The Cold War Within...

Dear God, is there somebody out there
Is there someone to hear my prayer
I'm a simple man with simple words to say
Is there some point in asking
Asking for more only got us where we are today
Lost and alone and afraid

Give me, love for the lonely
Give me, food for the hungry
Give me, peace in a restless world
Give me, hope for the children
Give me, a worldwide religion
Give me, peace in a restless world

Dear God, can you hear me crying
A whole world crying
Looking for something to say
We had it all and we threw it all away
Is there somebody watching
Somebody watching over the mess that we've made
We're lost and alone and afraid
(Lyrics by Midge Ure)

Today, I spent a majority of it sleeping.  Perhaps, I needed the rest from an incredibly stressful week, or even day.  When I was awake, I spent the time thinking about the Women's March and the concert that Midge Ure performed last night in Denton, TX.  Even though the song above has been his opening song for the entire tour, last night, for me, it took on a different tone.

It had been over 20 years since I had been in Denton, TX.  Fall of 1986, I transferred from Tarrant County Junior College to North Texas State University (Now, University of North Texas) and attended school there.  Many long trips to Denton were made and the soundtrack for many of those were Ultravox, Depeche Mode, Midge Ure's solo work, Billy Currie's solo work, and other wonderful artists during that time.  Mix tapes were scattered throughout my car.

I had remembered when "Dear God" was released.  I was at North Texas and picked up Midge's solo effort at the record store across the street from the University.  At this time in my life, I was attending classes twice a week and studying at home the other three days.  My mother had suggested this manner of attending school since my first semester had been so difficult.  As always, she was on point with that and I actually felt like I could breathe.  I had a few good friends where I shared classes and I felt very comfortable with myself for once.

"Dear God" reminded me so much of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" via the message that it sent.  The cold war was still going on and all we really wanted was peace.  Well, at least, that was what I wanted.

Yesterday, millions of women went to march in protest against the new President of the United States, Donald Trump.  To put it lightly, Donald Trump is not a nice man.  If you say something against him, then he tends to take to insults and so forth.  He has on often times called out women as being ugly and fat.  How could someone like that - with no manners, basically, win an election?  Easy - he was able to placate to the population that feels unheard and make them feel heard.

I will stop here for a moment and tell you straight to your face, I do not like Donald Trump and I did not vote for him, but I feel exactly the same about Hillary Rodham Clinton.  I did not vote for her, either.  I lived through the Clinton presidency and by God, I did not want to live through another one.  Some people around here feel it was the second "Camelot" and I would like to remind those individuals that many people did not fare well under that presidency.  If you think that by my not supporting HRC is that I did not want a woman for president, you are wrong.  I would have voted for any other woman, just not her.  I even said I would have voted for Condalezza Rice, if she felt compelled to run.  I think she is an awesome lady and did well as secretary of state.  I only wish I could say the same for HRC.

As I was driving home after the show, in awe of the absolutely wonderful (really, no words to properly describe) experience, I thought about Midge singing "Dear God".  As of late, I am truly scared of what we are doing to each other.  When the song was written, there was the Cold War still in play between the US and the USSR.  Today, our cold war is within ourselves.  

Over the past year, I have watched people make assumptions about others based upon their political opinions.  Friendships have ended due to all of this mess.  The tolerance level is reaching an all-time low - people are becoming so intolerant that they have become hypocrites.  Everyone was up in arms about how Donald Trump and Billy Bush discussed women.  However, those same people seem to forget how they would talk about certain men and how they wanted to jump into bed with them.  My opinion is if it is okay for you to do it, then you cannot say someone else cannot do it.  It is funny how people truly are.  I tread very carefully in those areas.

In my own life, I have felt my own share of bullying, even today.  However, you cannot fight some bullies as they are within a higher standing than yourself.  I have learned that I have to let it go, no matter how much it bothers me.  I also try to get out of harm's way when I can.  I do not think I will ever understand how we can have a women's march when we have women in society who will do whatever it takes to burn and keep another women down.  As I heard several times on YouTube, "We women need to build ourselves up".  I would love to see that, but as long as we have insecure women in high positions doing what they can to bring other women down in order to keep rank, we will never reach our ultimate goals.  

When I reflect on my life, the past several years are full of regret.  Mainly because most of that time was spent trying to prove something to someone and never getting anywhere.  Today, out of necessity for myself, I am in a better place.  I hate that these people still want to make my life miserable, but I refuse to allow them much more power over me.  They had their time and my life was in the worst place it had ever been.  No one can change or make better what happened to me, but I can move forward and I did.

Anyone who truly knows me will know that I will do some silly or even crazy things to show support of my family and friends.  No matter what endeavor - I feel it means a lot to show your support and lift those people up to achieve goals.  This world is so hard on everyone - why not help each other out to make it just a little better?

For Midge, I meant what I said when I said that I was just utterly grateful for your stop in Denton.  While Denton's square might be a scene from "Back to the Future", you gave me the experience of a life time - the opportunity to watch someone I truly admire and love perform.  I saw you smile a lot on stage and I figured it was because there were so many in the audience doing what I was doing - singing along - and aloud.  Not because we were trying to help the other band members, but in celebration for your being there and, for me, my support of someone special.  I pray that you will return, but if not, this show will live in my heart.

For all of you, take some time to think about how you feel regarding the current climate of this world.  I am scared - scared of what we are doing to each other.  I am just a single person with not much of a platform to speak.  It is very easy for celebrities to stand on their platforms and be heard.  For the rest of us "little people", our voices are so little to be heard.  However, together, we can make a great deal of noise.  Perhaps, people will start thinking about the lyrics of this song.  I would love to see a world of love and kindness to others.