A Very Inconvenient Truth

This is not pretty.  Most turn and look the other way.  It makes the skin crawl.  It sets an image that is never forgotten.  It's a recipe for evil.  The ingredients?  Power, greed, lust and sex.  The results, human trafficking....child trafficking.  

Recently a trial was held for a man named Keith Raniere.  If you followed the trial, you know what it was about.  If not, this will be an attempt to describe his crime in a nut shell.  K.R. built a company called NXIVM, (nex e um).  It was a multilevel marketing company offering professional and personal development seminars.  It also had something referred to as a secret society for women.  In this society, women were branded with K.R.'s initials, used for his personal gratification as sex slaves and were required to recruit new members for the same purpose.  During the trial, evidence was shown that K.R. not only abused and used women for his twisted ideas, but he also had a portfolio of child pornography.  It is believed that he was a major player in the world of child sex trafficking.

There is a documentary, that can be found on Amazon, titled Operation Toussaint.  It covers the underground world of child trafficking.  In this documentary I learned a very inconvenient truth.  The United States of America holds the first place trophy, world wide, for child sex trafficking.  Children, as young as 6 months, are being sold to people for sex. What makes a person interested in this is beyond comprehension, but pedophilia is a sickness that seems to be running the gauntlet like an ancient plague. 

Most of us think  these people are sick.  That they are the creepy old man who cannot seem to keep his hands to himself.  The weird, who obviously have a limited mental capacity.  Although there are many who fall into those categories, the inconvenient truth is that there are many who do not fit into that mold at all.  They are the super rich, the powerful, the elite and together they make a monster much worse than the legendary Kraken.  Their tentacles run deep, into places we would have trouble believing.....into churches, into businesses, into governments.

There is something happening in the world today.  Hopefully, it is the battle between good and evil.  Take note and pay attention.  Try to connect the dots.  Keep the children in your thoughts and prayers.  K.R. was convicted and found guilty on seven charges, he is to be sentenced in September.  Many of the people who were in this web of wickedness with him have already been spilling the beans.  It will be interesting to see if K.R. begins to sing like a canary.  If and when he does, there are going to be many well known people who shall certainly fall from grace.  The fall will be hard to take, when we realize how we have been deceived.  Hold tight to the truth, even though it may be very inconvenient.

 

 

My Confession

It seems I committed the ultimate sin in the world of being a writer.  My last blog, "A Fable", was not my own original content.  I stewed about this most of the day, after writing the story.  Had I really committed plagiarism?  I asked a trusted confidant, explained the situation and waited for a reply.  They agreed with my own feelings, yes, I had copied someone else's work.

The story came from a set of cards that I use.  I could easily tell my reading audience that they are scripture cards, something one looks at daily for inspiration, but that too, would not be the truth.  These cards are considered to be oracle cards....something that comes from the unknown, an outside source.

The cards are called "Chakra Wisdom Oracle Cards".  The story behind them is as follows, taken from the back cover of the book that accompanies the cards: "Tori Hartman is a world-renowned intuitive and spiritual teacher.  Her motto, "Enlightenment Made Simple", refers to her desire to give people the support they need in order to do spiritual work on their own.  Born and raised in the free-thinking atmosphere of New York's Greenwich Village in the 1060s, Tori has been aware of her psychic abilities since the age of eight.  a series of encounters with angels that began 25 years ago, after a near-death experience, revealed the profound fables that were to form the basis of the Chakra Wisdom Oracle....."

In reality, the story, that I titled "A Fable", without even reading what was on the back cover of the book that came with the cards, referring to the stories as fables, was true, but not from me.

I could easily tell why I used the story, even though I did change some of the narrative, but that would just be an excuse to make folks think better of me.  

I can assure you that  the words I print from now on will be my own.  They may not be pretty and you may not agree with their content, but the source of them will be from deep within myself and my own research, which will be duly noted.     

So, to my readers, my deepest apologies and thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading tRuth As I See It.  

A Fable

Once upon a time, there was a person who was very despondent, depressed.  The person, Jo, was miserable.  Jo had no desire to do anything.  The more Jo thought about how terrible their life was, the worse Jo felt.  In utter frustration, Jo called out to who or whatever was listening and pleaded for help, or just a way out.

The suggestion Jo received was to get themselves cleaned up and then to do the same with the house.  Jo thought about that for awhile and decided that it could not hurt to try.  Jo took a long hot shower and picked out a favorite outfit to wear.  The house did look a mess, so Jo spent the entire day cleaning.  Jo put items back where they belonged, ran the sweeper and even dusted.  By the end of the day, Jo was mildly surprised to discover that they did feel a bit better.  

