this is… The Neighborhood

“The 15,000 Haitians who had travelled to the U.S. “all have AIDS,” and the 40,000 Nigerians would never “go back to their huts”  — “Why should we accept immigrants from these shithole countries?” –  Donald J Trump, US President

A LONELY WORLD
by Kendall F. Person

On Tuesday, January 12, 2010 mother nature unleashed her full fury. A catastrophic 7.0 earthquake rocked the nation of Haiti to its core. Striking directly under the country’s most populated city, the carnage was biblical. 250,000 dead, devouring entire neighborhoods, wiping out all government facilities and in a spectacular display of power, brought down the presidential palace.

Cite Soleil was a disaster even before the plates shifted. A sprawling slum of Port-au-Prince, it had no sewer system or electricity. No hospitals nor clinics. No schools, no jobs but they did have hope.

The richest cities in the world would have been challenged in recovering from one of the worst natural disasters in world history. But Port-au-Prince was not the richest. Not even close. In an unprecedented outpour of sorrow, aid flowed in from a shell-shocked  international  community, that had routinely written the Caribbean island nation off as damned. But Cite Soleil could not be helped. As the final act, with their meager existence in tatters, the grifters moved in, staking their claim to a pile of dirt.

Victims of their own success – in 1804, Haiti beat back their French colonist, becoming the world’s first all black republic – the losers and the United States, refused the victors entry into world commerce, thus leaving the once proud Haitians in absolute isolation, ultimately existing in a lonely world.

I use to be so sure about everything and loved to give my opinion. Each year teaches me how the illusion of life makes my opinion absurd. The irony is  understanding that makes me wiser. –  Source of Inspiration

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Columbus High School 2013 4×100 relay team

On May 1, 2013 in the city of Columbus, Texas, a starters’ gun sounded off. The first of four young men, representing the Mighty Cardinals of Columbus High, blasted out the blocks, rounding the first turn. A seamless passing of the baton, placed the team’s destiny in the hand of a young man, known only as runner two. With blistering speed, he blazed a trail down the straight-a-way. Rock solid focus led to a steady exchange of the baton, and now the team’s fate, rested entirely on runner number three. So smooth was his glide on the final curve, he appeared to be sliding on glass. Runner number four, with a name we all now know, Derrick Hayes,  whose nerves ran ice cold, secured the passing of the baton, and with only one thought… raced for daylight.

So gifted were these young athletes, in a race of only 400 meters, they reached the finishing line, nearly ten yards before their closet opponent. Victory in their grasp, they earned a berth to the Texas State High School Track & Field Finals.

By all broadcasts’ standards, Derrick Hayes’ celebration was gracious. But on that day, in Columbus, Texas, something happened that clouded the real issue, and a disqualification for finger pointing is all the world knew. Whatever the real reason, we may never know, but it makes little difference, when you see the forest instead of the trees.  One of the fastest boys 4×100 relay team, has been banned from attending the State Championship Meet.

“It was a reaction,” father KC Hayes said. “I mean you’re brought up your whole life that God gives you good things, you’re blessed.” (KHOU)

There is no question what was in Derrick Hayes’ head, when he pointed toward the sky. It was an acknowledgement of his faith. But rather the interpretation of rule 4-6-1 (Unsporting conduct is behavior that is unethical or dishonorable…) that led to the disqualification, was fueled by an anti-religious zealot or a moron in power, the community reaction should have been united.

The atheists should have been outraged as being defined as paranoid. The Christians should have marched down to city hall, because ending prayer in school is one thing, (separation of church and state gives rise to a healthy debate), but being stripped of your victory for  pointing a finger toward the sky, is quite another. Teachers should have drawn the line. Already challenged in reaching troubled youth, without having the worry of dedicated students feeling victimized. And to assure the civil community of concerned citizens was complete, all parents should have banded together and not have allowed this ridiculous decision to stand.

Participation in high school sports requires a minimum 2.0 grade point average. All of the young men are students at the school, and winning one of the sports most exciting races in jaw dropping time, illustrates four dedicated, hard-working and talented young men. They won the race fair and square and hearts were pumped with the chance to bring their school a state crown. With a gauntlet of challenges that each of those young men walks through every day (peer pressure, drinking, dating, studying, drugs) how could it be, that they were treated criminal. They did not deserve this. Shame.

Laws against youth offenders are already questionably strong (in Delcambre, Lousiana, the city council passed a law 8-1, making pants sagging illegal, imposing a maximum 6-month jail sentence). Why invent hardship, then arrest them when they do something wrong?  How could a lone official, conjure up such an off-base, out-of-nowhere interpretation, literally altering the course of events, and the community not band together?

If you were an athlete, you understand the agony of this ill-gotten defeat. If you are a parent, you know how you feel, when your kids are feeling low. And if you are a realist, even though Nike tells us to just get back up, people are different, and some blows, land harder on some shoulders than others.

Knowing the Haitian people had won their freedom fair and square, what if the world community had stood up to the bullies by dismantling an unreasonable  request? What if the colonist, that then ruled the world, were forced to relent to a united and unyielding international front, would Cite Soleil be a different place?

It has proven to be a difficult lesson for a team which showed how well it can win. It must now show how well it can handle loss. – Andrew Horansky and Tiffany Craig / KHOU 11 News

The only lesson to be learned here is not for the team but for the community of adults. Because when things like this happen, and we do not band together, than how different are we now, than in 1804, when the victor fell victim and never recovered thus forever doomed to living in a lonely world.

-an editorial of thepublicblogger

Shit House

**The Big Payback 

“Shit house is the great equalizer, since everyone spends a portion of their life inside one.”