34. Once

Once – The Musical on Broadway

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent

– Victor Hugo

The obsession started when I first saw the film Once, a work whose honest beauty stunned me and saved me when I felt the world I lived in had completely lost its sense of humanity (in pre-emptive war and cluster bomb times). Then there was the Christmas card with a toast, ‘Here’s to Once, March 24th, New York’ that led me here to a theater on Broadway to see the musical version of Once. And you really have to understand, I am NOT the musical-going type. But then again, nothing about Once has ever been usual. It was an anti-Hollywood film and for that I loved it. Now, I fervently prayed that its sacredness would be preserved: the human connection, the sheer beauty of the music, and the purity of its message.

Composers and the film’s Guy and Girl, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

♫ Words fall through me and always fool me ♫

– Glen Hansard

The human connection in Once is what grabs you and gives you hope. It takes a real spark to make that work and the film’s Guy and Girl could not be matched. Yet there are other forces in this play to break down the barriers between audience and cast and build connections. It starts when you enter and hear the music on stage and venture up to the bar on stage. And that’s clever.

What’ll ye have?

A beer, please.

Would you like … or …?

Whichever is closest to yer hand is grand.

This one is richer.

Fair enough. It’s for himself and sure as long as there’s alcohol in it he’ll be happy.

That gets a laugh out of the bartender. I forget I’m on stage. I and those around me have become part of the play before it starts. Ah, but when does it start? That’s another brilliant move. There is no clear start. We have just dropped in on some part of some people’s lives in the energy of live performance and got caught up in that. We are already connected.

Raising their voices. David Kelly on the far left shines on Raglan Road

♫ Raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice ♫

– Glen & Markéta

The sheer beauty of the film’s music cannot be surpassed.  I am sure of that. Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová made magic with their music. Back in my seat I listen to the pre-show music being played on stage. They’re good, very good I have to admit.  I think that’s a single jig with words I hear, then a Czech song and then it all gets quiet for Raglan Road and I realize my jaw has dropped. There are people still coming in, many are chatting and the lights haven’t dimmed but I’ve already heard a performance worth the price of the trip and it isn’t even the lead singing. It’s a man with only a few lines in the whole performance but he has just surpassed the Dubliners and (gulp) Glen in his new and definitive lyrical version of this song set to Paddy Kavanagh’s gorgeous poem. I don’t know where to look or who to share this with. Help. So here I tell you this lest the truth be lost. I want a recording of this NOW. I raise a glass to you David Kelly for that unexpected pleasure.

The musicianship in this show is amazing. They cover  most of  the hits (Lies is gone, Sleeping is added) and change some of them. The new a cappella Gold is a hit but using Falling Slowly’s four notes to make a jingly transition tune feels like a miss as it diminishes the song’s power.  Nonetheless, I am in awe.

The musical’s Girl and Guy, Cristin Milioti and Steve Kazee

♫ Cause if your skin was soil how long do you think before they start diggin’ and if your life was gold how long would you think you’d stay livin’? ♫

– Fergus O’Farrell

For me art has a message and it must be worth the telling. In Once the message is that love hurts and is complicated and we don’t always get what we want but we get glimpses of heaven here on earth in people with good hearts. The purity of that message of Once restored my faith in humanity and that’s a tough act to follow. Still, I can’t deny that already the best of humanity abounds in the camaraderie I see on stage before me. I enjoy all that’s the same and all that’s different until I cringe at the direction of the ‘humor’ when Girl gets a friend to sleep with someone so as to help Guy. Her friend has to down a few strong ones to do this and now we’re in ‘humor’ that is far from the purity of the message of the film. Why? Sigh. All in all though, Girl is wonderful and funny and selfless.

Who hears music feels his solitude peopled at once

– Robert Browning

At the core of it all is Guy and Girl. How they communicate with us and with each other is key to our belief in the beauty of their story. Glen and Mar’s songs are powerful tools here.

