We sure need a few laughs before the big day, November 6th. It’s always comforting to look to our good friends at USA Today with their State by State blurbs. Here’s a few that stood out this week…
Las Cruces, New Mexico: “A man is recovering after he says his 120 pound Rottewiler, Charlie, shot him in the back after getting his foot caught in the trigger of the gun.” Oh, my, where to begin? Man’s best friend? Or deep down, animals really do all stick together. I prefer to believe that one.
Birmingham, Alabama: “A McDonald’s customer is being called a hero after he shot and killed a masked gunman who opened fire inside one of the fast food restaurants”. Later interviewed he claimed, “I was saving the guy years of digestive problems followed by a massive heart attack so it seemed like the right thing to do”.
Anchorage, Alaska: “Conservation officials are on high alert for a rodent that continues to evade capture on a small, previously rat-free island off the coast of western Alaska. Authorities on St. Paul Island want to keep it free of rats because they threaten its sensitive habitat and wildlife.” They had wrongly assumed that when the last of the Palin family left they were in the clear, but apparently, one stayed behind.
Kansas City, Kansas: “Kansas City Police say they’ve recovered a giant inflatable colon stolen earlier this month. The University of Kansas Cancer Center is holding a welcome-home celebration”. The pro-Trump supporters who stole the large colon said they wanted to use it for an upcoming rally and they believed it resembled the next best thing to their leader.
Pataskala, Ohio: “Haunted Hoochie, a Halloween venue that held a, “Swastika Saturday” the day of an attack at a synagogue, says that, “we screwed up big time”. And this is one of the swing states that helps elect our country’s leaders. We wrongly assumed that inbreeding had all but disappeared from this country.
Owensboro, Kentucky: “A man posted online that he and his 5 year old son were mistreated while dressed as Nazis for a Halloween event and is now facing even more backlash”. Okay first, this guy was allowed to breed? Second, this guy has a computer? Third, this guys knows how to type? Lastly, sadly, that poor 5 year old has absolutely zero chance at a life.
District of Columbia: “U S Census Bureau data show only 1 in 11 residents in the nations’ capital are of trick or treating age, the lowest rate in the nation.” That’s probably because the orange-haired monster that everyone whispers about is actually real. What kids want to live near that?
Here’s hoping we can all have a few laughs after November 6th as well…but with the caliber of people that inhabit this “great” country, it’s hard to imagine…
Before I begin, imagine the audacity of the Ambassador of Hate visiting Pittsburgh during a time of mourning and healing. No one wanted him there, no one wanted to go with him, and yet, he went anyway. Like a despised family relative crashing a funeral. His lack of humility knows no bounds.
Now, imagine the United States as a human body. I human body, which developed cancer in January of 2017. A cancer that is slowly growing, eating away at this body, this country. Can you blame the cancer? It’s cancer for goodness sake, it doesn’t know how vile it is.
Then you have all of the people surrounding and supporting the cancer. The republicans. They’re like the doctors, who know of treatments to slow this disease, and some of them may even know of a cure.
But they are too greedy and spineless to do anything for this patient. They stand back and watch, doing nothing, allowing this patient to suffer a slow, agonizing death.
That’s what’s happening right now in this country.
If people do not wake up and effect a change on November 6th, then this country deserves its death.
Twice in one day? Hasn’t happened to me in quite some time…that’s what happens when you turn 58.
Okay, let’s get right into it, these are people and words we need to eliminate from society, like, yesterday. And yes, starting with the word, “Like”.
It’s happened to my soon to be 6 year old grandson, Milo. Every other word, before actual words, is “like’. It’s ruined me from the genuine meaning of the word. But I don’t like all that much these days anyway.
People who have to advise you that it’s their birthday. I’m not even talking about family or friends. Total strangers, on the phone for this or that, and here it comes…”Yes, I’d be happy with that, especially today, it’s my birthday!” And you have to follow that up with the obligatory, “Well, Happy Birthday”. You can’t just continue on with, “Yeah, yeah, you want mustard on that?”
And by association the people who think they’re entitled to either a day off from doing ANYTHING, or a bunch of free stuff, just because it’s their birthday. “Glad you chose the 2018 Lexus in Champagne Gold…wait, it’s your birthday, well, that’s on the house!”