Awakening the next day, looking at the clean house, the depression returned.  Then something strange happened.  A violent storm swept into the area.  Tree limbs were snapping and the wind made the rain fall in a sideways direction.  Jo looked out the window to see a large tree fall on the neighbors' house.  Without thinking or hesitation, Jo ran out the front door, bounded off the front porch and ran to the neighbors' home.  The family who lived there were in a state of panic. Jo grabbed the two small children and called for the rest of the family to follow.  They made their way to Jo's house and Jo led the way to the basement, where they all took shelter, waiting for the storm to pass.

Jo had never felt so exuberant.  Jo felt more alive than they had in months, maybe even years.  Jo had just realized an important idea, that action requires reaction.  Jo looked back on the last couple of years and understood that sitting around doing nothing got the exact same results, nothing.  

From that point on, Jo turned their life around.  Jo took a daily walk.  Jo learned how to meditate.  Jo joined a local gym.  Jo found a group that liked to get together and discuss a topic that was one of Jo's favorites.  In short, Jo's action created reaction and created a life that Jo did not think was possible.

The moral of the story?  Get off the couch.  Move!  Do something each day, just for yourself.  Create your very own reaction.  Create a brand new you.

From The Desk of The Dog

Hi everyone!  It's me, Runtly!  The ever so entertaining Jack Russell Terrier!  JRT for short.  I'm so excited to share my tails of my recent road trip!  I got to see my Mama!  Mom says I used the wrong tail.....what does she know....she doesn't even have one.

I don't know if I have told you this before, but I really do not like riding in the car.  Only if it is up the street to the gas station, but anything more than that is terrifying.  

The first leg of the trip was just awful.  Mom gave me some stuff to make me sleepy, but it didn't work.  Mom and Dad finally stopped somewhere and Mom bought some more stuff to see if it would help.  It sorta helped, but not for very long.  Finally, at the end of a very long day, we stopped moving in the car.  There was a storm coming, so we stopped at the first available place.  It was a weird place but Mom says I have to leave that part out of the story. 

Anyway, I was sure glad to get out of the car and stretch my legs.  Mom and Dad try to get me to drink some water when they stop on the road.  I be too nervous to do anything but try and keep track of them.  One of them disappears into a building and I can't go with them and pretty soon they come out of the building and then the other one  disappears into the building!  It's so scary and confusing!  So, drinking is the least of my worries.   But, when we were stopped for the night, I was really hungry and thirsty.  I ate a whole bowl of food and drank a whole bunch of water and ate a whole bunch of green grass.

Later, after we had gone to bed, Mom got up and made her way to the bathroom.  Mom musta been in stealth mode and musta been wearing night vision glasses 'cause when she opened up the door to come out of the bathroom, she was greeted by the sight of what she called the "Mother of all land mine fields".  I had barfed.  Not just once.  Not just twice.  Let's just say that I distributed it all over the floor between the end of the bed and the door to the bathroom and Mom missed every pile!  Mom is so cool!  I think she was pretty happy about not stepping in it, but I stayed under my blankie, just in case.

I got to see my Momma!  Her name is Josie.  I learned how to play outdoor fetch.  It was so much fun running in wide open spaces and it made me weally tired.  I even got to stay all night at Momma's house!  Momma sleeps in her kennel, but I got to sleep with my peeps! One peep got tired of me hogging the bed so he opened the door to his brother's room and I finished off the night with that peep.  It was awesome!  One of Mom's pups says I'm spoiled and need a swat every once in awhile.  Mom told her I do not like swats.  Her pup told her that neither did she or her sister but that didn't seem to stop her from doing it.  Mom thought that was pretty funny.

Mom says I never forget stuff.  Stuff like people, places, other animals.  Remember that goose I told you about that pecked me and made me yelp?  Mom took me outside the other evening so I could pick up my collar-ball that I had strategically dropped off the deck.  She packed me outside without my leash.  When she put me on the ground so I could get my collar-ball, I spied that stupid goose and about 30 of his relatives over by the pond bank.  I took off like zero to 60 in less that 3 seconds!  I ran straight into that goose parade and it was on!  Mom said it looked like synchronized diving at the Olympics as one by one, those stupid geese made a break for the water.  Then, I turned around and ran back through what was left of the herd!  Mom says it's a flock, but who cares.  As I was makin' my last pass, I tripped and mowed right over the top of one of that stupid goose's kids and sent him rolling!  Mom said it was really scrambling to get back on its feet!  Yeah, I bet he was saying "feets don't fail me now!"  Boy oh boy, that was a lot of fun!   

