THE INNOCENT TOUCHED BY THE RUTHLESS HAND OF MAN

A series of essays....

“THE GOLDEN RULE“ BY NORMAN ROCKWELL
~FREEDOM, DIVERSITY, LOVE~

....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Chances are extremely high that most of us, even among eighteen-year-olds and younger, have become more politically savvy within the past few years. Current events have lured our youth into arenas they had previously only hoped to enter after obtaining a college education and sorting-out their career. Too often, circumstances have forced our children to jettison their youth and face a life filled with fear, mistrust, and memories best forgotten.

Having lived in Central Florida for many years I will admit to having a good life filled with plenty of sunshine, sandy beaches that were easily accessible both to my east and west, and being able to wear my beloved sandals twelve months out of the year! Those who know me best know how important the last pleasure is to me and I’m often chastised for having them on while running outside on a quick errand on any given Southwestern Michigan winter’s day. Go figure!

MAPS THAT DEMANDED A REACTION
THEY ALWAYS SEEMED TO STRIKE IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS!

Yes, I’ve also lived through at least eight major hurricanes with each affording us ample time to decide whether to board-up the windows and ride them out (which we did each time) or pack the most important items and move out of harm’s way for the duration. Even in seemingly uncontrolled natural conditions, we remained in control of our destiny, to a certain degree.

Chills continue to overpower me when recalling at least two major events in Florida that changed my life and the lives of many others, especially the young and the innocent, forever! 

It was what most observers would describe as a ‘little black box,’ subdued and nondescript from the outside. On the inside it was a refuge and a home to the large LGBT community of Orlando, Florida. The patrons of Pulse Nightclub considered it to be a safe haven to just be yourself, a place where you forgot about having to fit in, and a fun venue to be able to enjoy the glitz and music with friends. 

49 PRECIOUS SOULS LOST  FOREVER AT PULSE ORLANDO.
SENTENCED TO DEATH BY THE RUTHLESS HAND OF MAN......

In the early morning hours of June 12, 2016, the world was savagely turned upside down, once again, when a 29-year-old, American born, gunman decided he had the right to eliminate the future hopes and dreams of 49 young people, along with wounding 53 others, in a mass shooting at Pulse Orlando. From 2:22 a.m. to approximately 5:00 a.m., over two and a half hours of living hell transpired with many first responders saying how witnessing the carnage had changed their own lives forever.

It was the deadliest shooting by a single perpetrator in United States history until the Las Vegas Strip shooting on October 1, 2017.

Suddenly, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida, and Broward County popped-up on our radar for all of the wrong reasons.

A Valentine’s Day Massacre for the new millennium rolled into Florida that peaceful, ‘candy heart’ kind of day when a 19-year-old former student of the school decided he could enter the premises, shoot to kill, and then walk away at his leisure. All in a days work.. He left behind him the brutal murder of 17 people (14 students and 3 staff members) and the injuring of 17 others. The images of death and suffering of our innocent youth would remain burned into our thoughts from this February 14, 2018 massacre, and gun control was being placed upon the strong shoulders of our young citizens. The first of many organized demonstrations outside the White House in Washington, D.C. began as early as February 18, 2018, four days after the shooting.

Victims of this mass shooting ranged in age from 14 to 49 years old.

We should all remember these names:

Emma González, Alfonso Calderon, Sarah Chadwick, Jaclyn Corin, Ryan Deitsch, David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, and Alex Wind.

These are the names of our future. 

These are the names of the teen survivors who instantly became activists of Students Against Gun Violence and organizers of marches for gun control and co-founders of the gun-control advocacy group Never Again MSD (Marjory Stoneman Douglas). Their battle cry: “We can’t let fear consume us,” and this is why Parkland activists won't give up! They are today’s critics of politicians who are supported by the National Rifle Association; they may serve as tomorrow’s leaders fighting for a better, safer world.

