HERE BE MONSTERS

     That statement was printed on ancient maps of the world. The world was deemed to be flat and at the end of the plate of the earth there was a falling off into monster areas. I even read that one of Trump's crazy right wing nutjobs still believes in the flatness of the world. I wonder if he thinks there are monsters awaiting those who stray.
     Today, however, the question, or rather the reality of it all, is that there are monsters, yes, and they are not waiting at the edges of the world. Nope. These monsters have crawled out of the air, the ether, the muck, wherever they lived and are now amongst us. If one prefers, we can use a statement by Nietzche who warned humanity that if one goes too far in his explorations, looks too deeply into that abyss, looks too long at monsters, we find that the abyss has looked into our own souls and the monsters? Why they are us.
     I do not know how else to term some of the people today. We are monsters who turn families into shreds and then say that others were doing it so why not them. It turns out that others did not do it as a matter of routine precisely due to the horrific effects of it. So there went that excuse and in any case, since when is it a reasonable justification to do evil because someone else does it. That kind of stays in primary school where it belongs. Hopefully kids learn better as they grow up. But what about the adults who do not grow up or who grow up twisted and turn demented as time ages them?
     What is anyone who thinks that solving family destruction is to ensure that we can keep children for more than 20 days! Now is not that a great solution! And hey, we have just the facilities - tent internments, old federal prisons that are unhealthy even for adults so of course, let's shove the kids in and hey, maybe they will die off preventing future interactions!!! Sounds cruel but what else can one think? How else is one to think!
     Where else is the monster but within that Oval Office. How can we term him anything else when he consistently deems human as animals, as bugs infesting our world, as targets of ridicule based on their looks or name, using infantile rhymes, denigrating ethnic backgrounds, just being so totally vile that he turns one's stomach on an almost hourly basis. At least Pelosi, a target of his, answered him with a beautiful statement. “We believe, some of us who are attracted to the political arena, to government and public service, that we’re all God’s children, there’s a spark of divinity in every person on Earth, and that we all have to recognize that as we respect the dignity and worth of every person and as we recognize our responsibilities with that spark of divinity within us,” Warren does the same with him, refusing to back down, even as Huckabee, daughter and father, continue on in their nasty paths. The GOP has morphed, turning into the opposite of is founding people, applauding slavery, the rich, isolationism, and a total lack of social responsibility. Time for GOP members with a spine, with morals to stand up.
     Yes, folks, here be monsters. They are indeed us. When a grown white woman calls the police on a little eight year old African American girl selling bottles of water, insisting she is a criminal because she is selling without a permit! Where the hell have we gone. Where the hell are we standing? What have we become? What if she was a Dreamer? Would that 'crime' make her ineligible for citizenship, eligible to be granted the new privilege of America - to be grabbed off the sidewalk and deported?! Watch out for your kids and grandkids selling that lemonade or those same bottle of water on a hot day. 
     Yes, folks. Here be monsters and they have been met with recognition as they are us in so many ways. Where is the America we used to be? Yes, we made errors, sometimes awful ones, but we were always willing to listen, to hear, to learn and to progress. Yes, some people never do that and they are now emboldened to come out of the woodwork where they have hidden for lo these many a year - or perhaps not even that long!
     Time for those heroes - the everyday people - who can stand up to these monsters, who can root them out, and who can allow children to live in peace and sell their drinks - and be applauded for their stands! Here be monsters. And they are among us. Here be monsters. Time for soul searching, for truth, for courage, for justice, for valor, for honesty, for humanity. Let us figuratively slay the dragons, the monsters. Let us give them no room within  our society. Toss them out of office, out of positions of power. Teach them the right way by showing them the right way. Cleanse our souls and minds and hearts. Let the monsters stay on the old maps. Let us remember who we truly are and how much we need to get back there.