Mom says I've gotten sidetracked from the original story.  Mom is just persnickety.  Anyway, I had a great time, but I sure be glad to be home.  Woof!

From The Desk of the Dog

It's Runtly!  The ever so entertaining Jack Russell Terrier, JRT for short!

Mom is trying to drive me crazy.  She got rid of my safe space.  It was under the couch.  Now the couch is gone and she replaced it with one I can't get under.  Mom is mean.  I loved my safe space.  I could lay on my side, behind the couch, and slither myself underneath.  Then, there was enough room for me to stand up and make my space more comfortable.  I did that by digging a hole in the carpet.  All those pieces of carpet and pad made the place more like home, nice and fluffy.  I don't know why Mom didn't like it, she couldn't see it.  Anyway, I spent several days with nowhere to be safe.  I tried the corner under the table, that didn't work.  I laid on Mom and Dad's bed, but it's just too spacey.  

Then, Mom brought out the crate!  She even had the audacity to lock me in there!  I think there is something wrong with Mom!  She put a blanket over the crate, thinking that would make it better and she put a nice woolly pad in there too.  I do like the pad because I can dig to China on it and nobody cares, but I wasn't goin' in that crate.  Finally Mom had an idea.  She got something she called a tool and as I sat and watched her, she took the door off the crate!  She threw it out into the middle of the room and I showed it who was the boss.  I barked at it and jumped at it, but I didn't touch it!!

Mom put a couple of treats in the crate and I did go in and get them.  While I was in there, I looked around and decided maybe it wasn't so bad after all....especially since the door was gone.  I like my new safe space now and am just about caught up on all the naps I missed out on when I didn't have a safe space.

Squirrel has brought part of his family to my deck.  I show them who is the boss too!  They think they are so smart, but I've always got my eye on them.  The other day, the little one jumped on  my head, when I was out back, and I catched him!  Dad was laughing and Mom was sayin' no, sometimes Mom isn't much fun, and I dropped little squirrel and catched him again!  I finally let him go but I spent about a minute smacking my lips.  I told Mom, "tastes like chicken!" and she just rolled her eyes.

I got attacked by a goose last week.  Stupid goose.  All I was tryin' to do was get to my door.  I guess I got too close to the baby geese and man o man, did the feathers start flyin'!  That goose pecked me so hard it made me yip!  I would have showed him a thing or two, but, once again, Mom didn't think that was a very good idea and we had to turn around and go the other way.  I figure I'll have another chance soon.

I'm getting ready to take a road trip and go see my Mama.  We talked on the phone the other night.  Every time she hears me, she howls and so do I!  I think she does that because she misses me, but it's kinda odd, when I get there she always shows me who is the boss!  Tough love I guess.  Woof!

The Letter

The air was heavy, filled with the moisture of an approaching storm, tracking in from the north.  It was odd though, nothing was showing on the radar.  He picked up the envelope, that was laying on the kitchen table, folded it in half and slipped it into the back pocket of his jeans.  As he went out the back door, he flipped the light switch off, grabbed the truck keys and headed down the steps.

The old white 1971 Chevy pickup was waiting for him as it had been doing for more than 40 years.  Like he had done for nearly that many years, he patted the dash and said the words, "Good morning sweetheart.", as he slid into the drivers' seat.  And, like the gentle beast she was, her engine roared to life with the turn of the key.  He dropped the gear shift into drive and started down the lane.  When he got to the main road, he made a right, away from town.  There was only one place he needed to be right now.  It had been a long time since he had been there.  

The wind picked up just as he turned into the tree covered lane.  The hedge trees made a canopy over the road that looked like a tunnel of green.  Suddenly their leaves were flying through the air, like kites without tails, twirling, spiraling out of control, being only at the mercy of the wind that carried them.  Then he heard the first ping.  Another and another.  It was hail.  He turned the wipers on high as a torrent of rain and small pellets of ice burst through the the canopy overhead.  

He shook his head, where had this storm come from?  As he emerged from the end of the tunnel of green, as if on cue, the rain stopped.  In another half mile, the sun was peeking out from the edge of the darkness, as the freak storm and its sinister black cloud continued to move to the south.  He drove the truck through an opening in the fence that led to an old abandoned house.  The old house sat high on a bluff and although it had been many years since the yard surrounding it had been cared for, there were still traces of a long forgotten path that led to a spot behind the house.  It was there that he parked the truck.  He looked out over the river valley below.  Plowed fields, some with a newly planted crop made a checkerboard pattern across the river bottom.  The bluff, on the other side of the river, welcomed him like a long lost friend.  A friend who had been waiting patiently, ready to pick up where they had last left off.

