Breaking Silence
Welcome to a subdivision of Writers corner, a place I am dedicating to voices other than my own, but wish to be heard. This corner is dedicated to all members of society, who have a story to tell and wish someone to just hear it, just know, just understand. This is a place free of judgement, hate, criticism, bigotry, free of religious, racial, or gender stereotypes, free of discrimination based of social status, based on your economic status, or based on your marital status. When you come to this corner you come to a place that tries to understand every point of view. Weather these stories have my name attached to them as the writer or the name of the person who wishes to share their story, I want each story to receive the dignity, respect and honor it deserves. I will start by telling you what started me on this journey and then I will let the voices of others fill in the rest of this little corner.
How to understand the personality of a city
Have you ever noticed that some cities are the centers of culture, of medicine, of science, of festivals, those professions all have their cultures, they all tend to concatenate in certain places in certain cities. It seams much less obvious with the invention of the internet, however all you need to do in order to recognize what I am saying is by going into any city and visiting the different parts of town. You will have a different atmosphere in little Italy then in china town and even still when you drive through the ghetto, and an out of this world experience when you drive through the rich parts of town. The art district feels different than the industrial sector and even different from the feeling you get in the coffee shops around office towers. But what about those of us that don't fit the molds and chose to be the crusaders, the pioneers, or were just the victims of circumstance and were forced to take up a defensive position on who we are because society has not yet evolved enough for us to be seen not as a skin color, or gender, or as our extra curricular activities but as people of character. even in what some people would consider the underbelly of society,the dark places that no one talks about, the places where few dare to travel, especially, alone or at night, and if you are a female the place fills you with terror with just the thought of it. Even there there are people of character, people of strength of courage of integrity. Has any one ever sat down with a dope dealer, a prostitute or a thug and asked them about why they do what they do, what led them to be in the position they are in, to try to understand what led to where they are? Because some choices we make on our own and we need to face the consequences of those choices weather they be good, bad or indifferent, but other choices seam forced upon us. There are choices we make in life where we feel like there was no other choice but the one we made and then we look back and see that we had a million other choices but in that moment and with those emotions and with that knowledge, and understanding of circumstances you made the only choice you figured you could. So why do we condemn people only because of what time of day or night they chose to function in. Have we ever asked any one that lives on the fringes of society why? or How can we make you feel welcome? Or even Is there anything we can do to help? It took me almost 40 years to become the person who is not afraid to ask the questions that people don't even know need asking, It will take me a million more to be able to fully understand the depth of a persons emotions, or motivations. But in the process of finding the good in the dark I may be able to help some people. Wether it is by painting them in a positive light for the first time in their lives or just bu trying to be a person who understands them on level that goes beyond what they do and into who they are, not for some documentary or self gratification, but to severe as a tool, a bridge between those who feel like they are outcasts and those who feel like outcasts are somehow less human then the rest of us. I want to be able to show you what I see in these people and that is a strength and fearlessness that deserves to be celebrated and given an outlet which is productive and creative instead of what we deem to be harmful. What if I told you there is more honor, loyalty and honesty in the underbelly of a city than in the waking world of the politically correct? As for what led me to here that is a 40 year old story, which starts in another country, for some in another life, a time they could not imagine. I was shaped by frequent hospital visits, an unstable home environment as well as country in civil unrest for the first 8 years of my life. One we moved to Canada I was like a military brat without having a military family member, if I stayed at a school for 2 years it was a good school and a good run. my school years were riddled with years of being bullied and abused, I had experienced every form of abuse before I was 12. I managed to live through 5 suicide attempts, (the last was almost 10 years ago and from my recollection at lest 3 of the attempts were during the course of "depression" treatment), 2 years of the military, a boyfriend who nearly choked me to death, and that is just a brief summery of what led me to wanting to offer hope to those that feel like the world is cold crewel and heartless.The pinnacle of my education happened over the last 4 years, when I truly began to see how society views those that are different, because not only was I not born here so what rights do I have to anything, but on top of that I was now labeled a permanent burden because of my disabilities. Then I was shown just how unforgiving the world can be and I came very close to making a few different choices, which if I had would have led me to far different consequences. The only thing that saved me from making the same choices as many of the people I talk to and who I give a voice to, is knowing what was waiting for me, having a strange fore site as to where 1 choice can lead and how a single choice can mean the difference between living the life I do now and the life I would be living which would have been no different then the people I speak to. Perhaps it is because I have been through so much, that I can understand others, perhaps it is a gift I was blessed, with of a curse upon my being. What ever the case is I can relate to, understand and empathize with a wide group of people. Since being faced with what my life could have been like "if only" I am going to dedicate this corner to those... "if only..." someone told me, someone cared, I had known, could have done something, been something, should have could have would have. Each of those moments have their consequences, and each of those moments can make you the hero or he villain in your own story, what I want to focus on is how even though some of us may not be in the best position in our life, we make the best of of the position we are in and that creates who we are. It i not necessarily evil to steal, but the reason behind the theft matters more, why did the person feel like they had no other choice but to steal. I am no scientist or philosopher or psychologist, but I do try and understand as many of the people that I come in contact with as I can, and in turn I hope that people understand me.
With this I will allow my first voice to tell their story of courage, hope and survival and turn the page over to them.
With this I will allow my first voice to tell their story of courage, hope and survival and turn the page over to them.