Another word that has to go…trump. Obviously, HE has to go, his name has to go, his entire creep family has to go, but now, that word, by association, has to be stricken from the dictionary. You can no longer trump someone at cards. And also, trumpet. Sorry, too close. Let’s rename that instrument something else. Floogalhorn sounds just about right.
Awesome. Nothing that has ever happened that has been described by this word has ever actually been awesome. Trust me, I know.
Let’s throw a few phrases in there. “Beats working” is my least favorite. I have to hear it a lot on the golf course. Usually by someone swinging clubs like they’re trying to dig up underground cables. “Hey, buddy, at least at work I don’t have to tolerate the likes of you”. When you strike oil, let me know.
“What are you gonna do?” I’m going to stop speaking to YOU, and go and speak to someone else who has a clue of what to do next.
“I’m sorry”, and, “I’m so sorry”. Let’s give the people on line at the funeral home something else to utter, please, in a time of mourning. “Nice day for a funeral”, and “Beats working” come to mind.
The next person standing behind me in line at the market who tells me I must be in the dog house because I’m buying flowers for my wife and it’s not Valentine’s Day. Hey buddy, some of us are not knuckle-dragging cavemen. You should be so lucky to be married in the first place. Count your blessings, plunk down $17.99 for a week old bouquet and try and get lucky.
By association the female checkout clerk, who gazes into those same flowers like they are the Hope Diamond and then rants on for 10 minutes about how her boyfriend is a good for nothing who never buys her anything.
Humongous. Gigantic just didn’t cut it, huh?
Obey. No need for that word to ever appear anywhere, ever again, for any reason. Any objections? Maybe from the president of the Harvey Weinstein fan club?
Perfect. Nothing has ever been perfect. Nothing will ever be perfect. And if we stop striving for perfection we’ll all be a lot happier.
Whoever invented the drive thru. The actual start of the decline of human kind. By direct association, the person who thought self checkout lines were the right move. Let us cease to interact with everyone on the planet, and then wonder why we have no one to tell, “Today’s my birthday” to.
While we’re at it, let’s throw a few back in that have been MIA for quite some time.
“No thanks, I’m full”. I haven’t heard those words in a few decades, but maybe they can make a comeback.
“Not tonight, I’m gonna read a good book”. If only…
More for the immediate disposal list…
“I can’t talk right now, I’m driving”.
Tweet. Twit. Spam. Like us on…
Walmart. And by association the words “wall” and “mart”, in any form.
And for immediate execution the next person who is still using, “LOL” anywhere, anytime. I mean, I’m old, but, c’mon!
Keep watching, maybe I’ll try for three times in one day…wait, that never even happened as a teenager…
The midterm elections are just one week away, on Tuesday, November 6th. I know that for so many people filled with anticipation that a wave of change will sweep over the country, just as many people are terrified that things won’t change at all, and even could get much, much worse.
We’ve heard it for months and months now, that this election is the most important in our lifetime. For me, at 58, nothing could be further from the truth.
We have a maniac in the White House who has done nothing but cause a great divide in this country. And worse off, the spineless minions who support him do so only for the sake of keeping their jobs. Jobs, that hopefully, we the voters have the opportunity to relieve them of come next week.
Michael Douglas once famously said in, “The American President”, that he, “lost his job because I was too busy doing my job”. These political cronies have done far worse than that. They have governed through fear. They have done so with their ears closed, their mouths agape and their hands in their pockets…counting their money.
We always speak of turning points in this country. The revolution against England. Ending slavery and the Civil War. Women gaining the right to vote. The protests in the 60’s and 70’s that helped end a war. September 11th. Every one a significant moment. But none would compare to a Democratic landslide come November 6th. One that would cripple the current administration for its remaining two years and send its residents whimpering out the door with their tails between their legs.
Too much to hope for, right? We would settle for much less? Absolutely not! The time for compromise and for acceptance is over. Mass shootings, immigration, health care, the economy, racial divide, global warming, starvation…make America great again? How about we just help America get off of the floor again.
Those opposed to change do so by governing with fear. To spew so much hate that their sliver of hope is that people simply will be too terrified to stand up and speak. That they will stay home November 6th. Keep their doors closed and their windows locked.
