I have to keep pinching myself

 to remind me that I'm NOT back at work.

 

For decades, I was a child abuse social worker in a pediatric hospital in an urban ER.

I was the person to whom many children first disclosed sexual abuse.

 

I have heard literally thousands of descriptions about what can be done to children

to gratify adults distorted sexual perversions.

 

The majority of people in the US have NO idea what sick people are capable of doing

and how inconsequential the realities of 'consent' or 'age appropriateness' is for them.

 

It isn't about SEX, per se.

It's about CONTROL.

Its about FEAR.

 

As more and more of the Epstein files get released, it's like being back in the ER,

and the pain these children felt is very palpable and real to me.

 

The lies, the denials and the minimization by the accused or implicated is also very real;

it's straight out of the abusers handbook.

 

The reality that most of the abusers will never face justice or be held to account is also familiar;

disturbing and unjust, but familiar.

People do NOT want to believe the evil that lives in our midst.

 

We want to believe that we could pick out the sadistic perpetrators;

 that 'they' somehow look different than "us".

Here's the truth -

they don't.

They are teachers, politicians, doctors, fiances, salesmen, bankers and neighbors.

The majority of them have penises,

although females enamored by and controlled by these men 

are as capable of sexual atrocities as the men themselves. 

 

It was my job to bear witness to all of that for decades;

but there are times now when I need to turn it off 

and play while some of the country tries to catch up on the learning curve.

 

Luckily, the winter has Valentines Day in it,

there were left over skeletons from the Halloween wreaths I made - 

and I let imagination take the lead.

 

What follows is the result. 

 

Stay salty.

 

Take care of yourself, 

know when you need to step away

and try to do it without guilt.

 

You can jump back in when you're ready -

god knows this pathology isn't going anywhere. 

2026

After what was an all too brief holiday respite,

with everyone under one roof,

surrounded by family and friends,

it was easy to focus on all that is right in the world.

 Gratitude flowed easily;

and gag gifts reduced an ever present threat 

to a manageable level of anxiety.

 And then the New Year started -

and the fantasy that it would be different vanished.

 

I don't want black Venezuelan oil in cargo ships.

 

I want brown, olive, peach, chocolate and midnight black skin on streets,

in shops, homes and pews around me. 

 

I don't want red blood on the streets.

I want blue, pink, white, yellow, grey, purple and red hair walking by

as I'm stopped at a traffic light.

 

I want ice in my drinks, not in my town.

 

I want to share society with other vulnerable human beings 

willing to reveal who they are beyond the masks we all wear -

not hiding their features and identity

while so clearly revealing their weaknesses and cruelty. 

 

How did we come to this?

What alchemy of malice and ignorance has been let loose amongst us

and by what band of evil trolls?

 

What magic password has been forgotten that once allowed us

to pass across the bridge unharmed? 

 

Where are the heroes on their trusty steeds

to right the wrongs?

 

Is there an ending to this nightmare -

a happy ending doesn't even seem to be anywhere on the horizon -

or are we doomed to live trapped in this hellscape indefinitely? 

 

Sadly, I fear 

 this will be the fight for generations to come:

the quest that will determine who we are as a country and as individual citizens.

 

The sooner we realize that WE are the heroes we've been waiting for to save us,

the sooner we can get started in earnest

to do just that. 

 

So rest up while you can, 

keep surrounding yourself with love and light

 

but get ready.