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Open Poetry #9
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it wasn't my business
| Open Poetry #9 |
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it wasn't my business |
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hoot_owl_rn Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750Glen Hope, PA USA 
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it wasn’t my business she was 3 years old with blonde hair that hung in ringlets around her small face and i couldn’t help but notice how she rarely wore shoes and how raged her tiny ill-fitting clothes were how she never smiled and how the bruises in different stages of fading she wore like battle scars on her body i noticed it all but it wasn’t my business her mother was only 20 petite quiet and pretty she worked days at a local restaurant making tips to pay the rent and i couldn’t help but wonder how sometimes even on cloudy days she donned dark glasses or how sometimes even in the summer she wore long sleeves and a turtle neck i wondered about it all but it wasn’t my business her dad was in his 30’s and i was told he once served time for armed robbery on a local grocery store he sported a mass of tattoos as black as can be and a temper to match he stayed home all day drowning his life in the bottom of a bottle and at night through the thin plaster walls i could hear his shouts of anger cursing and fists hitting the wall as he showed his disapproval at his family i could hear it all but it wasn’t my business and today i stare at a newspaper laying on my cluttered dinning room table and the front page story in stark black and white gives the account of how last night a mother and her 3 year old child were murdered at the hands of husband and father and i can’t help but think about how last night out of my pleasant dreams i was awoken by screams and i struggled to go back to sleep slightly disturbed by what i finally realized and i thought perhaps today i’d call social services but it really wasn’t my business or was it? < !signature--> What lies behind us and lies before us are small matters compaired to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson [This message has been edited by hoot_owl_rn (edited 08-23-2000).] |
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| © Copyright 2000 Ruth Kephart - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Lone Wolf Member Ascendant
since 2000-03-16
Posts 5842Lansing, MI USA |
Hoot Owl, Wow . . . I am about speechless here. What a powerful and sad story you tell. If only someone had made it their business, two innocent lives could have been saved. I am sure that is the moral of this story. It is unfortunate that these things even happen at all, but yet they do. You got my attention real quick here and I just had to find out how it all turned out . . . heartbreaking. Great writing my friend. Lone Wolf Poetry should surprise by fine excess...it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts and appear almost a remembrance. -J.Keats |
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JnR4eva Member
since 2000-08-07
Posts 377Bronx, NY |
nicely done  i loved the way you described each family member, and the markings of an ill-fate....is it our business? i think of moral obligations..yes but thats just me..loved the poem and the thoughts...makes you think  "my love is my motivation my love is my inspiration perception of this poem is your interpretation" -- me |
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WhtDove Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-22
Posts 9245Illinois |
Ruth this is so sad! But you've made one hell of an impact with this story. I would ask if this is a true one, but there are so many cases out there that are true. So I won't. I applaud you on such a deeply moving story! <*\\\>< Be an organ donor...give your heart to Jesus! |
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Corinne Member Ascendant
since 1999-10-28
Posts 5167state of confusion |
something almost all of us are exposed to at one time or another in life. Thanks for reminding us that it is our business, Ruth! Corinne |
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Wilfred Yeats Member Elite
since 2000-08-04
Posts 2704Wilmington, Delaware |
we need constant reminders - it IS our business - thank you wise owl |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
Terrific writing, hoot. We never really know, do we? It's such a fine line and nobody really lays out the rules. It's just a judgement call, I guess  |
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AVANTI Senior Member
since 2000-02-02
Posts 664INDIA/MAHARASHTRA/PUNE |
vivid descriptions of so many charchters... I loved this one lovely work...as always If I should fall again, then they will laugh but what if just this one I rise? Avanti Rao |
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Sudhir Iyer Member Ascendant
since 2000-04-26
Posts 6943Mumbai, India : now in Belgium |
If we partake in helping others, it is treated as misdemeanour and meddling in another person's life.... he/she has his/her own right to live the way he/she wants to live - so they will say If we turn away and try to subdue the feelings inside our selves of helping and caring, it is negligence of life and society, and it is being inconsiderate, selfish and a prude... one should bring out caring hands and showering love to fellow beings - so they would say... Either case, one is not better off than the other. Though I would go ahead and meddle in another's business and make it my social cause, though it might lead me to difficulties in my life, for atleast I heard my inner soul's call... but this decision for now is too much an emotional one rather than a well-thought of one... in the matters between the heart and the mind, who should win? I don't know... would side with the heart... see all these thoughts being provoked by reading what I can call a terrific and well drawn out write, profoundly speaking of a sad part of life, at the same time prodding us to make a choice... Ruth, this is poetry in its truest form... Thanks for all this and more, regards O great poetess... Sudhir |
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JamesMichael Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336Kapolei, Hawaii, USA |
Yes it is our business to help someone that is being abused...the message is clear...James |
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Kit McCallum
Administrator
Member Laureate
since 2000-04-30
Posts 14774Ontario, Canada |
