For not beating me up and trying to educate me instead! I really do appreciate your opinions (and Ami - your long posts).
Neecie - what you said about things that go on here in our own neighbourhoods, towns and cities is absolutely true. Did you know that we've just had our 29th homicide here in Toronto this year? I think we're surpassing a record for violence. Most of these homicides have been committed by children - those under 18 who carry guns and take knives to school. It's unnerving. This fall, when school starts again, there will be police officers in the corridors of some schools. Hell, when I was a kid we had hall monitors - you know, the goody-goody kids who would report on you if you didn't have a hall pass to go to the washroom.
And the police force here - well I do admire them for what they take on every day. But lately, several have been arrested for participating in drug grow-ops, sexual abuse and absconding with evidence (i.e. rifles, guns, explosives). They don't spend jail time - they get suspended or demoted. It takes away from all of those who try to do good. Who do you trust?
And Ami - I did live under a dictatorship in Brazil. I think I was only seventeen when I realized that yes, there were two parties you could vote for, but if you voted for the wrong one you could get shot. My family was stopped several times at roadblocks for no reason, just because we looked different and had a big car. At one point she of the feather boa didn't have her passport, so she was escorted home by the military to get it, while my father and brother and I waited in the car, surrounded by machine guns, until they brought her back. I hesitate to say this, but they only let us go because we were Canadians. It helped that Mom charmed them.
At nineteen, the man I fell in love with in Brazil (an American who worked for Firestone at the time) was relocated to Chile. I followed him there a few months later. It was just after the Allende bombings. I took the bus from the Santiago airport to La Serena where he lived. All I can remember are the craters in the roads, the bullet holes in the walls. And the sad, sad faces of the people. There was a curfew - you were only allowed to go out between ten in the morning and ten at night. If you were on the streets during "the bad hours" you'd get shot. No questions asked.
So yes, I'm conflicted. I've never been one to react on what the media says - because everything to me is on a personal level. If I were to harm anyone in anyway, it would be because they're right there in my face at my own doorstep where I live, threatening someone I love.
I do admire all of you though for your strength of conviction and your patriotism. I accept it and will try to continue to understand.
Thanks again.
T.