Democrats vote in public. They wear shirts. They post lawn signs. Ask them a questions and they speak out for an hour. Supporters of the current administration vote in the shadows. They don’t want to be known as, “One of them”. But they are, “One of them”. I’m tired of hearing of a Republican someone knows, “But oh, he’s such a nice guy”. We have reached a crossroads of biblical proportions in this country and you are either part of the process of change, or part of a regime of hate and greed. I’ve grown tired of, “My family’s financial future”, or, “Restore this country to greatness” rhetoric. It is a simple issue of right vs.wrong, love and hope vs. control and fear. In the end, where do YOU want to be counted?
If any of you out there don’t get it by now, then, sad to say, you’re never going to get it. If the last two years hasn’t wiped the red, white and blue out of your eyes, then you’re eternally colorblind.
I don’t bleed red, white and blue. I bleed red, the same color as those innocent worshipers shot and killed this last weekend. The same color as those victims of the current drug crisis. The same color as those with darker skin oppressed and ignored time and time again. We don’t bleed orange tinted hair dye.
But we all want red, white and blue in our hearts. It’s just difficult to find it through the sweat and the tears. And right now, impossible to find it at times through the ultimate humiliation of being an American at this, the worst time in the history of our nation.
And all we have to do to begin to change that, is to wake up in one week, drive or walk to a polling station, wait in line a short time, and press a button. A Democratic button. And begin the process to end tyranny, and build a better nation. One day. One moment.
I live my life in a series of one year leases. I have a form of Lymphoma, the specific name and spelling I can never keep track of. I underwent surgery in 2014 to have a mass removed from my abdominal area. Most people prefer the word, “mass” to, “tumor”. Makes you seem like you have a fighting chance, doesn’t it?
Anyway, that was the now famous surgery where 3 days later I flat-lined for 90 seconds when some intern allowed air to enter a port line they removed. Anyway…they removed most of the growth but had to leave a small piece, basically because it is part of my abdominal wall. So, I have a small lymphoma inside me. Always there with me, as a reminder.
Anyway, my doctors at the time wanted to follow up the surgery with chemotherapy and radiation to eliminate the small growth that remained.
I switched from Jefferson to Penn Medicine and Dr. Stephen Schuster. His opinion, at the time, was, “Why should I treat you when you’re not sick? Let’s take a look at it in six months, and then after that, once a year, to see if and when it grows. We can always treat you then.”
So, once a year for the past four years I have annual scans to determine the growth of the lymphoma inside me. And so far, there has been minimal, or no growth at all. So every year, my lease gets renewed. My friend is still with me, according to the scans. Like a sucker fish on a shark.
Needless to say, I try and live my life with a bit more purpose, a bit more thought. So it always affects me in a traumatic way when I see that others don’t.
When I visit the hospital for my yearly scans or when I visit the cancer center twice a year for check ups, it is a heart-opening event. When you’re in a waiting room and you know that every other person there is a cancer patient, and that most of them are sicker than you are…well, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. And at the same time, I wish everyone could experience it…just to know what that is like.
Watching and reading about man’s inhumanity to man, and the manner in which we treat our home, this planet, is mind-boggling. Are we, as a species, really that lost? It is a shame to admit, that yes, for the most part, we are. How did we evolve, or more correctly, fail to evolve, in this manner?
So, here’s some advice for the people who are not sick. Take 2 or 3 hours off of work one day, visit your local cancer center, and just sit in the waiting area with a newspaper. And while you’re in between reading stories about the horrible state our world is in, look around you. Really look. And listen. And when you walk out, healthy, and get back into your car, maybe you’ll have a little more patience behind the wheel. Maybe you’ll be more understanding about a story involving an immigrant. Perhaps you’ll be less concerned about, “anything for a buck” and more concerned about giving of your time.
Maybe not. Perhaps you’re too far gone already. But if that were true you probably would not go to the cancer center in the first place.
Facing your mortality does create a sense of decency in yourself. And towards others. It is tragic that it takes a life altering event to make that happen. That a parent doesn’t get involved in gun control until their child is gunned down. Or that someone doesn’t become an organ donor until their brother needs a liver.
And we shouldn’t be affected by life-altering events out of concern for a possible after-life. We should be concerned about this life. Here. And how we can and should make it better. If anything is to follow, that’s just gravy…or hot sauce, depending on just how bad you’ve been.
On November 6th, vote. And I’m not one of those who suggests, “No matter who you vote for, make sure you vote”. Quite the opposite. Maybe visit that cancer center earlier in the day, then go and vote. Maybe it will have an effect on your decision making. Election day should be a national holiday anyway. Why the hell do millions of people have off for a thug like Columbus and others have to struggle to get to the polls before or after work? Our elections are the most important events that take place in our country. Ask yourself why they aren’t considered national holidays? You already know the answer to that, don’t you.
