is to give perspective, if not inspire, yet the latter is difficult to understand now. When one is removed from a situation after some time the perspective changes, in the best of possible outcomes.

Who reads books anymore? Will it be found on a tablet device, in hardcover, or both? It's not a story; it's a reality for so many. Those not affected think it could 'never' happen to them, just like a natural disaster would not strike them either...

Without the 'bad', the 'good' cannot be appreciated, so they say, though losing years of a childhood or a lifetime takes its toll. In the broad perspective of humanity, it's a part of the social evolution from the framing of the Constitution until now. No one is really immune to the effects in 'the big picture'; it's an illusion to think otherwise.

Maybe not entering on time today as opposed to yesterday is a reflection of dwelling on things that are unpleasant and overshadowing being something not easily addressed or articulated. To focus on putting what's necessary into words takes emotion and energy. The difference between those who survive and those who have more difficulty is a willingness or ability to do the unpleasant, the same as those who succeed.

'Traumatic Bonding'

The topic is an ongoing conversation; it's shocking how many still don't 'get it', and continue to place children in the hands of such individuals with no protection or safeguards in place. Other family being removed from children's lives only adds to the damage that compounds over time until who the child becomes is altogther different than who they may have become otherwise. Nothing can compensate for relatives who have become ill or passed on from the resulting isolation and lack of recognition or support. A child's identity is limited by lack of exposure to those who represent strong ties to positive and lasting legacies that the loss of time substantially erodes or causes complete evaporation in instances of death. Unaccountability continues, though not for all.

Below is taken from but one resource that's only a few pages from dozens that are available and documented, yet many in systems that "serve" families are either unaware of the facts, listen to what they're told, or don't bother to find out themselves. Thousands of lives have been lost or seriously diminished across the country as a result. Countless others remain at risk. Apologies for the lack of an upbeat tone this month. Contrast is part of the process.

http://abusesanctuary.blogspot.com/2006/05/why-do-you-stay-traumatic-bonding-and.html

…helplessness and a lack of resources can be contributing factors it is time we look at the bond created by severe, prolonged trauma.

Traumatic bonding was first recognized and acknowledged during a hostage incident in Stockholm, Sweden. Authorities were amazed that the hostages refused to cooperate with them and actually saw law enforcement as the villains. What they were witnessing was the hostage's identification with the hostage taker. Authorities were even more shocked when the hostages refused to testify against their captors and one of the women later married him. While hostages may bond after a matter of hours batterers usually have many years with the victims without any interference or intervention.

This bond occurs because the well being of a child, a hostage, or woman depends upon the hostage taker or the batterer. If a batterer has total control over money, safety, peace and happiness then it is in their best interest to keep him happy.

This bond is not only in the best interest of the perpetrator but is, at times, in the best interest of the victim and is frequently necessary for survival. If a hostage is argumentative they are more likely to be injured. If a hostage taker dislikes the victim their likelihood of [harm] increases.

We often berate victims for staying in relationships and can't understand how it happened. A controlling man does not take a woman out and beat on the first date. We all put on our best face when we initially meet people, and batterers are no different. If he beat on the first date there would be no second. She has no history or investment in the relationship and wouldn't tolerate it. His taking control is a gradual process.

Battered hostages and prisoners of war will share some of the same experiences. Some of these shared experiences are that they are degraded, debilitated, they experience the constant threat of violence, the violence is intermittent, their are occasional indulgences, the captor demonstrates omnipotence, isolation etc...

The dynamics involved in domestic violence can be demonstrated by what's called The Power And Control Wheel by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP). It's interesting because when we compare Bidermans Chart of Coercion by Amnesty International with the Power and Control Wheel they are almost identical. (Bidermans Chart of Coercion is how Amnesty International documented the techniques of the Communist Chinese, KGB, etc. )

There are many types of service providers coming in contact with [those] who are still unaware of why women stay. These service providers are unable to address the bigger picture due to a lack of information. The inability to address this issue creates many problems. Law enforcement, and much of society, still blames women for defending their [abusers], unaware of the fact that not only is defending [them] in their best interest, but the bond itself reduces [harm]. The victims are not given the information they need to deal with the bond they feel and therefore attribute their perplexing feelings to "love." Allowing them [or] children, to continue in traumatic relationships.

"I am asking that we rethink our approach to domestic violence based on the fact that a traumatic bond is occurring and that the bond itself must be taken into consideration and dealt with.


STOCKHOLM SYNDROME THEORY
Stockholm Syndrome primarily develops under the following conditions:

Victim perceives the abuser as a threat to their survival, physically or psychologically.

Victim perceives the abuser as showing them some kindness, however small.

Victim is kept isolated from others.

Victim does not perceive a way to escape from the abuser.

Victim focuses on the abuser's needs.

Victim sees world from abuser's perspective.

Victim perceives those trying to help them as the "bad guys" and the abuser as the "good guys."

Victim finds it difficult to leave the abuser even when it is OK to do so.

Victim fears the abuser will come back to get them, even if he is dead or in prison.

Victim shows signs of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) including depression, low self-esteem, anxiety reactions, paranoia and feelings of helplessness, and recurring nightmares and flashbacks."

Sara Hacala: Author

I don't do New Year's resolutions, though for the purpose of a common cause I will follow and advise an implementation that was not outwardly suggested in Ms. Hacala's book: one for each corresponding week of the year (52). The absence of a suggestion is a very nuanced form of politeness, true to Ms. Hacala's upbringing, background, and character that is effectively mirrored in how she lays out what anyone would require in directly and personally changing the world, one person at a time, one simple act at a time.

The book is called Saving Civility: 52 Ways to Tame Rude, Crude, and Attitude for a Polite Planet. It could not be more timely; it is the missing link to what is required to save us globally on many levels.

Ironically (or not), the award winning documentary Waiting for Superman which focuses on the educational system in our country also targets how the system here has declined (thus our national strength) from the absence of quality education, from which how children, teachers, and parents relate to each other cannot be extricated from such elements in effective communication that leads to the full spectrum from which all social actions evolve and are reflected in our media, technology, political actions, economics, and all forms of violence that result from verbal aggressiveness. This brushstroke does not do justice to the principles from which Ms. Hacala draws her dots that can all be connected from the same origins, carried out in daily life from schools to street communication to traffic to public policy, the workplace, and our government. It is fascinating to read how far back the stories go that have led to what can be consciously reversed, just in the way we communicate.

More will be discussed here on this topic and the book itself in this post. For now and in wishing all a prosperous and peacefull New Year I will simply commit to the same also being featured one year from now in review of what has taken place one week at a time. I you'd like one of the best resolution books of the year while your holiday time concludes, Saving Civility is a recommended best pick.

Saving Civility: 52 Ways to Tame Rude, Crude and Attitude for a Polite Planet by Sara Hacala

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Timing is everything. Met Sara personally at one of her signings just in time for the New Year. I don't make New Year's resolutions, though given that there were 52 transforming points Sara deftly and extensively researched in each of her highlighted short chapters/points, there are also 52 weeks in the year...

The book (available in softcover) provides an ideal platform for both self transformation and 'one at a time making a difference in the world'. Focused, it takes around three weeks of deliberate concentration to add(self improvement)or get rid of a habit (general well-being), according to Mark Victor Hansen and his colleagues (1+1 = 11).

The information provided is both informative and practical. The fringe benefits provided by the author's historical backgrounds of human interactions is as fascinating in the beginning of the book as are what she continues to provide in each of her continuing points throughout the book. Highly recommended. Thanks, Sara; looking forward to staying in touch... JM



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'My Kilimanjaro'

Current wisdom in certain 'enlightened circles' says things are just as they should be, which I continually question and challenge when it comes to children, women, and those who needlessly and helplessly suffer at the hands of others through either confinement, culture, politics, condoned oppression in general, and laws that are either nonexistent to protect them or completely ignored when they do exist. That's it in a nutshell. Realizing this first hand the hard way has taken life in a direction previously unimaginable. I'll be doing this in one form or another for life; it would be a miracle to go away in my lifetime if I survive into old age, as what goes on in this country alone that gets kept out of the media is a life's work of itself.

The same principles that apply to a documentary movie such as Inside Job apply to all systems in this country today. Those of the other party demonize the current administration's inability to make much progress or allege worse. Those of the same party say it was sabotaged, bought, and paid for before the president took office, leaving him to function with one hand behind his back and hopping on one leg at best. The truth is it began long ago and has taken any moral or ethical model once claimed to one of all but complete non-credibility elsewhere on the globe. The country has sold out its own and created a culture so entrenched in the darkest forms of capitalism that there is a monetary value on every human life. People are defined by either their income, 'net worth', or status to be bought or sold in the marketplace.

There are slave trades and trafficking as well here almost no one hears about. The other forms of trafficking are abuses of law that keep people employed, such as children in the juvenile justice system who get or remain locked up to keep prisons open and their staffs working to the tune of over six figures per child per year when treatments appropriate for them cost a fraction of that.

Those in the system without a conscience keep an income by exploiting children and robbing them of their childhoods and futures from extended and inappropriate litigation so that the person who is either "worth" or pays more is permitted to control the process either outright or they are parroted by those who claim to represent children. Anything written down can be completely fabricated as on a child's behalf when the words were paid for by either questionable sources or unregulated misallocated yet claimed funding streams against both the child and any other family "worth less". A child's life can be placed in ongoing danger, 'sold' to the one with 'the most'. It happens every day somewhere in this country.

The work seems to have only just begun. This leaves similar practices in the rest of the world for others to take on, as many have. There are countries where women and other family members remain property. Without going into detail, which may be elsewhere in this blog, constitutionally people are still property in the U.S. or it's treated as such in practice. Day after day someone says they thought they were alone in their experience or what was happening as unthinkable was only happening to them. They are either isolated, unable to reach out for help, or have extended themselves as a last resort only to discover those in 'helping' positions can either only do so much or what they're in for could take years, if they survive.

That's the broad brushstroke. I've taken a position to record for others what no one told me when it may have helped more. It's become an enterprise that will be part of a legacy I've carried on from my grandfather and other inspirational family members of the past two generations. It's a purpose that's chosen, as all purposes are. Part of the mission is to let others know to pick a purpose sooner rather than later. It often comes from tragedy or the same of someone close to you, which seems to be the way of human nature. Those who have not faced death or the prospect of something close to it in one or more lifechanging moments often go about life letting it 'happen to them', as opposed to making life happen for themselves and others, all in a good way. Those without a voice that's heard as things are for them don't deserve life taken from them; giving them a voice is a purpose.

The next step is to exemplify this not only in daily life. To take a physical form outside of one person in many forms serves to provide symbolism, comfort, inspiration, tools, and ideas to those able to reach out and take action on behalf of themselves and others in forms limited only by their collective imaginations. In other words, to provide a platform for something limitless that grows exponentially into the next generation so that it may thrive can keep someone alive.

According to Inside Job, this generation is the first in history to have less than the one before with a fewer practical tools for building positive prosperous lives at their disposal despite what advances in technology continue to occur. Access has a price, too. Many take it for granted. They're not just the 1%; they're a big chunk of the 99% who aren't all bad, yet not all good either. That's common sense, which is also a gift that not everyone has. A person without a conscience or common sense can get far in the world with others' resources without looking back or caring who has been harmed by their actions; it's just all in a day's work for them. Many don't leave the planet happy or having known how to live other than taking from others, which isn't a life for a human. Parasites and cancer take life as well; it's not much different in the grand scheme of things.

To understand and appreciate good, many say evil will always exist somewhere. If it went away completely we will have created our own heaven. Unthinkable? Maybe not in my lifetime; maybe someday. Maybe because of something we did, collectively, by choice. To stand at the top of Kilimanjaro is not a goal for me; inspiring someone else to want to is imaginable. What they inspire others to do is limitless. Causing such a chain reaction is a legacy. Reversing the negative domino effect that exists today in such a way is the mountain for me. I'm grateful to still have the legs for it, now and for as far as they'll take me and those I can include.

Anniversary

Looked in other posts for this same month for the life of this blog; it has to have been mentioned before, though not necessarily.

On this day twelve years ago someone else was told besides my mother a child was on the way. A blessing, a gift, an intervention.

That child is out for the holiday tonight, dressed as Homer Simpson. The temperature is only slightly cooler than the night was when the announcement of his upcoming birth was made. It seems like a long time ago, though some feelings are like yesterday.

He is the inspiration for everything now, having given life a new purpose just by existing. His personality and natural gifts are still developing, yet already he's exceptional, and not just because of who he became the child of.

It was in another post my inability to speak when he made one of the most profound statements I've ever heard to the effect that no matter who or when he was born to, he would have been the child I had, regardless of when, how, or with whom.

He probably doesn't remember saying that now, though I will remind him. I'm not sure he realized what he was saying then, or where it was coming from. He's too far away now, geographically that is. It can't last long. It has tested our bond, yet more of concern are the realities of the way things have been that do not recognize why there has been so much that's presently not only unnatural. It's a test of strength and nature, imposed by flawed humans blind to all but potential profit.

Children are not commodities, yet they're traded every day with no regard to what may be imposed or await; how it affects the child and family irreversibly under even bearable circumstances, as if there was such a thing when profit trumps human life. It happens in this country in less obvious ways than the media allows common households to see.

So every year when this day rolls around is bittersweet. What happened within the week after the announcement, and in the years that followed have taken more than one life in a completely different direction. The child has not been the centerpoint, or there would be more health, peace, and sense of family, for everyone involved.

Entitlement and conditioning blinds some that others exist that their decisions and arrogance affect, which cannot last. Elitism that what one must have or control above all else and at the expense of others also goes against nature and must diminish and bring to the forefront those they have sought to diminish, in the short term, only for nature to eventually bring the lesson around at some point. A childhood cannot be lost from the simple will and domino effect of poor intentions and incentives.

This would not be wished on an enemy. Part of the purpose is to bring it to light, so that other lives will not be bartered, sold, or diminished.

The child remains the light, with a soul that's true, a representation for what comes next: their legacy. In the tradition and by the example of those he is familiar with yet hasn't met, his life will continue the legacy of those who existed so that his life would be richer and that he remains strong.

Another day in another year, each irreplaceable, each significant, each a holiday, as is every day he laughs, smiles, and understands his own definition of love as it evolves with time, experience, and exposure to everything his life will touch.

Neurons

The Nature or Nurture theory has for some time now been proven that DNA changes daily. In other words, environment is everything. We are all a product of our surroundings. In children with rapidly developing brains, there are billions of connections in synapses being made daily according to responses to different stimuli that can be either positive or negative, shaping perceptions for the future, permanently.

The absence of positive stimuli leaves connections that break from any past positive associations if not regularly reinforced. No stimuli to respond to causes the related synapses to break or die away, to be replaced by other connections that are more prevalent or dominant in the present environment.

This has recently been illustrated in The Secret Life of the Brain, a PBS video by a well know documentary director with a track record on many subjects not related to medical research or developments. In a provided interview, he stated the high standards in producing for PBS, so his reputable style transferred to informative, demonstrable images and stories.

In one form or another, the visual (a PBS DVD) has already been widely published in a significant number of related materials having to do with children, the life cycle, and the aging. The brain develops continually into old age if properly or positively stimulated. The brain fully matures as 'adult' at around age 25. Some associations or memories can be repressed, buried, or 'forgotten' (apart from disease) by traumatic events and other forms of conditioning that can be either immediate and short term, or ongoing. The latter is most closely related to environment.

A child in one environment will behave and respond one way, including physiological responses that manifest in overall well-being or health. If that same child is sent to a radically different environment where the previous positive comforts or reinforcements no longer exist or are drastically changed, certain behaviors and physiological processes begin to occur. Some can be reversed, while others cannot. Length of exposure is a factor.

