In The Light

Gathered around various family tables over the years, I was privy to many conversations about my fathers family. In 1904, his parents fled Yugoslavia as authoritarian rule was becoming more prominent and the Serbian Orthodox church came under fire. As was common, the church and it’s community was the center of their lives; the fear of persecution drove them to leave. They settled on the small community on the southern outskirts of Pittsburgh, PA. My grandfather established a farm to sustain the family while also working as a laborer in one of the many Pittsburgh steel works. Over the course of their lives there, they raised twelve children. My grandmother, as the story goes, decided to help the Serbian Orthodox church with frequent trips back to the old country, and took money to support the church by sewing the cash into the hem of her skirts to get it through customs; the money went to support their church and surrounding community. From what was told, this went on up to the onset of World War I.  I found it interesting that Bubbie was part of the underground at the turn of the LAST century.

When World War II broke out, of the 12 siblings in my fathers family, all that could volunteer did so. They had no idea what was in store; how long the war was going to last, if they were going to survive or die in combat, but they all felt it was part of their duty as United States citizens to participate; to defend America and stand up against authoritarian regimes (and to kick Nazi ass). My father served during “The Battle of the Bulge”, and spent two years in Belgium as a Corporal in the Army. Several of his brothers were stationed likewise, and there and at least one stationed with the Marines in the Pacific. My aunts served in the Woman’s Auxiliary both in Europe and the Pacific. Of all those who went, all came home. 

 

In my childhood, I witnessed the horror of the Kent State shootings (also known as the Kent State massacre or May 4 massacre) where the killing of four and wounding of nine unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard happened on the Kent State University campus. The shootings took place on May 4, 1970. It happened during a rally opposing the expanding involvement of the Vietnam War into Cambodia by United States military forces as well as protesting the National Guard presence on campus and the draft. Twenty-eight National Guard soldiers fired about 67 rounds over 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

The shootings triggered immediate and massive outrage on campuses around the country. It increased participation in the student strike that ultimately grew to more than 4 million students participating in organized walk-outs at hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools.

Welcome to the 21^st Century. For a second time in one generation, we have someone who is just mentally unfit and inept to be Commander in Chief. I think (as did many of us) I anticipated him to be a “one-term” interloper whose graft and corruption would surely send him to prison. But horror of horrors, no one (in the GOP) could fathom an Ex-president being a convict! So the twice-impeached, (now) convicted felon played his cards, played the media, and the sycophants gorged themselves on his lies and regurgitated them enough to drown out any actual facts about the con artist. Lo and behold, we now have Dictator Don living his best life as the "So Called Ruler Of The United States" (or SCROTUS); Hell bent on revenge and total control. I spend the first month after the election, as most of us did, just taking stock of my life, my family. Then ventured further out of a shell to consider my community and the general public. I watched; observed – what was fact, what was subterfuge. The now systemic destruction the US Government at the hands of a Billionaire Nazi who bought his way as side-kick to SCROTUS. Identifying what dangers were looming ahead and to understand where my mindset came from:

• My Bubbie supported her community on a continent away. 
• My father fought to restore democracy over authoritarian rule. 
• Witnessing the slaughter of American protesters opposing government actions abroad, my reaction to where this American dictatorship is heading tempered my involvement. 

Yes!  I have fear!  I don’t particularly care to be shot or carted off to a foreign prison, but I will be heard, and I will be visible fort as long as this takes.

Let's find our voices. Let's make some noise.  Let's be seen.  

In the light. 

Onward! 

Rade

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings