thegraylady

Dear You,
2002-09-05 10:11:40 (UTC)

angry words

i read an article about a woman in the 60's in the city of
new york, who cried out for help while being brutally
attacked by a man stabbing her with a knife for over 30
minutes. nobody even called the police. she was in front of
her apartment building on an open street. 30 something
witnesses looked out thier windows, a few of them yelled at
the assailant. but some simply shut thier windows and tried
to get some sleep. it happened in the night.

i remember growing up in los angeles. i don't know how many
times i witnessed a crime. the best i could ever do is call
for the police. back then, even that was pitiful in itself
since the police would arrive sometimes over an hour later
to the scene.

sometimes even now i hear about how horrible it is in the
united states. blacks and other minorities screaming about
injustice done unto them. but growing up in the inner city
of l.a. i met folks, mostly other children, telling me of
stories from thier former homelands. and i knew, despite
some horrid things that do happen here, i don't think it's
comparable to wat went on in those other places and still
continue to go on.

in this country everyone under the age of 18, at least in
most states, are required to go to school. i know my
mother, a woman from korea, was taken out of school during
the 3rd grade. and nobody thought anything about it. my
mother was horribly brutalized by her father, she ran away
from home when she was 12 and lived on the streets of
seoul. and there were no children shelters or welfare
agencies to care for her. she lived on the streets with
other children.

granted what happened to her, can never justify what she
did to my sister and myself. but i guess it can give me
some insight as to what shaped her. and perhaps there in
understanding, forgiveness can come.

there was another article, a man in pakistan raped and
murdered at least 100 boys. and nobody, at least the
authorities, even knew or said anything about these missing
children. not even thier families reported thier being
missing. the only reason these crimes came to light was
because the criminal not only sent in confessional letters
but also walked up to authorities and submitted himself. to
me..this is simply insane.

about over a year ago a small girl child came up missing in
florida, and nobody even knew till after a year the girl
was missing. and she was supposed to be in child welfare
services. her case worker had been sending in reports to
the courts that the child was doing well in her home. how
in gods name does anyone misplace a human being?!

it seems to me, that the u.s. may be a little better than
most places. the u.s. is still far from ever being
perfect. we still try to live up to the ideals the country
upholds, tho we always seem to fall so horridly short.





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