The responses are textbook or signature of the developmental cumulative trauma responses in children, yet largely ignored or misunderstood. If a child acts out where they feel safe, as in school or with others apart from the environment that is the source of the trauma (where they feel unsafe and therefore cannot behave in any way other than what is 'expected'), where they must alone do whatever is necessary in order to survive, emotionally, psychologically, or physically, it is often regarded as the 'fault' of the environment where the responses take place.

The source is sometimes considered in schools, where the phenomenon is not unfamiliar and witnessed by more than one person on more than one child from different families. Yet when this takes place with a family member or in another home away from the source of tension or original trauma, the environment where the responses are released becomes inappropriately suspect. There are no witnesses to reveal the manifestation process of behaviors, and the original environment is usually either 'unavailable' or those who contributed to the ongoing conditions deny or additionally blame where the responses took place. After all, the child is 'well behaved' in a negative environment or place where they are afraid on one or multiple levels. The consequences for 'getting out of line' result in the child being restricted more with every small 'infraction', which compounds according to the number of persons 'enforcing rules' in the environment, or other 'disciplinary measures' that go unchecked indefinitely.

This creates high levels of stress hormones in a child's body in addition to the complete dormancy or deadening of neural or synapse connections in the brain associated with healthy responses, optimism, or an ability to think clearly for themselves. Not being reinforced their own ability or past coping skills that have gone unnurtured for extensive periods, all responses are about potential consequences or the source of stress and their likely reactions rather than an ability to feel at peace in their own choices.

Confusion, frustration, negativity, cynicism, weight fluctuations, head and stomach aches begin to surface where a child may at times be able to express themselves honestly with another caregiver or competent school staff member. Expressing oneself honestly often comes in the form of the releasing of repressed anger and resentment towards those for whom the child has less fear, as well as self blame and plummeting self confidence from long term influences of general negativity, inappropriate blame for adult responsibilities, and sometimes aggressive 'acquisition' of what is 'forbidden' in the source or more oppressive environment. Excessive wants and appetites result from arguments or insistence of needs for toys that are 'age inappropriate' to increased consumption that is a result of severely restricted food regimes or long periods between meals.

In many lives, these patterns become a permanent part of the child's personality into adulthood. Negative behaviors transform what was a previously happy, well-adjusted and healthy child to one with negative personality traits that mirror the source of primary stress and other forms of coping that became habit for sheer survival. Most everyone the child comes into contact with accept the child where they are upon any encounter with the exception of those who may have known the child prior to the change. The entire phenomenon is natural and understandable if the timeline of events and responses are appropriately monitored. Unchecked or taken out of context without knowledge of causal events, those who encounter the child do what they can with the behaviors or responses they observe at 'face value'.

Giving the 'right answer' to 'authority figures' is a survival mechanism. The consequences of an honest answer are either too frightening or the child has so lost touch with his or her own identity that how they may really feel is obscured even to them. Everything is to 'please', because their personalities or personal wants have become secondary to those who make all the rules that cannot be broken, or else. This cycle can repeat itself from one generation to another, when the models for adult behavior prohibit or prevent any basis for comparison of healthy collaborative interaction that isn't about power, control, or excessive acquisition in terms of relationship dynamics.

People become 'pawns' or means to gain. Children who have experienced both types of individuals among their attachments develop forms of self-hatred for feeling they cannot control what they have been most strongly influenced to model for sheer survival when desired responses become habits that repeat in their behaviors that conflict with their more positive inclinations or attachments that have not been completely forgotten or suppressed.

We all know someone like this, who was once a child. The ones with hope had early positive and nurturing environments. Those who have existed in negative environments from birth have been most at risk in our society. Conscience and healthy interaction have been all but completely absent for most of their lives. There are no associations in neural synapses for behavior about anything other than survival or collaborative interaction that includes empathy. Another term for some of these adults is sociopath. If environment is the source, the predisposition is more illustrative, when recognized and understood. It is less often that genetic inclinations play a large part, thought they also exist.

It's heartbreaking, and preventable, to watch the unfolding of repetition from one generation to another. Ironically, the education is accessible to everyone, yet goes unexplored by those appointed to children in times of crisis. Empathy or well-rounded knowledge on what affects children most do not appear to be required experience systemically where so many children go from at risk to mere 'statistics'. There is too much reliance on either popular wisdom, internal politics, or inappropriate monetary incentives that affect position retention.

