|
Today, I met a lost and exhausted pittie in the back alley of our home. Ears cropped, wounds on his face, and hungry - I think he managed to escape from somewhere where he was being forced to fight or was being used as a bait dog. Got him out of the alley somehow, and he followed me all the way to the porch. Gave him some food/water (Jedi didn't mind too much), and got him to the Chicago animal rescue on Western Ave. On the way there, I was worried that he was going to try to come into the front passenger seat or do something abnormal, but he curled up on the dog bed I keep in the backseat and fell quickly asleep out of just sheer exhaustion. There are people who have hurt him, and yet this little guy followed me home with trust in his eyes and so much sweetness in his doggy smile. I hope he's resting well tonight and that he finds a home that deserves him soon. and lastly, may those that hurt him find a special level of hellfire reserved for people cruel to animals. 
0 Comments
"There is a number for every grief".
I cannot help but think of the story of Ahmed Mohamed, the 14 year old Muslim boy who showed up to his school many years ago with a homemade clock invention he wanted to share proudly with his classmates, only to have his white teacher call the police where he was handcuffed, arrested, and escorted out of school in humiliation because she believed it was a bomb. The clock incident occurred years ago - Islamophobia is present in all facets of US life experienced by Muslim and Arab children daily. I have firsthand experience of this as someone who immigrated from Pakistan and attended Chicago Public Schools. What is happening now is leading to a meteoric rise in hate crimes against Muslim people and those perceived to be as well. We all need to do our parts here and elsewhere to condemn genocide, ethnic cleansing, and hatred against anyone due to their race, ethnicity or religious background. None of this is okay and my heart is broken. Today is Jummah and I am spending my Friday evening prayers thinking about this poem Running Orders by: Lena Khalaf Tuffaha This stanza in particular: "It doesn’t matter that 58 seconds isn’t long enough to find your wedding album or your son’s favorite blanket or your daughter’s almost completed college application or your shoes or to gather everyone in the house. It doesn’t matter what you had planned. It doesn’t matter who you are. Prove you’re human. Prove you stand on two legs. Run."  for every Pakistani daughter who has dimmed her own light so that others may shine brighter9/1/2023  Artist: Imran Zaib Everyday is the first day of your life, dear one. You get to choose.
"To survive is sometimes a leap into madness. The fingers of saints are still hot from miracles, but can they save themselves? Where is the dimension a god lives who will take Bird home? I want to see it, I said to the Catalinas, to the Rincons, to anyone listening in the dark. I said, Let me hear you by any means: by horn, by fever, by night, even by some poem attempting flight home." Full poem here: https://poems.com/poem/bird-2/   |
About
Archives
December 2023
Categories |
RSS Feed