When Guy is singing on stage and the lights have dimmed, people are quiet and you realize it has started and he doesn’t hold back. Glen as the film’s Guy has that rough edge to his voice no one can match but Steve as the musical’s Guy is far better than I expected. By the time we reach his heartbreaking final Falling Slowly I am won over and wish I had brought some Kleenex. Even when speaking, he did well. Considering how many awful Broadway Irish accents there are out there, I’m delighted Steve got this so right. Okay, so he slipped on three words (‘Cork’, ‘forgetting’ and  ‘her’) but he’s very good and for a typical American audience he is far easier to understand.

Girl’s performance on stage is more Broadway play and less Once realism and maybe that was needed but I don’t think so. Hers was the hardest character to adjust to. In the film version Girl’s genuine performance and humor when reacting to guy’s suggestion that they should move to England was brilliant. Cristin’s performance did not convince me on this part as she was playing the ‘serious’ Czech but she could have let it go on that line. It would have been worth it. She really should see the film. Still her If You Want Me is lovely. She makes her role comedic and that changes everything but she wins us over in the end. The feminist in me is happy to see a strong female lead.

It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness of pain, of strength and freedom:  the beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love

 
– Benjamin Britten

There are many saying that the play is better than the film but that is not true. They are different and, in my book, the film still wins for its sheer commitment to realism, respecting the viewer, and artistic performance. For this to be closer to perfect I’d leave out the friend sleeping with the shop owner, the four note based transition music (the five note Fallen From The Sky would have worked better), some of the movements (limp wrists), and the many affirmations of the music’s worth. They are not necessary. Never tell the audience what they are supposed to think. Don’t spell it out for them. That’s disrespecting them and they feel it. Win them over. Trust them to understand. This musical doesn’t need anyone to say it’s great. It just is. Let me repeat that in case it’s not clear: this musical is GREAT. I leave feeling sad and happy and hopeful and wanting to see it again.

♫ You have suffered enough and warred with yourself, it’s time that you won ♫                

– Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglova

A smart young kid behind me on his way out of the theater repeats the funniest line of the performance which has to do with when the transaction is complete. Like one of the best songs of the night, the whole performance is Gold and it deserves major praise and awards. Viva la revolución. It makes me want to record some songs or even make a whole album.  Don’t quote me on that though.

PS. I might never have gone to this had it not been for Brandon’s excellent review well worth reading here: http://www.theswellseason.com/discuss/topic.php?id=1876

Also read Elizabeth Davis’ testimony to her joy of being part of this at http://www.broadway.com/buzz/161419/elizabeth-a-davis-on-her-heaven-sent-journey-as-actress-violinist-in-once/

Update: Congratulations to Once on winning 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Actor.

See the update: https://ancroiait.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/once-performance-at-the-tony-awards/

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33. The San Patricios

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from California.

How to celebrate Paddy’s Day

#1. Sleep late. Sure, isn’t it a holiday? Have rashers and eggs for breakfast with some brown bread and tea. Send an ecard to a friend http://www.irishcorner.com/ecardapp.php?theme_id=2&image_id=808

#2. Use a few Irish words with people you meet such as Conas atá tú? kunus ataw too? How are you? and the answer Iontach eentok Wonderful. Pass on that knowledge  ♥.

#3. Get some energy into you with spuds and cabbage and real Irish sausages (try an import shop). Read about and watch the video of John O Riley below. Feel the knowledge.

#4. Then go out and see or join a parade. Wear something green, preferably some shamrock.

#5. After that find a céilí (kaylee) and join in the dancing. Set dancing is great if you can find a local group http://www.setdancingnews.net/ 

#6. Finish out the day with a great Irish movie of your choice

Historical: Micheal Collins

Romantic: Once (If you are near Broadway, go see Once, the musical)

Comedy: The Guard

#7. Sleep soundly, codladh sámh (kula sawv) ☺ and may you dream in Irish.

Lesson of the day: John O Riley’s story and the Irish soldiers of Mexico

Back in 1846 John O Riley/ John Riley  (Seán Ó Raghallaigh) crossed an ocean to escape from the misery of a famine. He also fled oppression by the British in Ireland in the form of the occupation of his country, religious persecution and an attempt to wipe out his culture. When he arrived in America he signed up to “serve” his new country but discovered that meant doing to others what the British occupiers had done to his people back home.