So, in two weeks, vote. For humanity. For gun control. For the planet. For your children. For your grandchildren. Choose not to vote out of greed, out of hate, or out of spite. So one day, when you’re sitting in the waiting room for a reason, you’re life will make a bit more sense to you.
Let’s look at a contrast of two American Icons. Both in their final act of life. Jane Fonda is 80 years old. Bill Cosby is 81 years old. Both of them are in the news this week, but for very different reasons.
Today while Bill Cosby was being sentenced to prison, Jane Fonda is being celebrated in a terrific HBO special, “Jane Fonda in Five Acts”.
Growing up in West Philadelphia, I had a connection to Bill Cosby’s comedy. it resonated to the young people of Philadelphia, black and white alike. My older brother Fran had many of his comedy albums, and we often broke into his room to play them in secret. We usually got caught because we laughed too loudly. Me and my friends grew up on I-Spy, Fat Albert on Saturday mornings, Cosby as Chet Kinkaid in The Bill Cosby Show, and eventually, as adults, to The Cosby Show. There’s no doubt Cosby did a lot of good in his professional life through the years, and brought a lot of smiles and laughter to millions of fans. But what was happening in his private life, as it has been uncovered, was a situation in direct contrast to, “America’s Dad”.
Here is a man that truly had everything. But that wasn’t enough. He wanted to possess what was not his to possess, and in the process he broke apart many lives. And now, all the good he put out into the world a long time ago is ruined. We didn’t see at that time what was really there. We saw only what we wanted to see.
Growing up in the 1960’s and the 1970’s my opinion of Jane Fonda was very limited, as it might be to most boys going through puberty. She was one sexy woman. Barbarella? Oh my goodness. Klute? Rough around the edges, but oh, my. But again, for different reasons, I didn’t see what was really there. I saw only what I wanted to see.
If you have a fond opinion of Jane Fonda, watch the new HBO special. If you have a negative opinion of Jane Fonda, watch the HBO special. If you truly hated Jane Fonda, and still do, then watch the special twice.
Look behind the face and body and learn who she truly is and what she accomplished. A woman born to Hollywood royalty, who stumbled into acting, became a success and could have lived a life of money, fame and fortune. But instead she chose to become an activist. Yes, “Hanoi Jane”. And she does have regrets about much of what happened back then. But she was, ultimately, proven right. The Pentagon papers supported that. The Nixons of the world were proven wrong. The war was wrong. And we lost nearly 60,000 of our fighting forces because of it. A war our government knew could not be won. Watch, “Born of the Fourth of July”, or, “Coming Home” and try to understand. Or more recently, watch, “The Post”. And open your eyes, and your mind.
Jane Fonda could have kept her mouth shut and her pocketbook open but chose to speak up when many people around her were cautioning her to remain silent. Doesn’t this ring true for so much of what is happening today all around us?
Jane Fonda will turn 81 this December. And while Bill Cosby will be sitting in a prison cell, she’ll continue to entertain us in, “Grace and Frankie”. And continue to take to the streets in protest of a corrupt system. Long after she deserves a rest.
Jane acknowledges her many mistakes made throughout her personal life and listen till the very end about the dangers of seeking, “A Perfect Life”. it’s one of the best quotes I’ve ever heard. Four years ago, while making a toast at my daughter Jessica’s wedding, I cautioned she and her new husband Matt about not trying to be perfect or achieve the, “Perfect Life”. The irony was not lost on me.
For the longest time I didn’t want to believe the reports that came out, little by little, about Bill Cosby. Because I didn’t want to see another of my icons torn down. But down he is and down he’s gonna stay. I’ll never watch another rerun of The Cosby Show just like I’ll never watch another rerun of Roseanne. When our icons fall, it’s like a part of us falls. It’s the same reason so many people still refuse to abandon the Catholic Church.
And Jane Fonda is right, she’s not perfect. But if my own daughter, a budding activist, grows up to be even half of the woman she is, I’ll be a very proud Papa. Well, I already am.
I hate that we have to live in the shadow of a thug president. But as Joan Baez recently stated, what he has given us is a reason to share our voices. Louder than ever. It is such a difficult time, but also, such an uplifting time to see and hear people take to the streets.