There is nothing to be lost in becoming familiar with what affects our lives directly having to do with the next generation. Everyone loses more than feelings associated with peace and comfort from the neural level. Lives are lost, sometimes our own or those closest to us. It's not 'what happens to other people'; it's everywhere. To remain ignorant or blind harms everyone, and is only felt by many if the consequences are direct and explosive, when the timebombs have been in front of us all along.

Hope

A mentor once told me along with one of our groups in the recent past that half the world's population cooks its food over an open flame without secure or full time shelter. Watching One Peace At a Time and the story of the Glimmer of Hope organization brougnt this into full living color, as I watched women and children's lives entirely sacrificed to walking hours daily just for water. No education; staying alive was the constant maintenance of a water supply carried on their backs, every day, all day, to and from. What they collect in unsanitary vessels is muddy and often ridden with parasites. Many children don't live until their fifth birthday.

The Glimmer of Hope organization is dedicated to creating wells and ongoing water supplies for such communities. One well costs three thousand dollars; the communities build them themselves with the stones or materials purchased, and they are then free to think beyond daily survival and sickness to clean water and opportunities for education. Those of all ages sit in the same classroom, learning to read for the first time. Lessons are in their language and English simultaneously.

The movie (2009) also brought to light that there is enough food in the world to feed everyone; the problem is barriers to access that are both physical and political. This is no surprise. It's the first concise illustration that included interviews with seven Nobel prize winners that we can in this generation collectively and deliberately end world poverty, without those 'in power' "losing" anything. It's a mindset, known as well. Gratitude to Turk Pipkin for this timely and valuable compilation that illustrates what other related or similar documentaries have commendably attempted yet failed to do. It was a collection of messages from the hearts of the planet's highest thinkers and scholars, with examples of what's working, and how to do more, simply, deliberately, and effectively.

In text across the screen just over a minute were how many children were dying of hunger as the text was read. As this is being written, every five words a child dies of hunger. The movie was also effective in its use of humor and pacing. How it can be cool to promote family planning education in an appealing and profitable way that also contributes to a community economy as well, sitting in the restaurant of the founder and owner who appears like anything but the kind of guy one would picture offering ample supplies every day of free contraception, making a good living, and having found or created a lasting purpose.

Have researched this type of world advancing for a number of years now. The filmmaker has succeeded in putting an effective number of best practices in one place, and shown that anyone who chooses a purpose can do the same in a noble and respectable way for both themselves and future generations.

What is the best of both worlds? Why do separate worlds exist? It's mostly perception. It takes more conscious choice to save more lives, and the film shows just how little collective yet deliberate effort is required to save lives and preserve futures in a short amount of time.

Yes, we have hidden problems in our own backyards, even in Texas where the project and another highlighted organization are based. It is another place we must begin and continue for our own children, with the rest of the globe in our peripheral vision, because there are also the storm clouds.

Without taking care of our own or pushing to have our country represent what others have, there is neither credibility or a firm position that our country practices what it stands for. An example is not signing or ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The U.S. and Somalia remain in non-participation. Somalia has no government. Ours in many ways is systemically broken. We cannot be strong until what has been swept under the rug is brought to light and addressed. Those who have been affected by unlawful practices know this all too well. Those engaging in it aren't fooling anyone, not in the long term. Short terms gains are acquired by compromising or permanently damaging entire childhoods or breaking families. It can't last.

Thanks for the movie. It's time for some accountability. Many empowered in younger generations are better equipped and informed than those who have contributed to the ruin left for others to clean up. Cable channels appear to have consumed and brainwashed most everyone in distracting their attention from how the world works.

Those working the world aren't watching cable; they're out preparing for what's next. When or if cameras come out for those spectating who have living rooms with TV screens, the ones changing the world are usually too busy to notice, though they're gracious enough to provide a few moments or practical wisdom when possible. There's no question who's really doing the 'living', so that more can live with health and the promise of a future of opportunity: everything every child has a right to, including their children, too.