TERRY MOSHER
KAYLA MUELLER
We have to be living in the worst times in our history. How else to explain the terrible – horrific – things that are done by humans to humans and the sudden rise of a horrible – horrific – presidential candidate like Donald Trump?
Sometimes – not often – I hope that Trump wins just so I can say, “I told you so”, because a Trump presidency will destroy our democracy and end the greatness of the America we all know.
As bad as I believe that is, I was horrified and expressed admiration at the same time for Kayla Mueller, the 26-year-old woman captured by ISIS while working with Doctors without Borders in Syria. She was held for 18 months, suffering unspeakable abuse at the hands of the militants while at the same time resisting with all her soul before she was killed either by those who held her or by an air strike.
Muller’s death was confirmed by her parents on Feb., 2015.
That is a terrible civil war going on Syria. It’s hard to accurately describe what it must be like to live there, if you call it living. The destruction and the killing and the maiming of humans cannot be described without at the least feeling like you are having a nervous breakdown.
We live in the greatest country in the world in absolute peace compared to what is happening in that part of the world. No way can you emotionally feel what it is like to be there. Then to be imprisoned and tortured on a daily basis like Mueller was and forced to be a sex slave and still resist and hang on to your Christian values and to help others without regard to your own personal safety, that is hard to fathom. How would you or I stand up to such debauchery?
I would like to think I would resist with all my might, but I don’t know if I could when you consider all the inhuman things that these people, and I hate to call them people, do to others.
Then for Kayla Mueller to not only take what they dished out, but to go to great lengths to take care of her cellmates and make them feel safe and secure even in the direst of circumstances, it’s unbelievable to comprehend how brave and courageous she was.
Bottom line, though, is that she was killed and that is more than despicable, it is inhuman and low of the lowest. And even as heroic as she was, there are likely more heroes like her living in unimaginable conditions that will likely be, or have already been, killed.
This war, especially this war, has enough criminals and evil-doers in it that it boggles the mind. What bothers me is that we, the greatest power and the greatest country in the world, sits relatively quiet while the killing and the raping goes on and on and on.
Yes, we are over there with some of our great military power, but it’s not enough. We have let Russia gain a strong foothold in the region. And the Russians are doing us no favors by bombing not just ISIS, but the rebels we back. How can that be?
Let’s face it, nobody likes war. I don’t. But the huge amount of killing and raping is all unnecessary. We sit on the sidelines as if a spectator, watching unfolding some of the worst destruction that is imaginable, and it could have been stopped a long time ago. What is wrong with us?
This is partially why a demagogue like Trump can rise from his dirty background and rattle the nerves of the reasonable among us. He has touched into the anger that some feel that they are being left behind and has prayed on them like a sideshow barker at the carnival, speaking to their weaknesses and inciting them to follow him into his freak show.
Trump has been a fraud his entire life. He’s built a highly false and leveraged so-called empire that is about as empty of soul as he is. He lacks everything that a normal human would. He would fit right in as an ISIS fighter because he has no empathy, no feeling, and no soul.
His campaign has been, and continues to be, all about the darkness. He slashed and burned and bullied and intimidated through a bunch of weak Republican candidates and has destroyed the Republican Party while faking his way through his almost daily freak shows held in front of mostly white people who are attracted to the showman, the carnival barker, who promises to isolate America from the people – the Hispanics, the blacks, the Muslims – by building real walls and walls figuratively.
His hatred consumes him. He has built the Trump brand on lies, deception, cheating while showing no moral core. This is a man who is extremely dangerous if you believe in a democracy where citizens of all colors, all nationalities, all religious bents, have a place where they can live safely and peacefully.
If you believe in a society where white men reign supreme and that everybody else is either a second-class citizen, especially women, or worse, an enemy that deserves to be thrown out of the country or put in prison, then Trump is you man.
Personally, I’m going to be like Kayla Mueller was in her heroic effort to save others, and fight with all the strength I can muster to make sure the orange-haired carnival barker, the demagogue who would be king, is put in his place where he belongs – in the freak show.
That’s enough for this cool Sunday day. I need to go visit our grown daughter at her elementary school classroom and see if my aging body will be of some help as she decorates and sets up for the first day of her teaching special education children this coming week.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.