We don’t need a King in this country. We already have a Court Jester.
Forget Bill Cosby to the past. And give Jane her due. And 2-1/2 hours of your time. You’ll be glad you did.
Okay, I think I finally have it figured out. For most of the summer of 2018 I was kind of mired in a funk. Not totally, just a thin veil of a funk. Enough to let me know that things were not quite right.
At first I took the simple route. Turning 58. Growing older (and not wiser). The political climate. The world. Technology. Losing friends and relatives. Well, I should have been buried in a funk three feet thick by the sounds of it.
Earlier this summer we lost Madeline’s brother Gary, at all too early an age. While on vacation a few weeks back we learned of the passing of Madeline’s dear friend Jay. I say Madeline’s friend because although I came to know Jay over the past 20 years we never really became friends. I always felt like I was infringing on an ongoing friendship. Jay of course, never made me feel that way. I also felt he probably never thought I was good enough for her. And of course, he was right.
From what I knew of him, Jay could never have actually had those feelings. He was a man that embodied everything that was right with the world, and to the best of my knowledge, never exhibited any of its ugliness. When he became ill there was an outpouring of people who came to express their love for him. Fitting, it was, for a good man taken from his life all too early.
It of course made me ponder, “Who would come to express their love for me when I am the person in that situation?”
We live our lives for many reasons. And if most of us aspire to even reach the age of 80, then my imitation of life is nearly three-quarters passed. It makes you take a closer look at things. About how you don’t have time for funks. Or for people in your life who have no business being there.
Waking Ned Devine is one of our favorite films and in a bittersweet moment late in that film a main character asks how wonderful it would be to sit at your own funeral. To hear what is said about you and to maybe say a few things yourself. That is what we need our day to day life to be about. To always tell the people who matter to us how very important they are in our lives. To not wait until it is too late.
I’ve famously said that half the people who show up at your funeral come to mourn you. The other half come to make sure you’re dead. I’d say that’s about right for me. I’ve seemed to have pissed off about the same number of people who have come to endear me.
In figuring out the funk I came to the following conclusion. We hate Trump. We hate the political climate of this country. And we’d like nothing better than to move. To Canada, to England, wherever. Waking up every day is like shaking off a nightmare before starting into your day. But we always reach the same conclusion. We could never leave the people we love. Our family, our friends. The people who make it bearable to live through these difficult days. Who make us laugh, make us cry, make us feel more human. And when we lose people who make us feel those thing things, people like Jay, the world seems like that much more lonely a place.
So it remains, more than ever, necessary that we cling to the people most important in our lives and celebrate this life, the life we have come to realize will not go on forever. If we live till 80, we get about 29,000 days and nights. It’s okay to take a few off when we deserve it. But let’s not waste them, certainly on the likes of His Orange Assness.
So, like a snake, it’s time to shed our funky skin. To reveal the true us for everything to see and hear, for the good of it and the bad of it.
It seems that whenever I am in a state of flux, brought on by specific events or just life in general, a visit to the Adirondacks always brings me back to center. This year has been no different.
And this year it just happened to fall at the right time. We’ve just returned from an 8 day vacation to the Lake Placid region. An area with cooler temperatures (70’s during the day, 50’s at night, even the 40’s one night).
People who say hello if for no other reason than they feel a kinship with you.
Sitting in an Adirondack glider, on a wooden dock, at the bank of a lake with no motorboats, life there hardly resembles what fills our days most of the year.
Of not only seeing an elusive loon, the symbol of the Adirondacks, but having a pair take up residency in our cove. Of seeing not only two, but four, then six loons together on our final day. Of hearing their gentle calls at night or their quite loud calls during the day.
Of watching a blue heron, just off the dock, leap into the water and pull out a fish, then watch him shake it and swallow it down. Of seeing a muskrat swimming in out lake, then followed by little ones.
Hiking trails leading to elusive ponds and waterfalls. Tours of famous great camps. Eating at good restaurants, not fancy, but good. Places like the Lake Placid Brewery, Moose Lodge and Tail O’ the Pup.
The best shops for quaint and antiques.
Morning walks around Mirror Lake with Murphy. Mist coming over the lake first thing in the am.
Sadly, saying goodbye to the lake on departure day.
We always talk about going somewhere else, “next year”. But we’re already planning our return for 2019, hopefully with family in tow.
