Welcome to the home of The WordMaven, an online News, Essay, and Editorial site.

My views are unashamedly conservative and my political views are independent of any national party. I make an attempt to listen to all sides, to read as much local, national, and international news as possible every day, and then to use that information to evaluate the state of my world that day.

We live in interesting times, and every day brings something unexpected. This is the proper place to stop and reflect on current events and ideas from around the world.

January 12, 2010

The War to End All Wars

     One thing that I have noticed about the wars in the Middle East is the indifference with which the American public seems to view them. Looking back at WW1 and 2, Korea and Vietnam, they were front page news, with capital letters. The War. People bought war bonds, celebrities either joined the military or made ads and movies about supporting our country’s fight. We had heroes that we knew by name. We had villains. We knew the various theaters that were involved at different times. In short, we were all in it together. We all fought Der Fuhrer, we all protested or supported troop build ups in Viet Nam, we  felt the pride over Audie Murphy and the uncertainty of the My Lai Massacre. William Calley was either a scapegoat or a murderer but people had an opinion.

     Until Americans insist on educating ourselves about where our military is sent, the goals of our conflicts, and the cost in blood and treasure, I fear that the wars we wage will continue to be distant sounds from distant guns to too many citizens.

January 13, 2010

Terrible devastation in Haiti after an earthquake that registered 7.0 in the Richter Scale. Coward that I am, I can't even bear to look at the pictures that are streaming in from the capital city. I can only imagine what it is like to actually be there. The suffering is too much to bear.

I sent what money I could to the American Red Cross, but it seemed like such a small effort. I know that the only thing that will help now is time. Time to find and bury the dead. Time to recover the living. Time to set up tents, sources for clean water and food, and mobile hospitals.

We will see the progression of events that cannot be stopped. Disease will creep across the land. The desperate will begin to turn on one another, and violence will become law. Grief and trauma will make some insane. Fingers will point.

And yet it is heartening to see the outpouring of response from the rest of the world, including the United States.  Our military which is scorned by some for performing the job we pay them to do, is already there in the form of the Coast Guard, and the hospital ship Comfort, other ships, planes, and helicopters filled with medical supplies. My friend in South Africa tells us that they are sending aid and supplies as are China, Russia, and many other countries. Regardless of our differences, the suffering of our fellow humans brings us together as friends. If only it could stay that way until there was no more suffering in on the planet.

January 14, 2010

     Adji Desir was 7 years old on September 15^th . It is not known if or where Adji celebrated his special day because the little boy has been missing from his home since January 10^th of 2009. One moment he was outside his grandmother's home playing with friends, the next he was gone without a trace. To add to the fear for this little boy's safety, he is autistic, unable to speak English, and only understands some words in the language of Creole.

     Adji has not gotten the same amount of coverage from the national media as have the golden children, the smiling little girls whose pictures have been transmitted around the globe. Little white girls. It doesn't hurt that the parents of these missing children add to the drama with well publizised arrests, marriages and divorces, night clubbing, and drug problems. Adji's parents just ask us to pray for them and for their son.

     The Collier County Sheriff's Office has been outstanding in their immediate response to this missing little boy. They brought in tracking dogs, helicopters and boats. The community gathered by the hundreds and formed teams that scoured the area looking in water filled ditches and alligator haunted canals, searching abandoned buildings, walking miles through thick Florida brush, but to no avail.

     Some believe that Adji was picked up by a traveler on the busy highway that runs along the edge of town, through the fields of citrus and vegetables. In this case, he would likely be used and tossed like a sad doll. Some thought that his lonely body would be found when hunting season came into being, but neither of these things happened. Adji is still missing.