He sat for several minutes, soaking up the view.  It always gave him a sense of great comfort, knowing that in the grand scheme of things, this one scenic view made him feel safe and protected.  A trickle of water slid down the windshield and for a brief moment, as it passed through a sliver of sunshine, a small rainbow ran across the back of his hand, still resting on the steering wheel.

He turned the key off and the truck fell silent.  He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the envelope.  He turned it over in his hands, wondering.  He wondered where it had come from.  It had been in the mailbox that morning.  Nothing else had been in there and there was no postage or address or return address on it.  Only the words, "this is for you", scrawled across the front in a cursive handwriting that looked like it might have been written by a young child.  He unfolded the envelope and turned it over one more time, then reached into his front jean pocket and retrieved a small pocket knife.  He never went anywhere without that knife.  He slipped the blade into the top edge of the envelope and cut through it.  He took a deep breath and as he reached inside the opening, he let the air rush out of his lungs with a loud sigh.  

It was a single piece of paper, folded in thirds.  When he opened it, the same simple handwriting, that was on the envelope, greeted him.  It read, "You are the most wonderful person I know.  I love you so much.  You are so smart!  You are so creative!  I marvel at all the things you have accomplished.  Others do too!  You have no idea how many people hold you in such high esteem.  You brighten a room when you enter.  Your smile lifts the burden of a heavy heart.  Your eyes twinkle with such delight, that others long for you to cast your glance their way.  Maybe it hasn't always been cupcakes with sprinkles, but those are the times that have made you who you are today.  Troubles have a way of knocking off the rough edges to reveal the true beauty inside.  An old sage once said that a person's life was simply a journey back to where they had come from.  Enjoy the journey, you have not failed, there is always more to come, more to do.  Look forever forward, I'm always there for you.  Love you much."

A tear rolled down his cheek.  He had no idea who wrote it, but it had come at a time that his heart was nearly at a breaking point.  To know that he was loved by some weird, bad handwriting, whatever or whoever, gave him a glimmer of hope.  His heart could feel the healing beginning.

Gobbledegoop

Gobbledegoop: One of Mother's favorite words.  Its meaning varies due to the ongoing circumstances of a particular event or failed art project.  Gobbledegoop covers a multitude of sins.  A bunch of stuff that has no start nor finish line.

Sitting in line, in the car, waiting our turn to exit the parking lot.  The back passenger window rolls down on the car ahead.  It is a nice looking car, clean, shiny, fairly new.  A small hand can be seen coming out of the open window.  The small hand drops several pieces of trash on the ground just before the car turns left.  The tear rolls down the American Indian's face.  Few understand what that means.  It is not an isolated problem, it's nearly an epidemic.  If each individual could see the planet from space, where it sits in the vast darkness of the universe, would they take better care of it?

Listening to the conversation from a distance.  None of our business, but was hard to ignore.  A young girl, perhaps about 7 or 8 years old.  She is berating her mother.  She talks to her as if her mother where a mere piece of trash.  The young girl tells her mother she is stupid.  The mother never says a word.  She simply listens to the barrage of insulting words, puts her packages in the trunk of her car.  They get into the car, the young girls' mouth is still running and they drive off.  Parenting isn't about being friends with your offspring.  It's about learning that the pain felt when the door slams, right after the words "I hate you!", means you've done something right.  Parenting is a job, not a hobby.  Children are like puppies and kittens, they grow up.

She watched a video about an elephant that had been taken to an elephant sanctuary.  This massive beast had been in a circus.  It had been treated so badly that it was nearly starved to death.  As the elephant cautiously left the confines of the large truck that had transported it, the fear of the unknown could be seen in its eyes.  How tragic that an animal with the brain capacity of a dolphin or a chimpanzee, an animal that can remember places and faces from years past, an animal whose size could crush a human with one foot, had been reduced to near death by a human.  Another tear rolls down the cheek.  

In the same token, we knew the neighbor dog was ill.  The owner is doing all possible to keep her as well as can be expected.  Some days are better than others.  Daisy Duke was outside, trying to do her business.  It wasn't working.  She struggled for several minutes until her owner walked over to her.  He spoke softly and patted her on the head.  It was sad, but the look she gave him pulled at the heart strings.  She loves this man with all of her heart and she knows he will take care of her now and when the time comes.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.  Aretha Franklin can be heard singing in the background.  Respect: esteem for a sense of worth.  What the world needs now is love, sweet love.  Maybe.  Understanding respect might be a good place to start...again....before it's too late.