I've posted this here before, but found more edits were needed

BARELY MAKING SENSE OF ANY OF IT – based on an idea suggested by Chase Pomerich
A MEDITATION RECALLING THE STORY OF JOB FOLLOWED BY A RETELLING OF THE BEATITUDES

Some people go through life, cursed, as children, from birth,
With loving, supportive financially comfortable families,
Safe secure households, neighborhoods, and communities,
Wonderful and like-minded family friends who
watch out for these cursed children
And know what limits have been set on them
And promptly act when those boundaries are crossed,
Whether or not crossed intentionally or
crossed accidentally,
And furthermore, they will report these
trespasses to the judge, jury, and executioner
(In most families, these responsibilities are
delegated to and hats worn by mother).

Why cursed from birth?
Because ultimately, LIFE intervenes,
Circumstances are turned topsy-turvy, and
What was once comfortable and familiar, is ripped away,
As if torn from bone like flesh being devoured
by Jackals, Hyenas, and Zombies.
And, for all appearances, lost and gone forever,
Despite the honorable, dedicated intentions of
father, mother, aunts, uncles,
grand parents, cherished friends, fellow congregants,
business associates, etc, etc, etc.

Loss of employment

Loss of a Job – even Loss of a Career
(The computer revolution obsoleted entire industries,
(and those employed therein;
(These jobs will ne'er return;
(One must learn to reinvent one's self, to adapt, perhaps
(Many times, and perhaps at ever shorter intervals of times in between).

Loss of loved ones

Loss to Death (suicide being the most brutal form
(to those accursed and left living in the tsunami thereof,
(Something, sadly, was wrong all the long
(We just never saw it coming, until the Beloved One is
(Now too far and too long gone to be healed, much less revived.
(Suicide is the Second Leading Cause of Death
(of our accursed children, aged 15-24).
Could it be that being born into what for all appearances
is a very Healthy and Nurturing Environment,
Could it be such Accursed Children are only too late
(if ever) subsequently prepared to
Cope with these Simple truths:

That much of Life is about Loss –
That much of Life is about Failure -
and that our Bond to all of Humanity,
now, and in All times and in All places
is that the Singular Commonality of our Experiences is
Woven together with our Losses, and Bundled up
with our Failures, and that Neither Loss nor
Failure is worth the taking of One's Own Life.

We Stumble, we fall -
All of us stumble and fall –
We are Expected, Compelled to,
and Demanded by the Universe to ARISE and CRAWL
in order that we might once again WALK and then RUN;
So that ultimately we again might FLY,
Sailing among the Heavens, angel-like Fulfilled with Grace.

Loss of good health

(Disease knows no social-economic barriers
(as the Revelers in Edgar All Poe's The Mask of Red Death
(would discover: No racial divides, no gender Differentiations.
(The Cursed Children of Doctors too, and maybe even especially,
(Fall Victim to the Willful, Wanton, in plain-sight-secret
(Poisoning of our Mother Earth

(And their own Weakened Immunological Systems.
(Cancer the Indiscriminate Killer;
(the Ultimate Egalitarian Strike Force of Death.
(The Addicts' Poisons of Choice – Alcohol, Heroin,
(Coke, Crystal Meth, or a Myriad of Others,
(Alone, but Mostly in Lethal Combinations,
(Especially with Alcohol, the Great Mixer.
(Accidents too, frequently random,
(SOMETIMES (and tragically, utterly Foreseeable,
(but – too late.)

The AIDS virus took so many unaware,
back in the day when THE VIRUS was but a rumor printed
about and hinted at solely in the underground gay underground press.

(Who could have foreseen that an infected blood transfusion
(Administered to save a life Would ultimately take that life,
(Especially when the potential devastation of the disease
(was assuredly NOT a secret And such consequences
(utterly predictable to the health care communities
(That administered their healing efforts to gay men
(and to intravenous drug users;

(“What? Ask Prez Reagan to worry about those (damn junkie homos? Fat chance.”)

Loss of innocence

About one of every six women in America has been
the victim of a rape or attempted rape.
About one of every four women in American
has been sexually molested.

Loss of faith in flag and country:

In WWII – troops with head or spinal injuries usually
died on the battlefield.
In Veit Nam – they usually died by the time
they were flown to Germany.
In Iraq and the other Bannanastans,
most of the brain- and spinal-injured
can be flown to Germany for Medical Treatment
and these lives are saved.

BUT, those troops who suffer from such combat injuries,
the paraplegics, quadriplegics, and brain-damaged,
the lives of these troops will never be the same.
Their physical lives have been saved, but they now
must make major adjustments
to have anything resembling a “normal” life.

Once upon a time, loved ones prayed that their soldier
might return alive;
Now they pray that their Beloved Soldier Returns Alive,
and not have been afflicted by brain or spinal injuries.
They pray too that their beloved soldier will not
become headline news for her torturing of prisoners,
children, women too and that their soldier
will not feel compelled out of a sense of hatred
towards “the other” (and this hatred is instilled
(at boot camp early, often, and consistently)
To rape the 14-year old Daughter of an Iraqi Family,
and then Murder Her and Murder Her Family,
and Burn the Family Home to the Ground
in order to avoid detection, and punishment.

The LOSS OF the sacred, secure, SAFE HOME – father's castle -

the Loss of Community Standing,
The Total Loss of Self-Esteem.
The outright theft of assets by trusted financial advisers,
The sudden and (apparently) inexplicable Madness
that Descends and Lingers.
Alzheimer's and Dementia too, such are these,
as if the Fates had Patiently Waited,
all the while Targeting these Accursed Children.

At least SOME of these tragic events will ultimately befall
Each and Everyone of Us, And so, Cursed are they as Children
who are Doomed to Live for Years Understanding only at
the level of intellect, LOSS as Grave,
LOSS as Tragic, LOSS as Unbearable,
as these heretofore mentioned –
(having mentioned only a few, the numbers are legion) -

Noting only the absence of the presence
of Former Peers, Beloved Friends,
who, because of Circumstances
Beyond their Control, are Forced to Disperse,
Forced to Seek out the Poorer Quarters
where the Ragged People go
And look for the places Only the Ragged People Know.

Doubly cursed, too, are those accursed children of parents
Driven to have their accursed children strive for the
Mantles of Celebrity and Fame (impostors both)
to have their children Attain Celebrity and Fame,
Yea Verily, unto heights at one time
perhaps even unimaginable to the parent pushing
(or perhaps not not so unimaginable
(for unless one can envision the most positive outcome
(one cannot expect to achieve that positive outcome
(simply by applying all other talents,
(save the one by which we become fully actualized
(by having something {to do}, {to love}, {to hope for}

Some of the most tragic stories involve the driven, accursed
children of motivated parents. Witness
O.J. Simpson - his athletic gifts gave him access
to fame, fortune, celebrity, and when his athletic gifts
deserted him, {as they will all athletes not dying young}
Who in a moment of jealous rage snapped, and took a life
but as a result of His Celebrity, was able to hire as attorneys
Johnny Cochran and William S. Kuntsler, the whores, who took
up His Mantle, guilty as sin although he was
and brought unto him WHITE MAN'S JUSTICE so that when
the verdict was read aloud {on network television
{which opted to devote itself for months to OJ's trial
{because of the vapidity of its audience
{and because then, AS IS THE CASE NOW, in America,
{few things titillate as erotically, and as revoltingly
{as the thought of a black celebrity who marries
{a beautiful white woman, who, in all likelihood married
{NOT FOR LOVE, but for money and the attendant spotlight
{reflected OJ's refracted sunlight}
when the verdict was read aloud, in Chicago, at the
Equal Employment Opportunity Office of the U.S. Federal
Government, EVERY, repeating: EACH AND EVERY black person
in that office building jumped to their feet, applauded and
CHEERED, not than a guilty murderer go to walk free, but
rather that a BLACK MAN was FINALLY able to obtain white
man's justice: essentially - uber rich white folk can
always get acquitted
or found not guilty by reason of insanity, and that
in actual point of fact, what might appear to be
contrition is simply that most human of responses,
overreacting to total fear of the unknown
and the knowledge that a conviction will lead to
serious jail time where serious jail time
involved being institutionalized with folks
whom you might not want to bring home
to meet the parents
Cheered NOT that a murderer escaped justice
but that FINALLY, in American, we had become
a post-racial society, where the color of GREEN {$}
could buy for a rich black man
the same thing it buys for a rich white man
the escape from prosecution for the crime
that you committed, where in fact prosecution
for such crime could have easily led to
a death sentence, or non-commutable lifetime imprisonment.
And in that same EEOC office, every white person turned
a white shade of pale, and got all glum
realizing that, OGGIH {Oh Good God In Heaven}
black folks might start routinely to bear arms
against innocent whites to take their lives
which would be totally understandable, considering,
this country's history of not merely tolerating
the lynching of {always uppity} black folks,
but celebrating such lynchings on post cards
with pictures of the burning body swaying from
the tree with blood on the leaves, and
blood on the roots - and OF COURSE,
each and every black person would WANT to seek
such revenge, for surely "we" {Anglos and Teutons)
know enough of our own history to understand
just how seriously we take the admonition
"an eye for an eye."

