Charmed Chaos

There was a time when I was proud to call myself an American, but that has changed. I’ve never cared much for politics, or organized religion. To me, they are both ways to try to control the masses and keep us in check to further line greedy pockets. Don’t get me wrong, I have faith in a higher power by whatever name you want to call it. I know God hears me no matter where I am. And now this, a parade, a charade of what this country once stood for: FREEDOM and REFUGE.

All I can see are innocent children, mistreated and living in horrible conditions. Some say it’s the fault of their parents, others cry its the fault of the government. None of that matters, because this is about decency and humanity for our fellow man. The time for pointing fingers and who did what needs to be over. These are the adults of tomorrow, not pawns in a game of political chess. They are tiny human beings whose lives may well be forever altered by the adversity they face each day.

tear stained dirty faces
children crying for mercy
summer camp nightmare

©2021 Linda Lee Lyberg

Frank J. Tassone Haikai Challenge # 92 Independence The United States celebrates Independence Day this Thursday, July 4th. This year, the celebration of the birth of the US happens in the disquieting shadow of the chaos occuring at the country’s southern border:

A chaotic scene of sickness and filth is unfolding in an overcrowded border station in Clint, Tex., where hundreds of young people who have recently crossed the border are being held, according to lawyers who visited the facility this week. Some of the children have been there for nearly a month. Children as young as 7 and 8, many of them wearing clothes caked with snot and tears, are caring for infants they’ve just met, the lawyers said. Toddlers without diapers are relieving themselves in their pants. Teenage mothers are wearing clothes stained with breast milk. Most of the young detainees have not been able to shower or wash their clothes since they arrived at the facility, those who visited said. They have no access to toothbrushes, toothpaste or soap. [Hundreds of migrant children have now been transferred out of the facility.] “There is a stench,” said Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, one of the lawyers who visited the facility. “The overwhelming majority of children have not bathed since they crossed the border.” –New York Times, June 21, 2019: ‘There is a Stench’: Soiled Clothes and No Baths for Migrant Children at a Texas Center By Caitlin Dickerson

Colleen’s weekly Poetry Challenge: No. 134