STUDENTS PROTEST GUN VIOLENCE OUTSIDE OF THE WHITE HOUSE
ON FEBRUARY 18, 2018

Courtesy of Lorie Shaull

I am reminded of the phrase: What doesn’t kill us will only make us stronger. 

There is a good chance that a certain percentage of the survivors of these callous shootings will go on to hold political positions one day in order to encourage reform and remain in control of their own destiny. What the vulnerable, young people of both Pulse Orlando and the high school students in Parkland were made to endure will live with each individual survivor for the rest of their life. This is a burden no one would legitimately wish upon their children. And yet, it has happened more than we care to think about in this country, alone.

My young grandchildren are reasoning on their own the consequences of the coronavirus in their lifetime; this includes the loss of a major portion of their last school year and whether or not it will be a responsible move to return to classes this fall. Wearing a mask over your nose and mouth in public has become the newest version of throwing on a baseball cap before exiting the back door to go play with your friends. Their biggest fear is not when they can get together with their friends but instead, if they do get together, even with precautions, could they still bring the virus home to their own family.

THE SYMBOL OF PULSE ORLANDO WILL
ALWAYS BE ETCHED INTO MY MIND

As badly as I don’t want them to have to grow-up so soon, I’m afraid that this simplistic way of thinking has been left behind by the wayside months ago. So, when I see them playing video games or perfecting no-handed back flips on the trampoline these days, I’m encouraged by this reputed normalcy and my heart swells with love and happiness!

Never, never will we forget the martyrdom our youth has been left to deal with in the form of needlessly losing friends or family due to the lack of outlined gun control laws being initiated and followed; being guided by a narcissistic president who never intended to help make life more tolerable for anyone other than himself; not being able to express their true selves due to lack of understanding and blatant discrimination; having to leave childhood behind at a very early age, and dealing with the consequences of a world-wide pandemic with seemingly no end in sight!

Surviving a few storms in life will help to make us stronger. Managing the heartaches witnessed by many young people today is equivalent to them surviving a raging hurricane every single day, for life. I pray they emerge stronger from all of their suffering and that they help to make brave new decisions and laws that will improve everyone’s life in the years to come. Lesson learned: Be mindful of the gathering of the innocent wronged. Their diligence will strike fear in the savage heart.

Be safe. Stay healthy. Wear a mask in public. Hug your children, daily.

Copyright © 2020 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

MASS EFFECTS: A KINDER, BETTER WORLD

A series of essays.....

NORMAN ROCKWELL'S 'FREEDOM FROM WANT'

                    Courtesy Denver Public Library



.....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E. Hughes

Being away from one’s normal setting for even a little while can encourage a sharper, more defined outlook on the life around you. That’s why we make the time to take vacations and release ourselves from what may have become the ordinary to experiencing the various levels of the extraordinary! 

The allure of heading up to our new life in Michigan or, at least, preparing our home up there for our arrival, is considered a pleasant reprieve from the normal. However, with i-Pad on lap and tapping into the Internet via my ‘Personal Hotspot’ on my i-Phone keeps me connected with this crazy world we live in today even while traveling over seventy miles per hour up I-75. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to just disconnect.

'MARBLE CHAMP' BY NORMAN ROCKWELL
~A REMINDER OF MY OWN TOMBOY CHILDHOOD~

                Courtesy Marmont Hill Inc.

In my opinion it’s difficult not knowing what the latest, craziest escapade is involving a world that has drastically changed in values and responsibilities since long ago when I was a small girl growing-up in Mishawaka, Indiana. I believe it's because this world has become so weak and vulnerable, we must keep up with the changes if only to better understand how to cope with and, hopefully, draw our lives back into a kinder and more loving era. And, Dear Santa, could we please eliminate the inequality and blatant hatred of those not exactly like us while we’re at it? What a great gift this would be this Holiday Season!

The Norman Rockwell picture perfect world is a thing of the past. And, that’s okay by me. Now that we’ve dug down deeper into our nation’s history, most of us ‘unenlightened ones’ have sadly discovered that that world was filled with inequality, bigotry, and racism, as well. The difference between then and now is that we may not have recognized all of this back then. The kindly Grandpa images and huggable puppies running up to greet adorable, freckled-faced children may have arrested our hearts but, it clouded our vision at the same time.

NORMAN ROCKWELL ~ SELF IMAGE

                         Courtesy pbs.org

We not only recognize it but, fortunately, we are acknowledging the negativity that exists in our everyday lives today whether we agree with it or not. Taking it one step further, many of us are stepping up to the plate and trying to do something about it. Woman have marched in Washington D.C. to protest a man who is deplorable in his own right and not capable of making decisions for the betterment of our society as a whole. Athletes have taken a knee in order to protect the rights of men, women, and children whose skin is darker than rich, white men. Native Americans will continue to protest in order to preserve what little land and rights our government has failed to take away from them throughout the years.

We are being inundated by juvenile tweets almost every single day that should be highlighted by colored crayon and preschool attempts at printing out each letter of each word. The mere thought that our country is being run by a lonely,   man who consciously decides to communicate at odd hours of the day and night with the people he represents through social media leaves so much more to be desired. If we didn’t know for sure, we could conceivably say that he might be a person weighing four-hundred pounds and sitting on his bed in the middle of the night with phone in hand. Little did we know that he may have been describing himself during that Presidential Debate so many months ago!

'FREEDOM OF SPEECH'

             Courtesy The Norman Rockwell Museum                              

Deplorable. “A sorry state of affairs, indeed!” Despicable. “Taking actions that are perceived to be contemptible and mean.” Detrimental. “In the short and long run, causing harm or injury to ideals and to those these ideals represent.” That pretty much sums up the current Administration in a few, short words.

I, for one, want to believe in the goodness of mankind. I want to think that we are living through the ‘bully stage’ of our young country and that this, too, shall pass as we continue to grow-up leaving the bully far behind us in his own perpetual kindergarten of sorts. I choose to understand that the indecent actions of this current Administration will serve to create a stronger, smarter, and more imaginative mass of citizens who will work together to solve our problems and bring us together as a stronger, better nation. 

I do not believe, however, that these changes will come quickly or easily; good ideas tend to be deliberately scrutinized more rigorously than believing in or latching on to negative ones. I don’t know why this is and I never will. But, I am willing to wait, obliged to try to understand, and remain open to whatever plan it takes to create a kinder, better world to live in. Most importantly, I choose to be an active part of this plan.

Will we ever be able to revert to the naive and innocent (on the surface, anyway) world of our own youth? A time when Mr. Rockwell offered vivid designs of “small-town America and the private moments we all share but often take for granted,” as described by Christies’s Auction House where many of his images of an idealized America were auctioned off and sold. 

ROCKWELL'S SERIES OF
ICONIC HOLIDAY PAINTINGS

                               Courtesy 'Wired'

Somehow we must learn to incorporate this optimistic view of human nature into our lives once again. It’s imperative that we do so. But this time around, let us be intelligent enough to keep up with the times by internalizing all of the knowledge we have compiled throughout the years with regards to human rights and the idea of balancing our lives between that which is good for ourselves and that which is good for everyone else. If we teach our young boys to cook because, after all, they eat, too and, we acknowledge that our young girls can become strong leaders who can define America in a positive light....we could be headed in the right direction. Baby steps.

I want to have hope and I’d like to believe in a Norman Rockwell world again; it’s becoming much crazier and more difficult to do all the time. We need to eliminate the trickle-down hate and deception generated within the White House and exchange it for a kinder, better, and more tolerant world. We must learn from our mistakes. Tomorrow depends on us.

'LITTLE SPOONERS' OR 'SUNSET'
A KINDER, BETTER WORLD

                               Courtesy Art.com

Copyright © 2017 by Jacqueline E. Hughes

All rights reserved