NEW VOICE
The farther I go in this process, the more good people I encounter who are also disgusted by the situation in so called foster care and are committed to improving it. It gives me hope and energy to persevere under any circumstances I or the production or Rachel may encounter. She is one of these good people. In our company, we come as a package deal. She is the one who made the choice to adopt an older child from foster. She does all of our financial and grant paperwork outside of what is for the director to fill in. She does more in a day than most people do in a week and I love her with all my heart. She and these people give me hope that the human race is worth saving from itself.
I do wonder about that sometimes. Is the mere fact that the numbers are so high and the structure so corrupt mean that if people were basically good, it wouldn’t be happening like this? Every story of a child abused hits me in the heart and I feel I must remember. To bare witness for the children who cannot speak up for themselves. There are hundreds of thousands of children’s cries that were never heard and prayers never answered. So, it comes back around to that same question; do we deserve to rule the planet? Do we even deserve to go on after so much violence and pain?
Anne Frank said it, she was a child. Actually, she wrote it. Despite everything, I still believe people are (basically) good at heart. And she was hiding from Nazi’s. I never could bring myself to read the entire book of her diary. It hurt too much. I empathized all that fear and devastation. Not to mention, I am a Jew by descendent. These trails of linage cross mine. If one random person had not survived the ordeal, I wouldn’t be here. I think that gives me even more fire from which to fight. We’ve been fighting to survive for 6000 odd years. The collective unconscious tells me that while this is wrong and a travesty and shame on our once great nation, humans do deserve to survive. Why?
Humans can evolve. They can learn from mistakes personally and as a community. We are the enduring species of beauty and art and love and fear and violence and pain. We are capable of the most astounding dreams and the most horrible nightmares. What the kids we are working to help experience is just that; an existence inside a horrible nightmare from which they cannot escape. That’s why we need to teach them how to rescue themselves. Hell we need to raise the basic awareness that they exist in the first place. Most people are so wrapped up in their own lives that they never think about the subject, much less do anything about it.
But I have faith. People like Rachel and the other adoptive and foster parents have proven that there are people who care enough to get directly involved. Most people walk through their lives with blinders on. Those who have seen the light have to lead those who have not yet. Not everybody can be a foster parent, but there is something that everybody can do to help. Having conversations highlighting the shock and awe of the situation go a long way. If you have a sensitive heart, no matter how you choose to try to guard it, it will stay with you as it did with me. In one hour long conversation at the beginning of the adoption process between me and Rach, I was so outraged that I was hooked.
Not only do these kids deserve better of us, we deserve better of our community. That is where most social obligations are re-enforced. Parents have to hand down the pride of the responsibility of caring for those who are unable to care for themselves. For the kids, the sick, the elderly and the indigent. The lines that brought my life into existence crossed with so many others it ties us all together. No matter race, religion, sexual orientation or social status; we are all in this together. We are a force when united and strongest when united over social injustice. In my eyes, this is the biggest one and the one with the most vulnerabilities that can be used to the advantage of the interned.
Truthfully, we can do so much better for each other. Plus the feeling of knowing you are part of the solution is without price. We are all kindred. Please stand with us and help it be known, this injustice will no longer be tolerated. I will fight for as many of these kids as I can as if they were my own. I have to, I’m compelled to prove that all that fighting to survive our race has done was worth it. That the future can be better than the present. That I’m grateful for this life I was gifted and choose to show it by using it for a higher purpose. One that has the potential to echo into eternity.
For more info please check out kindredmovie.com, @KINDREDmovie and Facebook/kindred. You have more power than you think. Together we can make a difference that lasts. Thank you to all those people who are working on this in every way! Your invaluable contribution to history and humanity is appreciated.
