Not Your Typical Military Family

Normally on Saturdays, I feature an Indie author, but with the holiday on Monday I thought people might be off enjoying the weekend so Saturday Spotlight will be back next week. Since Monday is Memorial Day it seems like the perfect time to talk about how I betrayed my military family. At least according to them. 

My grandfather served in the Korean war. He was a communications officer. He didn't talk about the combat although he did have a few shiny medals that they pinned on his uniform. I don't know what he did to get them because he didn't like to talk about it and I didn't like to pry. All of his brothers served in the Armed forces as did their sons and their sons' sons. 

My cousin, whom I was often accused of playing kissin' cousins with, unjustly I might add, served two tours in Iraq.  He was special ops. During his last tour, he was MIA for almost six weeks. Then one day a couple MP's showed up on his mother's door saying he was in a mental hospital in Kuwait. Three weeks later, he was sent home under suicide watch, but the MP failed to show up and he killed himself. His mother fought and got him buried with full honors. His younger brother was called home. He had just begun his first tour of duty. He was stationed in Afghanistan. 

Then I also know the other side of war. My ex is from Iraq. His niece and nephew were killed when their house collapsed on them during a bombing raid. I know women who watched as their sons were dragged off never to be seen again, saw their daughters raped and tortured. I know men who were imprisoned, tortured, and beaten for no reason other than daring to have an opinion that differed from the government's. 

Whenever I walk the streets of my backwoods, redneck, Bible belt hometown, I am called a multitude of names, traitor being one of the few I can write on my family friendly blog. I am called these names because I chose to exercise my right of freedom of religion, my right of freedom of speech and my right of freedom of expression. What I find most ironic is that I am considered the "traitor" for choosing to be "different". However I feel that I honour the men and women who shed their blood fighting for my right to be different. If no one exercises their rights, then those men and women would have died in vain and to me that is the real treason.




Note: If you're having problems commenting on mine or any blogs, I have heard one way to fix it is to completely clear your cookies and cache and then restart your computer. Also make sure the "keep me signed in" box is NOT checked. If you're having problems, then maybe this would help to fix it. Or not. Stupid bleepin' blogger. 

Stupid Blogger

Did anyone else lose posts? Stupid blogger. Luckily I had an exported file so I had a copy of all my posts and comments so replacing them was easy, but that isn't the point. Blogger tried to kill my babies. That is so not cool. 

I got my eye on you, blogger. My eye on you.

H (ome)

Every child deserves to grow up in a home. Not a house, but a home. Not a building with four walls and a roof, but a place where they are protected and loved. I grew up in a house with four walls and a roof. It kept out the wetness of the rain and the chill of the winter, but it also kept in the pain of physical, sexual, emotional, and verbal abuse. It hid the bruises from the world and contained within its walls the hell that I faced each and every day. Many people knew what was hidden behind those walls, but I grew up in an era where "you didn't get involved in other people's business" and "what goes on behind closed doors, stays behind closed doors". 

I had no where to turn to. No one to ask for help. Silence was engraved upon my soul. That silence almost took my life. More than once. April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. By breaking my silence, I hope that more children will grow up in a home instead of a house. I hope to give another little girl the chance to thrive and truly live. A chance I wasn't given. 

Even though my voice was silent, I was telling others through my actions. It is important to listen to what the actions of an abused child is saying because more often than not a child of abuse doesn't tell they are being abused by their words. They tell it through their actions. We are all in this together. It takes a village to give a child a home. So please if you suspect a child is being abused or that there is just something not right, then please give that child a voice. Every child deserves a knight in shining armor.Every child deserves a home.

Below are some links if you would like to know more about preventing or recognizing the signs of child abuse:

Signs of neglect or abuse

Prevent Child Abuse

How you can get involved

Things I Don't Understand

Now those of you who follow me on Twitter may be slightly confused as to why I have this listed. You may even have read some of my tweets, but appearances can be deceiving because I have no clue how to work Twitter. You see all of those pretty tweet tweets are automatic. I don't have to actually DO anything. So it appears I know what I am doing, but I truly have no clue.

I mean if I tweet, then who hears it? If I follow stalk someone, do they hear my tweets? Or only those who are following stalking  me? What if I want to tweet to a particular person? How do I get their attention? How do you FIND anyone on Twitter? I get lost in my own house. Twitter is way more complicated. I also don't know how to share my Twitter ID @DafeenaJameel . Whenever I put the link anywhere, it never works. Watch it work now just to make a liar out of me

Facebook I get a bit more than Twitter. I almost got an aneurysm trying to figure out Twitter so I gave up and moved onto Facebook.

Facebook is aware that morons non geniuses are using it so they have made it a bit more moron non genius friendly. Even so there are a few things I don't get. For example, when I "like" a page, how do I return to it without having to bookmark it? Is there a "like page" section like there is with groups? I am lazy busy and don't have time to search for the group/page every single time I want to visit it. What if I don't want  every move I make on Facebook broadcast to the world ? How do I stop Facebook from telling everyone I have to go pee?


There are many more things I don't understand, but we will start with these two. I do have some pride. There might be a few people who think I am smart. I don't want to ruin their delusions all at once.


Edited: Thanks to Nannie I have now learned how to create a Facebook page. I can now cross this off my things to do before I rule the world list.

Blame It on the Crazy

Trying to be aware of current events while being overseas is not easy. The news is often delayed or censored. A lot of USA/UK news agencies are banned. I have my ways of getting around this ban, and no I am not sharing how, but one so called "news story" that I keep seeing is about Charlie Sheen. At first I ignored it because to me it is NOT news. However, as the weeks have gone by I keep reading reports where it appears that people are trying to excuse his behavior by saying he is "bipolar".  Today I saw a news article that read "Are we STIGMATISING Charlie Sheen?"

This article was in reference to the recent reports of Charlie Sheen having bipolar. Somehow labeling him with bipolar is more of a "stigma" than him just being an addict on a binge. I have bipolar. There is enough stigma already attached to mental illness and whether these people realize it or not they are not helping the situation. His PR people are trying to find a way of excusing his behavior. Bipolar or not there is no excuse. His behavior is way out of line.

I work hard every day to just be "normal". I fight my brain constantly. It is not easy. It is a huge struggle. I don't make excuses when I do things wrong. My bipolar doesn't excuse my wrong behavior, but I don't think he has bipolar. He is an addict. Not every addict is crazy. Not every crazy is an addict.

I find it extremely sad that somehow saying he is "bipolar" is much more of a stigma than saying he spent the whole weekend snorting coke up his nose with 3 prostitutes. I don't get it. Bipolar is an illness. Just like diabetes. I didn't choose to have bipolar anymore than a diabetic chooses to have diabetes. If I had a choice, you better believe I would pick Not Crazy for $1000, Alex. Charlie Sheen is an addict. He has a CHOICE. He can choose to get help. He can choose to remain an addict. Either way he has a choice. Someone with bipolar does not. It is a lifelong disease. It will never go away. It is beyond the control of the person who has it. By writing articles such as that one, it only re-enforces the prejudices people already have against the mentally ill. Crazy people have enough to deal with. I am tired of celebrities using mental illness as an excuse for their behavior. It is belittling and does more harm to those who truly are ill. I realize most people don't care what my opinion is, but it's my two cents I will spend how I want.