Witness Tiger Woods, whose father Earl told him
from the youngest of ages, that He would Perform Great Things
and thus he was coronated celebrity

Footnote: after successfully defending the murderer OJ Simpson
Johnny Cochran subsequently refused to look at his face, except to scowl.
Cochran justice - "yeah, you murerin' piece of trash,
"I'll defend your sorry ass and getcha off Scott Free,
"But I still resent that you had "it all" and were so
unsassified that you find yer womanbe cheatin' on YO'
sorry cheatin' ass, and yuh has to go and off da bitch?
Chrissakes Alive, Juice,
Just Divorce the Whore - wudda been one hell of a lot cheaper!

(This fixation on the revenge which
(we impute upon "the other" the misguided assumption
(that he will seek to wreak an equal portion of retribution on us
(is most vividly demonstrated by this nation's
(response to the attacks by Al Queda on U.S.
(soil - and thus the rubric "weapons of mass destruction
(which was used as a propaganda marketing ploy
(by the U.S. federal government to convince the American people
({and we are easily convinced of such things}
(that although Saddam HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9-11,
(that Saddam posed a serious threat to launching
(a nuclear bomb aimed at us
(Although in actuality, THE ONLY NATION
(ever to unleash the power of the Atomic or the
(Neutron bomb, {those Indiscriminate, Egalitarian
(Destroyers of the Lives of Multitudes of Innocent
(Women, Children, and Old Folks, and the
(Concomitant Destruction of their houses,
(shops, stores, and houses of worship

(Hit 'em when they're up,
(Hit 'em when they're down
(Hit 'em especially hard enough
(to know the fear of Good God A'Mights
(into them, because the only way we know
(to fight sand niggers
(is ta: "kill 'em quick before
(Dey kill you"

And yet, Devin, through all these losses which you have endured
You remained faithful to the one to whom
you made your wedding vows to love, honor, cherish and obey
TILL DEATH YOU DO PART.
For twenty-five years, foregoing your own blossoming career,
BECAUSE You believed in him (far more than he in himself)
to be able to support your family
` All the while so dimly and vaguely aware
that he had begun the soul-stealing

Dance with Thantos before you ever knew him;
that depression and alcoholism
Cast lots for his soul, always ending in no decision,
because who can answer that question:
“Which came first, the addiction or the depression?”
And Thantos spun him every more rapidly, until the room rolled
And he had lost all control, and his soul was up for grabs
(But even in this, he was still a beloved child or God, AND
(You all the long saw all the good in him; all the potential).
And you never cursed your God, nor the fates, nor asked, even,
The most likely question of all: “Why me, Lord?”
THAT, was never about you. That lost cause
had been writ in stone LONG before
the two of you ever knew, that perhaps,
from your union, great things would come
(As indeed, great things have come –
withness Chase; withness Reed; witness you).
And while some would develop, as a means of self defense,
A steel-hard shell around their heart,
a cast iron cage around their soul,
a minefield around their mind,
You only look at people, and see the good in them.
You could have but did not become hard-shelled,
and been forgiven for it, BUT:

You are soft-shelled
You are open-shelled
And because of all this, I give you this gift.
That you might always remember what
I most admire about you

With love to you and ALL YOU LOVE:
A Survivor's Guide to Life – du moi à toi


A Retelling of the Beatitudes

BLESSED ARE THEY WHO SUFFER YOUNG,
EARLY, AND OFTEN, FOR IN THEIR
YEARS OF ABJECT MISERY,
THEY SHALL KNOW THE JOY OF COMFORTING
THOSE MUCH LESS FORTUNATE THAN THEMSELVES
WHOSE NUMBERS ARE LEGION.

THUS, IN SLUMBER, WE CAN DREAM
OF JOYOUS, CAREFREE, HAPPY DAYS,
OF A KINDLER GENTLER, MORE CHIRST-LIKE EVOLVEMENT
OF HUMANOIDS INTO HUMAN KIND
WE REST ASSURED KNOWING
IN OUR HEARTS, IN OUR GUTS,
THAT ONE DAY THE CHILDREN
OF IRELAND'S PROTESTANTS
AND THE CHILDREN
OF IRELAND'S CATHOLICS WILL
SING, DANCE, LAUGH AND PLAY
WITH ONE ANOTHER,
AS ARE BEGINNING TO SO DO
THE GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT
GRANDCHILDREN OF AMERICAN
SLAVE OWNERS AND
THE GREAT-GREAT GRANDCHILDREN
OF AMERICAN SLAVES,
AS WILL THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS
OF THE PALESTINIANS, TOO,
SING, DANCE, LAUGH AND PLAY WITH
THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE ISRAELI JEWS.

IN'SHA AHLLAH