The Unsaid

One of my cats was pawing at the door and meowing loudly, an indication she REALLY needs to use the litter box.  I let her out and decide, hey, I’m hungry, and decide to the kitchen.  I forgot to shut the bedroom door. 

Next thing I hear is the group going completely silent.  My husband very calmly asks me to come over and help him gather our two cats up.  I go over to where the group is and my black cat, Cacoa, is rubbing up against the guy’s leg, purring, and doing her “let me on your lap” meow.  The other cat, Jasper, is sitting at the window, chilling out.  I go over and pick up Cacoa and tell the big dude she’s harmless, loves laps, and would be thrilled if he pet her.  Very slowly he touches my cat’s face, and she leans right into his hand.  He then pets her back and sighs because she’s really soft and purring like mad.  After a few minutes he asks how to pick her up and if it’s okay if she sits on his lap.

“Listen to me– all of you out there! You were told by this man– your hero– that America is the greatest country in the world! He told you that Americans were the greatest people– that America could be refined like silver, could have the impurities hammered out of it, and shine more brightly! He went on about how precious America was – how you needed to make sure it remained great! And he told you anything was justified to preserve that great treasure, that pearl of great price that is America!

“Well, I say America is nothing! Without its ideals– its commitment to the freedom of all men, America is a piece of trash! A nation is nothing! A flag is a piece of cloth! I fought Adolf Hitler not because America was great, but because it was fragile! I knew that liberty could be snuffed out here as in Nazi Germany! As a people, we were no different than them! When I returned, I saw that you nearly did turn American into nothing! And the only reason you’re not less then nothing– is that it’s still possible for you to bring freedom back to America!”

When we were young we were dazzled by these unreachable champions. They wore beautiful dresses and they flew like birds across the stage. We never could see the hours of practice and injuries at that age. We only saw power and grace perfected.

There was so much love in that young, pigeoned toed dancer’s heart. All she wanted to do was learn how to fly too. How to learn to be a musician with her feet. Creating rhythms that feel like a heart beat. It was that little girl’s everything Always keeping her awake at night with dreams.

And now she is older, she is you. Standing before a mirror and not sure on what to do. You’re tired and it feels like those dreams seemed to slip away You can’t pin point when or what day But somehow they did. And you’re starting to feel undone. As if failure has won.

But hope is not lost. I hope the missing puzzle piece hits you one day, When you finish that move you have been working months on. When you finally get it and the pride comes rushing in. When you finally win that 1st. Let it all rush in and never let it go.

I hope you fall head over heels for dance once more. Eager to walk through the studio’s doors And make yourself into exactly who that little girl knew you could be. Because you can.

I hope you fall so in love that it becomes the reason you breathe. That it fills you with so much fulfillment and happiness, That the blisters and bruises just don’t matter. Because you proved that you could do it.

I hope that all of that love and passion pays off. That one day, you will get that recall. That you might find yourself on that podium. Or whatever goal you dreamed of at night, while you ran through your steps in your head. Right before bed, Every night you saw yourself in that place.

Showplace Spring Spectacular 2016 Week 1

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“Traditional Maasai lifestyle centres around their cattle which constitute their primary source of food. The measure of a man’s wealth is in terms of cattle and children. A herd of 50 cattle is respectable, and the more children the better. A man who has plenty of one but not the other is considered to be poor.[37] A Maasai religious belief relates that God gave them all the cattle on earth, leading to the belief that rustling cattle from other tribes is a matter of taking back what is rightfully theirs, a practice that has become much less common.[38]”

Shit, down here in Brazil we not only offered to send tracking units and doctors to help in 9/11 but we wanted to send a whole lot of donations to help with Katrina (we have experience with floods down here so we knew what kind of medicine to send to prevent outbreaks). 

We alone had like 2 army airplanes full of medicine and non-perishables like baby formula, diapers, bottled water, mosquito nets and other stuff that’s needed to fight opportunistic diseases that hit flooded areas, enough to assist a good few thousand people at least, ready to go the day after it hit, but your government refused the donations. 

The same thing happened to the Canadians and Europeans who offered help, the US embassies around the world told us all to give money to Red Cross.

And so we did, we all gave hundreds of millions of dollars to them, and then this happened:

Red Cross scandals tarnish relief efforts

‘Breathtaking’ Waste and Fraud in Hurricane Aid

I didn’t know that other countries tried to help after 9/11 or Katrina. Like, that’s something we, the people, should hear about and we don’t.