When...

When will we find our passion for others...when did we as a race decide that heinous crimes would go unpunished; money, fame, high-priced lawyers, making it possible in a broken down system to circumnavigate true justice.

When will each one rise up with another, then another and another until we are of one mind in regards to the epidemic sweeping this country and our neighbours below.

Do not be fooled my friends, it truly is an epidemic of epic proportions...I challenge you, encourage you to study, to dig in to the statistics...each of us living our lives, as it should be, yes...but oh dear friends the lost remain, the broken sit beside us on the bus, stand in line at the Tim Hortons, fade into the background at events or conversely become the center of attention all in an attempt to hide, to disappear, to conceal the shame, the overwhelming fear and absolute despair.

We, Gen X...when did we lose our strength of character, our committment to justice and honour? Oh, I pray you hear my heart this morning...we were raised to keep our head down, do the work, work it hard and move on to the next task, never complaining...

We were also raised to do the necessary, the ugly, the dirty jobs no one else wanted...

There is a vast need for an example to overcome the 'me' attitude...your problems are your problems...your worries your concern, don't bleed all over me. It is so easy to get carried on that wave and forget who we are...has this country not suffered enough at the hands of a dictator, the decisions of an entitled child in an adult body?

I do not know how it will start...or when...but change is coming and I pray it is enough, I beseech God that we are enough...enough together to facilitate changes on all levels...women are so tired of being on high alert, of never knowing if they're truly safe, of wondering where the next hit, the next slimy come-on from the old guy who should be someones doting granpa, the next creepy knock at your door demanding your undivided attention from someone you considered friend. The groping at that concert, the leering and ogling from the guy you're taking the order from...looking you up and down over and over again like somehow you are entitiled to her body when you should be respectful, kind and act like you're old enough to be her father...

Women...we must stand and let the chips fall where they may. We live in a penultimate moment, hovering on the edge of a pin...with a breath it may fall into dissaray, into dissolution, into the past never to return.

We must...oh we must...women and children everywhere are suffering at the hands of their abuser, their captor, their trafficker....right this minute...and this one...oh, and this one.

Women fall to the hands of their 'loved' ones EVERY DAY in this country. Every Day.

"Some 47,000 women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family mem- bers in 2020. This means that, on average, a woman or girl is killed by someone in her own family every 11 minutes."

We are Queens...each one and to use an overstated phrase...'it is time to take our power back.' For too long we have been abased, abused, demeaned, all while needing everything that we give, all that we bring to the table consistently and continually despite hardship, despite the pain riding our shoulders and the fear dogging every step.

We look not for control...no damn way...we need not recognition, only validation...

We seek respect...we expect kindness...we uphold a principle, an ideal that went out of style with the tales of King Arthur and his round table of knights exemplar...it is simple really, women are mistakenly complicated, incrongruently stated a b*tch if she stands for herself, labeled crazy B*tch in the speaking of truth...

One woman at a time, standing for herself, affirming herself...standing tall, shoulders back, chin high teaching the world at large how she should be treated. Positive role models breaking generations upon generations of enforced slavery, mastery, puppetry. Instead providing a clear path of confidence and surety. No anger, no vitriol, just truth and walking the path...a journey of self-reflection and inner work leaving those behind who know not, who understand not...leaving them to grow, to comprehend or live unhappy and in misery for their actions leading them to poverty of self.

At some point self delusion and distraction no longer work to still the voices crying from the deep, from the pit where he carelessly tossed them.

At some point their own perverse pleasures echo across an empty landscape devoid of emotion, of feeling, of completeness.

Incapable.

The black hole inside their souls collapses upon itself, leaving the monster devoured by his own hand.

Irony bleeds upon this page.

Lost...adrift...with no land in sight in an endless, infinite loop...oh my friends, they pay...justice finds them and they pay...there is and will never be into infinity, any finding happiness no matter how hard they chase it, hunt it down...to no avail.

They will never reach those beautiful shores of mutual love, respect, kindness and concern.

They will never reach the human condition we know of as redemption, however that looks for you.

It is here we find peace...here we find grace that leads to change...

It is here we give voice to the sorrow we carry and here we find comfort...

Oh...they pay...the mind fractures with each successive victim making the possibility of resolution within themselves, impossible.

As the mind fractures the chaos increases...the manic moments last longer and become increasingly exhausting...the despair and depression register a 9.0 on the Richter scale for levelling them out on the couch seeking deflection and distraction desperately.

Oh...yeah, they are meted out justice....God sees, He knows...

Go with God today and each day forward, strong and courageous...never fear, you are not alone. We stand with you...God be with you...hand in hand let us lend to change, move together to support, to effect the world we now live in.