Flag of the San Patricios

So he did the right thing and formed his battalion The San Patricios. They were the underdogs in the U.S. invasion and occupation of Mexico (most commonly and misleadingly referred to as the Mexican-American War). O Riley fought the good fight but lost. Because of that his name is often left out of our history books.

Battle of Churubusco

American forces hang the San Patricios and force them to watch the American flag being raised on Mexican territory.

March to Battle

Lyrics narrated by Liam Neeson

We are the San Patricios, a brave and gallant band
There’ll be no white flag flying within this green command
We are the San Patricios, we have but one demand,
To see the Yankees safely home across the Rio Grande…
We’ve disappeared from history like footprints in the sand
But our song is in the tumbleweeds and our love is in this land
But if in the desert moonlight you see a ghostly band
We are the men who died for freedom across the Rio Grande.

O Riley hailed from Clifden where the Irish language is still spoken and so TG4, the excellent Irish language TV channel, produced this program about him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rEdaZipKGA Do watch it both for the content and for the Irish you will hear spoken. John O Riley is an important historical figure and his story is worth the telling.

Long after O Riley’s death some Americans made the journey across the ocean in the other direction from America to Ireland and make history too as in 1919 Alcock and Brown landed near Clifden (O Riley’s home town) completing the first transatlantic flight.

Clifden, Connemara, Ireland

But today, on St. Patrick’s Day I raise a glass to John O Riley and to the San Patricios. For those who want a more catchy version of the story in pub singing style here it is:

Ah the power of oral tradition, best served with a pint. Sláinte (Slawnte) To your heath.

32. Fukushima’s lesson: No Nukes

The Lesson of Fukushima: Say No to Nukes

Protest 6/22/12

President Noda wants to restart the nuclear power plants. Say NO to Noda.

Watch the powerful plea of the brave women of Fukushima

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYQNd2ybiDg&feature=youtu.be

A triple tragedy united people in a cause. How sad the lesson had to be so awful and so many had to suffer. With a message as clear as that how can anyone with a pulse not respond? Are there still some people who need more evidence of the dangers? Those who ignore the reality are not worthy leaders.

絆 Kizuna: Bonds of Friendship

United in a cause for humanity

Bad things came in 3s in Japan on 3/11: an Earthquake, a Tsunami, and a Nuclear Disaster

#1. Last year a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, an earthquake so big it literally moved a whole country and tilted the axis of the planet, hit Japan and we watched from far away in California in horror. And we thought nothing worse than that could happen.

#2. But then something so big and awful happened we forgot the earthquake as a massive tsunami devoured massive areas of land destroying everything in its path. We saw it crash through buildings and we saw people try to run out of its path but we knew they would not get away in time. And it took the lives of 20,000 people and we thought nothing would ever erase the memory of that horror: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5svV51NzMh8&feature=g-sptl&cid=inp-hs-reu 

Here is one witness’ story. Hina Oishi from Ishinomaki said:  “My family found some rice in the tsunami water. It had already turned black but they washed it lots of times and had something to eat. But then a group of emergency services came to distribute food and help out. My mother would queue up for food and hear stories from people who had the bodies of strangers in their homes…” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17331567

#3. And then the third bad thing happened and the horror of that erased all that had gone before. The consequences of a nuclear disaster made all the previous horror seem tame. The Fukushima (Fukushima means Blessed Island – Who builds a reactor on sacred ground?) nuclear plant experienced nuclear meltdown and one by one we watched the reactors fail. Over 110,000 people were evacuated. We wondered if that would affect us here on the other side of the Pacific.  Everyone was scared. We monitored Geiger readings. Should we drink milk? Should we move? God help those close to it, we thought. We watched the Fukushima explosion on TV http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7naSc81WSqA&feature=related

No one slept easy that night. We remembered Chernobyl.

And so here we are one year later and people are still dealing with the loss of loved ones. People mourn those who were swept away by the tsunami and people are still fixing earthquake damage but the disaster that has the most lasting effect on Japan is the man made one of the dangers of nuclear energy. There is a lesson here and it is that no matter how helpless we are against earthquakes and tsunamis, we can stop our reliance on nuclear energy. Polls indicate that nearly 70% of the public want to reduce or end the use of nuclear power: http://alturl.com/3mpxt

Participants formed a human chain around Japan’s parliament on March 11, 2012. Right now only two of Japan’s 54 reactors are working. They could all go offline by the end of April if people demand it.

Germany acted. It will be Nuclear Free by 2022. Let’s make this a goal for the world. As one Japanese rescue worker said very simply at the Prince of Asturias awards, “Accidents happen.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AL4Vj28Nrs

Tell President Obama to go Nuclear Free. Please sign https://secure3.convio.net/ucs/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3221

Sign petitions in your country: http://www.dianuke.org/rising-voices-anti-nuclear-petitions-must-sign/

がんばれ日本　We have not forgotten you ♥.

Origami cranes we made here in Los Angeles last year to forge 絆 Kizuna: bonds of friendship

A Very Happy Update!

Arigatou Nihon, arigatou Kan san!

Japan has shut down all its nuclear plants and former prime-minister Mr. Kan leads the condemnation of nuclear energy  http://alturl.com/ykfs7

In testimony he said “that the accident had brought Japan to the brink of evacuating metropolitan Tokyo and its 30 million residents. He said the loss of the capital would have paralyzed the national government, leading to ‘a collapse of the nation’s ability to function.'”

Action Still Urgently Needed

Say NO to Noda san. He cannot be allowed to start the plants again. There is always a better way.

You give us HOPE, Japan. Bless your efforts. Bless your recovery. Bless your wisdom. THANK YOU!

Let us know how we can help. Our hearts are with you.

31. ♫ Death notes: The Hunger Games

Death notes: The Hunger Games

Songs for all victims of oppression and deception

For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand

–       William Butler Yeats

Life and death, fact and fiction, truth and deception are the themes of The Hunger Games, its music and inspirations. I crave a stronger response from the public to these themes. The Hunger Games is a strong criticism of those who sacrifice our children to hold onto their power. The world is full of weeping when we allow that to happen. Some composers reach out to us in song to tell us what is really happening in times of war and oppression. Glen Hansard did that in his song Come Away to the Water that show how warped the world is when chillingly children are lured to their deaths.

Song #1.

Glen Hansard  composed Come Away To The Water, a song now in the hands of Maroon 5 for some inexplicable reason, for The Hunger Games but you can hear Glen’s original version of the song here. You can also see the connection to the reality that inspired it written out in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wascc5Cyp80

Lyrics:

Come away little lass, come away to the water to the arms that are reaching only for you.
Come away little lass, come away to the water to the ones appointed to see it through.
We are calling to you.

Come away little lad, come away to the laughter to the path that is open wide to the new.
Come away little lad come away to the laughter to the one last promise to always hold true.
We are calling for you. We are coming for you.

Come away little lamb, come away to the water to the ones who were lost and don’t know what to do.
Come away little lamb, come away to the slaughter. Give yourself up so we may live anew.
We are coming for you. We are calling for you.

Come away little lass, come away to the water to the ones that are waiting only for you.
Come away little lad, come away to the slaughter to the ones who appointed to see it through.
We are calling to you. We are calling to you.

Where fact and fiction meet makes literature most interesting for me and I crave important messages in any work of art. Teach me something that will move my soul and I shall call you art. Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, cites the war on Iraq and reality shows as her inspiration. Let’s put the Battle Royale (Japanese book on a similar theme) issue to the side for now though I do hope Collins will donate some earnings to tsunami victims. The real horror of war and the gross falseness of reality shows meet in diabolical lies.  Falsehoods stir up and ‘justify’ wars. That which is presented as reality is utterly empty.

In the real world we need to recognize the signs. When we are being charged for the basics for survival such as water and health care we know our governments do not care about our lives and we must demand change.

In The Hunger Games children who are forced to try to kill each other in order to survive in a warped fictitious world that is presented to the public as entertainment. It echoes the way our soldiers are sent off to fight in wars so as to benefit the rich and powerful with no care for the lives of the innocents that will be lost. We have enough arms to blow up the world many times over no matter how hard people work too many will not get jobs and the greatest source of debt is students who cannot pay back loans they got so they could go to university

Truth and deception form the lifeblood of the plot. The protagonists of The Hunger Games know the reality of their harsh conditions and ‘the capitol’ (the seat of power) feeds propaganda out through its channel and acts to protect its own false world. Separation, oppression and fear are their tools of war. From the warped point of view of those in power in the Capitol, a social conscience and doing good is viewed as a sick mentality.

I have heard this echoed here in the U.S. Never argue a political point on morality, I was coached. Always base it on economics they taught me. In our version of history the enemy has been labeled been ‘socialism,’ ‘communism,’ ‘terrorism,’ and yet the majority of victims are women and children and the motivation is greed. The greatest number of the victims are the poor fighting for their rights but they are demonized and deception reigns. And yet we stay glued to the TV sets, horrified at it and ourselves for the level of the lies.

The chorus of Glen’s song reminded me of a poem by William Butler Yeats The Stolen Child. Here is a rendition of this poem in song by The Waterboys:

Song # 2

The Stolen Child (not in the movie) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVSN9DMvl6I

The Stolen Child by William Butler  Yeats

Where dips the rocky highland of Sleuth Wood in the lake, There lies a leafy island where flapping herons wake The drowsy water-rats; there we’ve hid our faery vats, Full of berries and of reddest stolen cherries. Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, for the world’s more full of weeping                            than you can understand. Where the wave of moonlight glosses the dim grey sands with light, Far off by furthest Rosses we foot it all the night, Weaving olden dances, mingling hands and mingling glances Till the moon has taken flight; to and fro we leap And chase the frothy bubbles, while the world is full of troubles and is anxious in its sleep. Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, for the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand. Where the wandering water gushes from the hills above Glen-Car, In pools among the rushes that scarce could bathe a star, We seek for slumbering trout and whispering in their ears Give them unquiet dreams; leaning softly out From ferns that drop their tears over the young streams. Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, for the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand. Away with us he’s going, the solemn-eyed: He’ll hear no more the lowing of the calves on the warm hillside Or the kettle on the hob sing peace into his breast, Or see the brown mice bob round and round the oatmeal-chest. For he comes, the human child, to the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, from a world more full of weeping than you can understand.

Evil is personified in this poem as creatures from another world, the faeries. Death takes them away. It steals them before their time. The child is stunned by these strange beings and follows them: ‘Away with us he’s going, the solemn-eyed.’ In life the realization of truth about how wars are all deception is horrifying. We cannot conceive of how man could plan to deliberately do this to his fellow man. It sucks all the energy of the joy out of a person and leaves in its place a zombie-like traumatized shell of a person, solemn-eyed ready to walk towards his death.  Innocence is dead. The world is more full of weeping than anyone can understand and it stuns the spirit and steals it away.

In The Hunger Games children are robbed from the safety of their families and friends and made to lose their humanity as they must kill each other. The book’s success has much to do with its universal theme. That is the very nature of war. Man was not born to kill his fellow man. It is a massive crime against nature. And yet it is common. Why and how did society become so sick and twisted as to implement such a game (fictional and real)?

Why? To suppress people so the heartless can keep power. How? Using lies, deprivation, and fear. The first victim when war comes is truth. The nature of the beast that spawns such deranged cruelty is the lack of a conscience. Then we are denied some of our rights and respect to protect society from the enemy. What is truly scary is how easily we accept this. The fear thrives on the rules being unclear. They are changed often and we are told to accept that our leaders know more and if we are not for them, we are against them.

Explain to me the nature of evil, the power and the glory.

Song #3.

Intinn, an Irish group with a reggae style asks people to come away from the deception in their song Come Away: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46H8VXpuFrU

The Hunger Games has its ‘Tributes’ while the US has it’s ‘Servicemen and women’ otherwise know as soldiers who are fed lies and propaganda. The military Industrial Complex has a massive grip on American politics and culture and it will need all the people to reject their grip in no uncertain terms to have any hope of having a better future.

Song #4.

Irish singer Paul Brady sings of children as tributes or sacrificial lambs when he sings of how we sacrifice our children when we send them off to war in his song The Island.