You portrayed this important message well Ruth ... so sad to know that this happens more often than we realize, and yet are at odds in having to decide when we've learned enough to report our concerns. You've expressed this turmoil well Ruth. Best wishes, /Kit |
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BloomingRose Member Elite
since 2000-08-09
Posts 3092Florida |
Hi Ruth, A really sad reality in your writing. Debra |
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Corazon Senior Member
since 2000-02-02
Posts 1209 |
ok ruth, this gave me chills and tears, but then, you know that huh? really great poem.....it says so much that it leaves me speechless..... |
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Paula Finn Member Ascendant
since 2000-06-17
Posts 5546missouri |
Now you are writing on a subject dear to me...a child is everyones business, especially when you KNOW they are being abused... |
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Local Rebel Member Ascendant
since 1999-12-21
Posts 5767Southern Abstentia |
I get physically ill when this subject comes up -- this is the reason I don't own a gun... if I did I'd go shoot the ******* nevertheless good writing should evoke an emotional response.... and you're always quite a writer hotty... |
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Local Rebel Member Ascendant
since 1999-12-21
Posts 5767Southern Abstentia |
OH? b-a-s-t-a-r-d is a dirty word??? it's not even one of the fateful seven for broadcasting RON!!! |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
I stepped in...still glad I did... frightful reality but well done, Ruth... and glad to see you back... |
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jwesley Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563Spring, Texas |
Very well written. The biggest problem is that many times someone has made it their business and social workers have been involved but the kids are continuously returned to suffer such abuse and even death. It's kinda like the almost useless repeat offender law cropping up here and there...there's no bite, criminals have too many rights, and unfortunately the fall out hurts the innocent (where are their rights?). jwesley |
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MMoonchild Senior Member
since 2000-07-13
Posts 1715PA |
It's everyone's business...and if you can't or don't feel comfortable reporting then you offer comfort and advice as best you can as sometimes the agencies don't do what's right...at least you will know you tried your best... I know that sounds too pat...and every situation is different... ~~softly thinking now Maureen *Oh meant to tell you it's a wonderful write [This message has been edited by MMoonchild (edited 08-24-2000).] |
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hoot_owl_rn Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750Glen Hope, PA USA |
Let me say, this poem seems to have brought out a lot of emotional response. For those who aren't familar with my, as I call them, "community type service poems" I like to do this once in a while to make everyone step back a minute and think. Yes, it was his business...as is everyone one elses to report suspected child abuse. By law, I have no choice...as a health care professional when I see a child (patient) that I suspect has been abused, I am required to report the suspected abuse...perhaps if the law carried on over into the general public, more lives would be saved. Although this isn't based on a true story, this story is true all over the United States...women and children that are abused die at the hands of their abusers all because their neighbors, their friends, their relatives "didn't feel it was their business" My cry to you is to make it yours. *steps down off her soap box* Oh, I almost forgot.....thank you everyone for reading this and for your kind comments. Sudhair...you're a dear, thank you Corazon...yes, I know  Loacal Rebel...thanks for the smile in the midst of all my seriousness Maureen...you are so right |
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Jenn E Senior Member
since 2000-08-02
Posts 589Kelowna, BC, Canada |
I think you have reached your goal with this one, "Make everyone step back a minute and think." I have done just that and this poem made me weak. Speechless. To reach a reader like you do is talent, of which you are. Jenn E |
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Gemini Senior Member
since 1999-12-15
Posts 1203Wisconsin, USA |
Dear Ruth: I appreciate your write, and if I ever see abuse I KNOW I would report it, I would be too enraged not to. My heart goes out to professionals who witness this in society, report it and yet are helpless to watch sometimes as the justice system lets creeps like this back out on technicalities and back into society to commit these crimes again and again. |
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hoot_owl_rn Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750Glen Hope, PA USA |
Thanks Jenn and Gemini |
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angelswing Senior Member
since 2000-02-10
Posts 705United Kingdom |
Indeed a dilema - when do occurances become our buisness ? I guess this one requires some thought, very strong touching and truthful as life isn't always prety, what drives people to do such acts is beyond me yet it still happens . A well written poem and story that got me thinking of social values and the extent of being envolved in a close society . Thankyou very much . L.of.L. Tom . Don't try, do or do not, there is no try . - Master Yoda - |
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Denise
Moderator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-08-22
Posts 22648 |
Very powerful writing, Ruth, with a much needed message. Excellent. Denise |
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brian madden Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 4374ireland |
Ruth, wow a powerful read and a tough question asked, excellently written and plenty of food for thought. "I concede relationships have left me weak Won't be here so I don't care Look for something worthy to replace my guilt" Mansun legacy |
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Mark Bohannan Member Rara Avis
since 2000-06-21
Posts 7269In the winds of Cherokee song |
Nothing like a poetic slap in the face to wake us up and start to see the light. Wonderful piece and full of much thought. Thank you for bringing this to us. |
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hoot_owl_rn Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750Glen Hope, PA USA |
Once more...thank you everyone |
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