Hear That?

In the night, where the streetlights buzz.

The smell of cooking still lingers.

A sharp word yelled through broken walls.

A slap.

A body hits the wall.

Silence.

Hear that?

Saturday night, the lights of the city are a blur.

Running from a ghost of a memory.

Fear propels relief into the vein.

Fear turns eyes away from truth.

Funny how the world doesn't fit into the story told.

A hollow cry for help.

Hear that?

There are sounds we want to hear.

The comfort of a familiar song.

The beat of rain up on the roof.

The thrill of children who are about to eat.

The words that tell us that we are wanted.

The abiding of love.

Hear that?

You and I can hear it.

How is it that so many can't?

What has happened to make pain invisible?

What story is more important to protect, which allows suffering?

Why are peace and prosperity only for a privileged few?

How can so many hope for so little for so many?

Hear that?

It's a sound that this President has never heard.

It's a beat that puts fear in the corrupt.

It's a solo voiced by knights of this republic that makes Evil run.

It's a chorus sung by the old, the young, the weak, the poor, the sick, the forgotten, the majority, by we the people.

It's the sound of justice coming right quick.

Hear that?

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Keeping It Real

Keeping it real is a phrase that means staying true to yourself.

For the past month, we have seen leaders in our government display their true selves.

We saw a Speaker of the House stand for the people of this nation who are not afraid of the future.

We saw a leader of the majority in the Senate hide behind his office, and not until the President laid his own head on the chopping block did he meekly say I think you're wrong, Mr. President.

We saw a President who has an apparent personality disorder that doesn't allow him to tell the objective truth.

Our President can only say what he thinks we want to hear.

Our President sees no difference between doing what is right and what is wrong as long as he gets his way.

This week, we also observed the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, who kept it real.

Keeping it real.

What does that mean to you?

As you progress through life and age, you may develop wisdom.

Where wisdom comes from is learning from your mistakes.

If you don't learn from your mistakes, that's a sign too.

Time and time again, the President makes the same mistake.

The mistake that the President makes is that he believes we don't care.

We don't care about refugees.

We don't care about those who don't have health care.

We don't care about government workers.

We don't care about non-white people.

We don't care about what this nation has stood for these past 200-plus years.

This nation has stood for freedom, liberty, and justice for all.

He believes we will all be satisfied with the status quo, with White men making all the decisions and everyone else waiting around to serve them.

That's the world from which he came.

From his perspective, he's…

Keeping it real.

Physicians take an oath.

That oath they swear to says they are to do no harm.

They are to do no harm.

I think our elected officials, from dog catchers to Presidents, should take that same oath.

To do no harm.

Harming people for the sake of political power or gain is evil.

Sociopaths the world over practice that ideal as a large part of their personal philosophy.

In the book The Sociopath Next Door, Martha Stout, Ph.D., tells us that 1 in 25 people are sociopaths.

That means if you know 100 people, 4 of them are sociopaths.

The sociopath is the one who's making trouble and never taking responsibility for the disaster they created.

Doesn't that sound like the President?

Should the President be pitied?

No.

He knows the difference between good and evil but doesn't care which device he employs as long as he gets his orgasm, no matter what that may entail.

We, as a nation, are learning what it means to have a president with this kind of personality disorder.

I've said before that I have had a personal experience with a sociopath who almost destroyed my life.

It is both illuminating and tragic to see our nation go through the same experience I had, as we, as a nation, suffer at the hands of this man, our President.

Keeping it real.

Remember.

This, too, shall pass.

We will all learn from our mistakes.

Will we protect ourselves in the future from repeating this tragedy?

On the other hand, as a nation, will we learn to take better care of ourselves, and will we become better people?

Keeping it real.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Character

How has your winter been this year?

We are all in the middle of this time of the season.

Snow, rain, cold, dark skies.

Makes you want to stay inside and find that thing that comforts you.

Hot chocolate does it for some.

For others, macaroni and cheese, maybe a crackling fire, a favorite book to read, and some heartwarming music.

We all know that this season will pass, and ahead of us lies Spring.

We will change our garments to shake off the warm clothes and welcome the return of the sun.

Life comes in cycles, a phenomenon recognized by people worldwide.

What if a group of people didn't want the Spring to come?

What if this group of people wanted it to be winter all year long?

What would you ask these people why they want it to be winter all the time?

What would you do?

Character.

Character is a lost word in our 21st-century society.

For many, it is defined by the celebrity.

Character is recognized as the person who stands out from the crowd.

Character is defined as a remarkable individual.

That's one definition, but it's not the origin of what the word 'character' means. 

To have Character, the individual lives by a set of moral principles recognized and defined by the society at large.

A real way to know if a person has Character is when adversity strikes.

You lose your job, what do you do?

Do you immediately take drugs and alcohol and soon die from an opioid overdose?

That person has no character.

Your wife dies, leaving you penniless.

Do you rob a bank to get back the money you believe you are owed?

That person has no character.

A woman is going through a lousy divorce. 

Do you hit on her for sex?

That person has no character and is a sexual predator.

A person with Character will not sit idly by when presented with adversity.

A person with Character will not turn their back when injustice strikes.

A person with Character can be anyone, regardless of their size, age, wealth, or social status.

It is not just one definition of Character that can respond to injustice.

We celebrate the differences.

Each and everyone has a responsibility and a privilege to stand against injustice.

There are those without Character who seek to profit from adversity.

They sow seeds of fear, of anger, of myth.

Their gratification lies in creating as much turmoil as possible.

They enjoy spreading the darkness, the cold of an eternal winter of the soul.

Hold up in a cave of white stone, they blow ill winds of deceit.

However, you want to know something?

They're just some old silly bears afraid of the change of season.

Their eyes strain at the brightness and the newness of the world to come.

No matter how much they may growl and howl and grit their teeth, they can't stop the Spring from coming.

They can't stop justice and equality for all.

Why?

Because the universe itself bends towards justice.

No old bear in the White House can stop or will ever stop the rollout of justice.

Character…

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their Character. – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby