INNER VOICE, INNER SOUL, INNER CHILD

     From where I sat there were misty eyes throughout the room. Every adult was pounding hands together for all they were worth. They had to, for if not, if they did not clap long and loud enough then Tinkerbelle would die, not even make it to the story itself.
     But the adults were clapping for more than Tinkerbelle. They were clapping and tearing up for what was, for the innocence of childhood, for the optimism that once permeated the very air we breathed here in the United States and they clapped in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, we could pull ourselves out of this miserable current situation and fairies and what they represent would live once more.
     The play Finding Neverland is now at the Broward Center and worth a visit. The cast was wonderful, the play both serious and funny and they hit every line the way they were supposed to. And the message it sent was clear. Look into your eyes, the mirror of your souls, of your hearts and minds, and truly see what is there. Find the inner child that still remains inside and use it, allow it to guide you in moments of need - that is the inner child that represents what is good and healthy, innocent yet wise.
     It is a funny thing to say that when we have a child now in the Oval Office. It is a weird thing to think that the inner child of one is sitting there in UCO allowing his own temper tantrums to be displayed right there on stage or ring throughout the halls of UCO. But these 'children' give us glimpses into that inner heart and soul of these people and it ain't pretty. One ensconces himself on the couches of the White House or his fancy gilt encrusted hideaways and watches, obsessively, the TV screens and tweets away as his favorite and perhaps only true way for him to communicate his thoughts, such as they are. The other hides in his back room in UCO, never mingling with the residents, never taking advantage of the facilities, of the shows, of the very company of anyone other than perhaps his 'Eddie' and his computers.
     Watch children in action, See how they reach out to new people and sights. See how they can react to adults, see the truth of adults. Children and dogs they say. (Personally I could do without the dogs but that is just me. Do not deal well with critters of any type.) Hmm, guess that includes two legged critters as well. When we lost that spontaneity, when we lose that honesty, when we lose that ability to empathize, when we turn to the dark child within us, that is when we begin to lose the world. It is that dark inner child that blackens the world, that puts business over people, that puts personal gain and personal desires over the good of the electorate and it is that dark remnant of childhood that is now ruling the world in too many places and when a person in power embraces that child, turns to murder and hatred, turns to oppression, turns to rampant prejudice, well, Tinkerbelle and other fairies are dying. We need to clap once more, loud and long and clear.
     When we have a human animal who now crashes a car into a crowd leaving a mosque, when we have an Alex Jones telling the world that those Sandy Hook kids did not die, when we have him not dealing well with Megyn Kelly and good for her, when we have a lawyer, one supposedly who comes along complete with a brain and we have that very same lawyer trip multiple times over his own tongue denying Trump's part in the whole mess and the fact that he is under investigation - when we have all that - those fairy lights are dimming. 
     We need to be aware of those who would kill off those lights for good, those who see their own needs as the driving force of whatever community they infect. We need to be aware of the rot they encourage, the rot that eats away at our own values and cause us to turn on our neighbors, the rot that raises evil and disturbing thoughts in one's mind.
     No one is perfect and we have both the good inner child, the one that allows us to look within and see what is right and the evil one, the dark one who encourages us to the wrong side of life, the one who chooses to leave the goodness of childhood behind and only take the schoolyard bully along. That is what we have now too often. We must clap those hands, truly look ourselves in the eyes and be honest with ourselves, not defensive, not ashamed at the wrong turn we took, but merely put it aside and go the right way now. And if some tears come along with this road of rediscovery, then so be it. And remember the tears that were shed, the blood that was shed when man behaved inhumanely towards other men, be it the Holocaust or slavery or other genocides. Today is Juneteenth, the day the Emancipation Proclamation reached the ears of the Texans, two and a half years late. Would that we could all emancipate ourselves from evil that still remains in the world.
     "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."  (Victor Frankl)
     "In spite of everything, I believe that people are good at heart." (Anne Frank)
     These people stated these beliefs in truly a most horrific time and in an unfathomable set of circumstances, when hate ruled the world. If they could say that, if they could put this positive spin on humanity and its power to choose does it not behoove us to think on that and choose the right child and pound those hands. Let the light shine again.