Day: June 13, 2013

It was Sasha’s birthday so we woke him up with an ice cream cake in bed. Eyes barely open you have to blow the candles and make a wish, and make sure the wish won’t plop like a sleepy bird on top of the cake because you are oh, so sleepy. It’s a good tradition, we adopted it recently and plan to hold onto it forever; it’s that good.

As for notable events birthday-related… I remind him every year that he was a blue baby – truly, due to lack of oxygen for a bit. He finds it funny. I told him I had an intense panic episode just until he changed color. It seemed like forever. Afterwards I held him asleep, floppy legs and all, and looked at him, studying every corner of his face, lifting his tiny hands and drawing soft lines on his finger, wondering if I will be all he needs me to be, and at the same time whispering a prayer that my mom, who had passed away just a month before he was born, would see him somehow. It was a heavy time in thoughts, and tears and also the happiest of all, to welcome my second son into the world I still had years to figure out.

His shortly-lived Avatar tint caused by problematic breathing went away a few minutes after he was born though and that was that. Sweetness, awe and love were not conditioned in any way by his color anyway. He has been a joy to us all since.

The things I wished him this year are rather straightforward. I wished to never forget his sense of wonder he wakes up with every morning and runs all barefoot and pajama-clad in the back yard to play in his fort, “live off the land” around the fort (yes, he does, or at least started training) and play with every living critter along the way. I wished him to never stop saying “I need a hug,” wrap his arms around me and whisper warm and thick like another pair of arms “I’ll never let go of you.” I wished him joy, I wished him to stay true to what’s ethical,and worthy, and not harming people but helping them, I wished him to stay kind and loving and always curious. And I wished for myself, like I do every year on their birthdays, I wished to keep that sense of awe that I first got when I knew they will be mine to hold, to love,to cry and laugh and frown at and tumble with; to never lose the feeling of having them wrapped around me like two heart flags, wrapped tight and colorful, their souls sparkling in the sun.

Happy Birthday my sweet boy, dance with the swaying grass and follow its green call all the way to where you want to have your heart embraced. I’ll be there too. We never let go, remember?

The world as we know it cannot stand without them. Not for long anyway. By now everyone knows about Edward Snowden and his stepping forward to denounce the US government violation of the American citizens’ liberties, shall we say human rights perhaps, or that is still to come… He has been called both a hero and a traitor.

I stuck with hero from the beginning, not an ounce of doubt that he wasn’t, and he is the kind that doesn’t come around very often. His deep-rooted motivation, the very foundation he built his decision on, was, he explained in an interview, the fact that he could not live with knowing about it and not acting in a way he believed responsible. He exposed hypocrisy, he said.

There are rumours of him being extradited and trialed by the US judicial system, there are rumours of him searching for political asylum in Iceland, and then there are rumours of him getting in a lot of very very deep trouble. No one knows at this point, so while signing a petition to back him up is important, we also have to keep an eye on what will happen to him regardless.

But I have to use this opportunity to ask: How many things are you aware of that are not ethical, good for people, or are downright harmful and how many are you ready to denounce? What’s at risk if you do? Will you risk it?

Edward Snowden stepped forward to blow the whistle on something he considers unacceptable and hypocritical and though some many argue that his act could be interpreted as betraying his own country, there is a high number of people who think the opposite and for a reason. It is not betrayal, but the highest form of the patriotism when you stand by your country and its values, that ones that are stated for all to hear, rather then the questionable acts that happen behind closed doors.

Denouncing wrongness, and not anonymously, is an act of great courage. Denouncing any kind of wrongness and standing up for what’s right and ethical, not for money but because we feel that otherwise we could not live with ourselves is what all people should do. Is what children should learn from their parents and educators and all the influential people they come in contact with. I’d say it is possible when there are no conflicting interests of any kind. Would that only be possible in a perfect world?

The way I see it, as long as there are people who care, the world is perfect.