(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Itzl Alert Network, Tuesday, 16th of January, 2024: We are all cousins. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-01-15 I felt moved to write a serious diary tonight. I hope you like it. (By the way, remember when Obama announced that Dick Cheney is his cousin? That is what inspired me to use the idea that we are all cousins, rather than the way some folks say we are all brothers and sisters. Different words, same meaning.) As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at, to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off Daily Kos. If you're not here, or anywhere else on Daily Kos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care! IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news! This is our current schedule of regular IAN diary writers: Monday: Youffraita Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac Wednesday: Pam from Calif Thursday: art ah zen Friday: FloridaSNMOM Saturday: FloridaSNDad Sunday: loggersbrat The little dog is named Itzl. I am writing this towards the end of the day. The end of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So let me start with this: Okay, let me start out with a list of groups that we might call marginalized, here in the USA: Americans with disabilities (Such as both my wives) Women (Such as my mother, my three older sisters, and my wives) Black Americans (Such as my second wife and her family, my in-laws, my only close family nowadays) Immigrants, and those who “look” like immigrants (Such as my neighbors who keep giving me free food) Native Americans LGBTQIA+ Americans (Such as my sister-in-law, Shelly, who was the one who was in the hospital room with my first wife, Pam, when she died) Jews Muslims Anybody I forgot to list I am not a member of any of those groups. I am an atheist, but that seldom comes up, and I get pretty much no push back from anyone, except my brother-in-law. My biggest emotional damage does not come from feeling marginalized by anyone. My biggest emotional damage comes from: I was in my father’s hospital room when he died. (Saturday, 27th of January, 2001) My first wife, Pam, gradually died over a period of five years, and that was emotional torture. (Finally dying on Tuesday, 11th of March, 2008) My second wife, Tonia, died right here in this room where I am typing this. (Thursday, 10th of March, 2022) So, I get no hassle from anyone, no pain from any oppression. Just damage from personal trauma. So, it seems wrong for me to advise anyone in any of those marginalized groups, in any way. But I want to call for unity. And anyone who seems to say: We are so different, my people and me, so very, very different! Anyone who seems to say that, seems to be denying reality. We are all cousins. We are all living together on that blue marble. This is hard for me to write, because I need to acknowledge that if folks are getting attacked, verbally or physically, because their attackers are calling them different, I seem to be blaming the victim. But we must find a way, even in the face of attacks, to say: We are all cousins! Please stop attacking me! Obviously, the situation in Ukraine and in Gaza, those things are on my mind as I write all this. I simply feel the need to add my voice, in some small way, to all this conflict. And that is what I am saying with my silly old Uncle Mark voice: We are all cousins! Stop attacking your cousins! And no counterattacks against your cousins! I know. Easy for me to say. But it seems to me, that is what Dr. King kept saying, over and over. When he insisted on non-violent protesting, non-violent only, it seems to me that he was saying what I just wrote, about no counterattacks: Our white cousins have been attacking us. That is awful. But: No counterattacks! No counterattacks! Israelis and Palestinians can all say the same thing to others in their groups. (I know, it’s complicated in Gaza.) And Ukrainians and Russians. (I know, Ukrainians are defending their country from total iron-fisted rule by Putin.) I know, easy for me to say, sitting far away from any violent attacks, here in Wichita, Kansas. I am crying as I write this, hoping it makes sense to someone. Hugs. Hey, listen to the words in this song: I know the song is about romantic relationships. But the key phrase is: Can’t we just talk? Anyway. Hugs. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/15/2217557/-Itzl-Alert-Network-Tuesday-16th-of-January-2024-We-are-all-cousins?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/