Every year we return to the problems of our everyday lives. And every year those 8 days carry us for another fifty-one weeks.
Unfortunately, not many of us escaped the wrath of a bully growing up. For many of us it was in elementary school, others high school, and for others still, into adulthood. Those of us who did still have the scars, emotionally or otherwise.
Today we live in a world dominated by a bully. A bully who doesn’t want our lunch money. Or for us to do his homework. No, this bully wants our silence. For his control. And like so many victims of years past, people are giving it over rather than fight back.
Remember the strategy of confronting a bully in your early years? Take a different route to school. Hang out with a different crowd. Maybe have your parents start driving you in. Or, in the worst case situation, transfer to another school. Those innocent victims, who chose not to stand up and fight probably never learned how to defend themselves. Who even today may have a difficult time standing up and speaking their mind. But each of them has a fighter inside them.
For those people, and for everyone else, it is not too late. Whether people are aware of it or not, we are facing one of the most dangerous bullies of all time. And entering a world with as many, or more concerns than at the start of World War II.
It is time for everyone to stand up against the bully. Don’t hear something said and then cower away. Speak up, state your mind and don’t back down. Your rights were given to you by people who fought and died many years ago when this country was started, and then again during many conflicts. To waste that right is shameful.
The only way to truly beat this bully is by speaking up. Speaking out. Acting out. In a manner in which you never thought possible. Our civil rights are being threatened. Free speech is being threatened.
Every person has the right to state their opinion. And to fight for what they believe in. If you allow the bullies to dominate the room, then eventually, there will be no place for you in that room. The answer is not to turn over your lunch money, or to do the other person’s term paper. And it’s not to move to another school, or to another country.
Bullies hate people that fight back. It makes their lives difficult. They prefer the people who just turn it over and they move on to the next victim. Until one day they turn a corner and there are a great number of people standing in front of them. That is how the bullying ends.
Seek out the people who share your emotions. Who share your opinions. Grow your numbers and let yourself be heard.
Write in to the papers. Put in op ed pieces. Order a bumper sticker (a good site is Make Bumper Stickers). Put out a lawn sign. Wear a tee shirt. But whatever you do, speak out. This is not alright. It won’t just pass. It is a big deal.
Make yourself be heard because you deserve to be heard.
George Carlin once famously compared the Catholic Church to the Mafia. He was, unfortunately, very, very wrong.
As it turns out, the Catholic Church is much, much worse.
You don’t need to read the over 1,300 pages of the recently released Pennsylvania Grand Jury report on abuse in the Catholic Church. If you’re somewhat squeamish, or a staunch supporter of the church, then just read, perhaps, the first 24 pages. If, after that, you continue to contribute even one dime to this group, well, it’s your money.
Even the most passionate of supporters of the church should have a bucket nearby if they choose to read this report. And if they choose not to read the report, if they continue to keep their head buried down deep in the sand, well, then God (or someone of comparable power) forgive them.
Anyone who continues to spew, “There are a few bad apples in every bunch” had better wash their mouths out with holy water. This was a systematic process where unlike the mob, priests chose children as their prey. And most often, when caught, were reassigned to do it all over again. It was the church elders, the bishops and higher ups that chose to cover up these acts and reassign priests to recommit their sins upon thousands of innocent children. In some cases the bishops sent letters of condolence…to the priests, not the victims.
Imagine Guido Salvanti, after torturing and killing three people in Philadelphia, was reassigned to another mob in St. Louis to perform his magic all over again.
And the mob generally killed each other. So if the priests just went around raping one another maybe we wouldn’t mind as much.
Yes, the Mafia preyed on the weaknesses of men and women, gambling, money, drugs, prostitution. And I am by no means defending the actions of the mob. But at least they didn’t direct their evil on children. Using, “God” and “Hell” as their weapons of choice.
If you continue to support this organization, either physically or financially, its akin to continuing to invest money with Bernie Madoff while he’s in prison.
If you support a church, or even worse, have a child or grandchild in Catholic school, you’re condoning decades of abuse and explaining away that the real victims here do not exist. At least, not in your world. It wasn’t you. Wasn’t your parent, your uncle, your cousin, your friend. And pray, really pray, that it won’t be your child, or grandchild.
Let me leave you with one lasting image. One of the victims was a seven (7) year old girl, who was abused, in her hospital bed, while she was recovering from having her tonsils removed.
Trapped in a Happy Life 