Her demons writhe in agony

at the sound of his voice.

Each word he speaks,

contributes to their demise.

They do not go quietly.

They leave in the same fashion they arrived….

one at a time

in slow succession

a macabre parade

their legacy clawed on her flesh,

but their pain, apparitions haunting her soul.

As a child we were taught to be decent people. 

Our parents raised us to be kind, to make friends, to accept others and to have respect. 

We were taught to say please and thank you.

It was simple.

Hold a door; you're never top busy to do that. 

When someone holds a door, you thank them.

Apologize when you bumped into someone

Know when it's an accident.. accept and take the apology when someone bumps into you.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.

Don't raise your hands in anger and never set out to harm someone.

Walk away when someone antagonizes you.

But you make mistakes.

Words do hurt, accidents do happen and bad days happen.

The key point: There were not common behavior.

When did the pledge of allegiance become offensive?

When did it become offensive that this country was built on religious freedom?

When did those bad days and behaviors become the norm with kindness fading to a myth?

When did we go from honoring veterans to standing on flags and burning them? 

When did it become okay to segregate and divide people?

My family wasn't the firework shooting, overly patriotic, american flag hanging kind of family. 

My family was just a family who raised me to be thankful for what i had and to appreciate... that i would get to grow up into anyone i wanted to be.

My family was the one that we would sing Courtesy of the red, white and blue on full blast and sing the lyrics. Words i've known since i was six years old. Words i didn't fully grasp but understood.

What's an even better question?

WHY HAVE WE ALLOWED THIS?

Why have we let corruption win, government lie and stop questioning.

Why have we stopped being fellow American's and decided that we should be divided and putting a price tag on human lives? 

Why has it become society to go back to the forties to when segregation was a reality? 

Why, as American's have we settle for this? Why have we grown to fail those veterans we honored every year on November Eleventh? 

What happened to the fundamentals we were taught as children. Be a good person. Don't harm anyone. Pay attention and be careful with your trust. Hold that door, say please, say thank you. 

Why have we stopped offering the world compassion and kindness and given it hate, negativity and pain? 

Why have we stopped trying? 

So today i will say thank you for reading this. God bless because religious or not; i'd be honored for someone to take their faith and pray for me. I hope you have a wonderful day and that you can offer the world the brightness of your soul.

I'll smile at a stranger and i'll hold a door. I'd move an obstacle for someone who's disabled or pick up a fallen object if given the chance. 

I will never throw away the foundation my parents gave me and give into this misconception that anger and hate is the way we should live life. I'll continue to try and brighten a day one smile, one action at a time. 

Cheers!