Song #3 The Island here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avr0-Utx3X0

They say the skies of Lebanon are burning
Those mighty cedars bleeding in the heat
They’re showing pictures on the television
Women and children dying in the street
And we’re still at it in our own place
Still trying to reach the future through the past
Still trying to carve tomorrow from a tombstone…

Chorus

But Hey! Don’t listen to me!
This wasn’t meant to be no sad song
We’ve heard too much of that before
Right now I only want to be here with you
Till the morning dew comes falling
I want to take you to the island
And trace your footprints in the sand
And in the evening when the sun goes down
We’ll make love to the sound of the ocean

They’re raising banners over by the markets
Whitewashing slogans on the shipyard walls
Witchdoctors praying for a mighty showdown
No way our holy flag is gonna fall
Up here we sacrifice our children
To feed the worn-out dreams of yesterday
And teach them dying will lead us into glory…

Chorus

Now I know us plain folks don’t see all the story
And I know this peace and love’s just copping out
And I guess these young boys dying in the ditches
Is just what being free is all about
And how this twisted wreckage down on main street
Will bring us all together in the end
And we’ll go marching down the road to freedom…
Freedom

There is bitterness in that thought and it is not accurate. The dreams do not wear out; they are crushed and erased. It is not to feed those dreams that people were sacrificed; that has always been a lie. We are fed propaganda and war to distract people from the diabolical crimes of the truly heartless. They care not a whit for the many who suffer and die as it serves their purpose. Yes, Evil is Live backwards in that it is everything that is good and true turned backwards and grotesquely twisted. What is truly scary is how easily people accept that twisted version of life. There is not and never was any glory in killing.

Reflections on what we do or do not learn:

So who are the heartless, these strange creatures so devoid of humanity who start wars? They are the many heartless beings who walk among us, those without a conscience who are often charming and always self-obsessed. Their lack of a conscience makes them incomprehensible to us like beings from another world. It has always been so. They were the bullies of the school playground, the Saurons and Voldemorts of literature, the evil forces and the bad faeries of mythology.

Mostly they are people who like positions of power. Too many of us are sheep who give them their power over us. They do not look like monsters or talk like monsters and many are charming and know how to look wounded when we question their motives. Many of the worst rise to the highest levels of power precisely because they have no conscience so they are immune to criticism and can carry off lies convincingly.

They are most often in positions of authority. They wear wings or pins or medals or ribbons and they engage in warfare of one kind or another: war on the fragile, war on the poor, war on the battlefield from the safety of an armchair. They recruit the innocent and send them off to be killed and far worse, to kill destroying their souls. They feed on the idea of glory and gain that from the slaughter of the innocents.

They may feed off people’s vulnerability in order to crush our dreams. They may delight in causing others humiliation. They may deprive people of their basic necessities or their freedom because to do so gives them a rush of power and they are far more common than we would like to think.

What are the odds?

It’s time to name the creatures who suck away our happiness. Psychiatrists would call them sociopaths and there is approximately one of them for every 25 of us. So you would think the odds are in our favor, right? Sadly that is not the case. Evil is more likely to win as long as we let it and that is what we have done for far too long. The Milgram experiment saw 6 out of 10 people blindly following orders because they believed someone they perceived to be an authority figure. That shifts the odds diabolically in the favor of the warped.

From Yeats’ poem The Stolen Child I paint them as monsters but the truth is that we all have selfishness and lack of caring to some degree. Whenever we decide to pass a homeless person who is truly in need, we have, for however brief a period it may be, entered into their world. When we do not speak up against unjust acts or when we blindly follow leaders to kill in foreign lands not knowing the reason for the fight (trite labels like communism or terrorism do not count), we lose our humanity. Do people really hate all the people they will kill? Do they really love all the people they think they will protect (child molesters included)?

Though leaves are many, the root is one; through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; now I may wither into the truth

–       Yeats

I recall so many Stolen Children such as the Aborigines as I learned from watching Rabbit-Proof Fence, Argentina’s lost children as I learned from The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, Brazil’s poor as I learned from City of God and child soldiers everywhere forced to act as killing machines so sociopaths can keep their power. And still we let this happen. And still we have not learned that the bullies are the minority and they get their power from our silence.  Sing, paint, do what you will to voice your contempt but do not be silent any more. Let us take away their power and take back our children.

Visit http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/children-s-rights/child-soldiers to learn what you can do to help.