Can I hear an "Amen!"

Before I begin my random thoughts today, I want to shout out an "Amen" to Jelly Bean.  She lost those last few pounds to make it to 20 pounds gone!!!  Whoo hoo.  She has been using Weight Watchers online and loves it.  She says she did better losing the weight on her own using WW online rather than going to the meetings and feeling bad afterwards!  Strawberry says we have to find what works best for us and go with it.  Congrats, Jelly Bean!

So last night I watched Carousel.  I remember seeing this musical for the first time when my family was on vacation.  We were all tucked into our beds in the motel room- my parents in one and my brother and I in the other.  I believe we were on our way to visit my grandparents in Georgia.  I still can feel the family love and togetherness all these decades later.  Great times; thank you, Mom.  Soon I'll be traveling with Mom and Step-Dad.  Fifty-plus years old and still going on vacation with my parents.  Gotta love it.  Let's NOT watch Carousel, though; I want to keep that nineteen sixty-something memory alive (it includes my deceased Dad).

I love the music but this musical has always been melancholy for me.  Maybe it was because I was of the age when I knew the meaning of mortality.  Parents could die and what kid doesn't worry about that!  Today we are breeding a new kind of fear.  I can't even imagine the fear that the children of terrorist attacks feel-- the Sandy Hook survivors, the children at the Boston Marathon, the children surviving the blast in West, TX (to name the most recent events).  Fear.  It wasn't something we grew up feeling in my household and yet I can't hear "You'll never walk alone" without crying.  The one underlying theme out of all these tragedies is we are not alone.  Help is on the way.  We might get knocked down, but we'll get back up again.  But maybe it comes with a price.  Maybe those kids that are getting knocked down are getting back up fighting.  Billy Bigelow is a fighter; he has been bullied around.  He hits his wife.  He hits his daughter.  And then daughter Louise asks Mom Julie,  "Is it possible for someone to hit you, to hit you real hard and it not hurt at all?"  And Julie replies,  "It is possible; it is possible for someone to hit you hard and it not hurt at all."  Even as a child (who was not hit by the way...just making that clear, dear Grainiacs) knew that was bull-poopy.  Violence of any kind should not be tolerated.  Studies show that people who begin by attacking and hurting animals will grow tired of that and move on to bigger and human varieties.  We are under attack- in our nation, in our communities, and in our homes.  More and more reports are coming out about human trafficking- women and children being bought and sold and all in the name of capitalism--- not in other countries, but here in the USA.  When do you decide you want to start selling children to sick people for sex?  What makes a person think "Now that would be a good career choice?"  You can call them a bully....you can call them a terrorist....but I see it as a call for help. 


A few are getting back up and saying I will not do this to another person; I want to help.  I don't want this experience to happen to another living thing.  They are the ones speaking out at Capitol Hill.  They open shelters and talk all night on help lines.  They have been in the trenches and are there to help.  Stories are coming out about heroism in Boston and in West.  There are a few good guys (read men and women....I'm from Texas...."guys" is a gender neutral word...like God, but that's a different post for another day) out there.

But Billy wants to help his daughter.  Yes, he is redeemed at the end.  During the graduation speech, the old doctor tells the graduating class to not be defined for the sins of their parents.  They should  "keep the faith and your courage and you'll turn out alright."  Then they sing.....  "When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high and don't be afraid of the dark (Billy whispers in his daughter's ear "believe him, darling").  Then he whispers in Julie's ears those words she's been longing to hear "I love you, Julie"...sniff sniff.   Oh Lord, I am so menopausal!!!  But I'm an optimist.

When you walk through a storm
Keep your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At he end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone.