newo-owen-blog

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Bill Iffrig (What happened in Boston)

Skies flashing with each breath pulsing with that blissful runner's high running for peace - running for fun finish line in sight; another flash of light this one comes with a gush of heat the sky flashes, this time in concussion a symphony of shattered air spins the world around The next thing to tear the air that surrounds is the rising sea of disbelieving cries - a sound that comes with waves of pain as flesh meets ground The world around strobes, this time in pain with millions of shell-shocked neurons sending distorted cries throughout the brain Chaos on the sidewalk, a warzone in an instant as shaky hands find quaking asphalt and push. The second wave of distorted air does this attempt great disrepair as screams tear again through this cloudless sky. Standing again, staring at the finish line Seventy eight years back from the verge of vanishing and jogging towards that swinging, bloodstained banner to finish what he started; a marathon for peace.

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Free Syrian Civilian - A Ballad

Shots rang out across the land

our culture caught in an epic schism

The world we knew turned into sand

our friends gone as if we never knew them.

  Allah's will couldn't keep us safe -

no matter how much we called him.

Crossing the street, dodging strafe

Soldiers patrolling, killing on a whim.

  Nearby blasts shatter our dreams

only to blind us with falling dust.

We comfort our loved ones to quiet their screams,

not knowing if the next will fall on us.

  Though food and water are growing rare

and bombs and shells are exploding near,

we talk to the children as if we don't care,

holding our loved ones as we live in fear.

[newo-owen-blog]

Thoughts on America

 The sky is blue today. It's strange to realize how long it's been since I've seen earth's natural azure horizon. To look out beyond the edges of the city and to realize once again the beauty of the mountains around me. It's with sadness I acknowledge that soon the view will be gone, the skies gray, and the dreams obscured by the pollution of our mere existence. Why must this layer of gray obscure our night sky, an orange haze that never relents. From above our valley appears to be beneath an ocean of some strange toxic gas. Our children grow up sick breathing this filth, yet we do nothing. My city once had an electric light rail system, but it was removed. Now it is a wasteland for anyone not fortunate to have a car or patience or change for the bus fare. A walk of miles of identical blocks of property that one must not tread upon. The public space has been reduced to ones own private property and the sidewalks, where one walks in fear of the stray absentminded fool or drunk or accident sending death careening their way. Our children grow up isolated, because their friends from school live so far away that they can only really associate either at school or by being transported to each others homes. There are no safe havens where a mother would allow their child to wander. They grow up trapped in our homes, terrified of the city around us. Why is it that the public slips so complacently into this state? Is it the natural order of things, rotten apples and so on? Is it human nature not to care that the air we and our children breath grows more toxic every day to allow for a society to exist that won't care at all if they die later in life? Is it truly living in the American spirit to vie for a world where one must fight tooth an nail to make ends meet when billions are being spent on bombs and killing machines? Have we forgotten our way as Americans? Do we not understand that war in distant lands means rationing at home, and that continuing to be at war will strangle our country very much in the same way the posturing in the Cold War strangled the Soviet Union? The lessons taught by the paths of nations throughout history should not be forgotten and America is on a self-destructive path towards ever-increasing partisanship and eventual collapse. There needs to be a movement of transparency and a major change in foreign policy to where we are not bombing enemies that are fundamentally incapable of reaching American soil. The role of the military when speaking of a global superpower is comparable to the hand of God influencing the social and political landscape and America has forgotten the destructive capacity of wielding that power. The way we have wielded our capabilities in the past has caused the chaos we battle today. The way we handle the chaos we face today will dictate our relations with nations in that region long into the future.

Alliances form easily over needlessly spilled blood, and hate will always flow towards those spilling it.