Anticipation

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This story was first posted in 2009. Given the current political climate, I've made revisions.

Sarah learns to accept what the world demands of her.

Anticipation
By Angela Rasch

“I’m thinking about going to a lecture tonight,” Sarah said. “I heard about it on Channel 5’s morning program.” Her hands moved in a blur chopping vegetables and lettuce with a fury born out of love.

Our marriage is less than two years old, and I’m so addicted to my Sarah that I can’t imagine living a minute of the rest of my life with anyone but her at my side. Yet . . . she could be painfully shy on detail — and I often had to drag things out of her. I assumed that trait had been etched into her psyche as a survival tactic during her younger years when it had been important for her to protect her secrets from the world. “Who, what, where, why, and how?”

“There’s a sociologist speaking at the university.” She stopped and thought a moment. With others, such deliberate action would have driven me insane, but with Sarah, it was her way of saving effort by speaking correctly the first time. “He’s an expert in the field of evolution, sort of a radical who calls on the ideas of George Bernard Shaw, Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and H.G. Wells.”

“Evolution? Is this a lecture about Darwinism?” I turned on the TV to watch the national news, having lost interest in a topic I had long ago filed under “Nothing New to Consider.”

“No,” she answered, checking on the temperature of the meat she was roasting.

Its succulent aroma awakened a hunger in me that had gone dead after another unsatisfactory cold sandwich from a vending machine at the college. My work as a corporate recruiter often found me on campus where my stomach fought bravely to eat like a teenager.

“The speaker tonight will be discussing pro-active genetics through such things as birth control, prenatal testing, in vitro fertilization, and counseling.”

An alarm went off in my head. “Are you sure you want to attend that lecture? It sounds a lot like eugenics.”

“I don’t think anyone used that word, Jim. Mostly they were talking about creating a much stronger tomorrow through the application of sound selective breeding.” She started the process of mashing boiled potatoes. Since my last physical examination, she had been using Brommel and Brown instead of butter, which was all right with me.

I snapped the remote at the TV and gave her my full attention. “Honey, Chanel 5 is an ultra-conservative news outlet. Selective breeding isn’t a very LGBT-friendly philosophy.”

She bit her lip. Sarah could become teary quite easily, if anyone brought up anything gay-related. “Not everything revolves around me.”

Uh oh. I’ve done it now. It’s only been a week since we we’re told about the problems we could encounter completing an adoption.

“Just once I’d like to have a conversation about something that doesn’t lead back in some way to my past. I didn’t go through all those painful operations to constantly be reminded of my birth defect.” Her eyes glistened — a sign that I’d breached a promise I made many times to avoid certain topics.

“I’m sorry, Honey.” I wanted to take her into my arms and console her, but it was obviously not a moment for physical contact.

“I’m going to go to the lecture,” she said, hammering on the potatoes with a vengeance. “Unlike others, I’m going to keep an open mind. Honestly — it’s being held at the university. They must screen their speakers. Sometimes your small-town background makes you so suspicious of people.”

Sarah had also been raised in a small town...where everyone had known her as Ben, a boy who played football and dated the homecoming queen.

“Maybe you’re right,” I admitted. I turned the TV back on and found a channel with a soccer game. Sarah had no interest in soccer and I had just as little interest in continuing our conversation.

I watched her marvelously feminine motions out of the corner of my eye, while she flowed around the kitchen -- until I could stand it no longer. Without a sound, I moved to her side, shut off the oven, and then swept her into my arms. The bouquet of her Burberry's perfume filled my nostrils with a girly lavender. Her high-pitched giggle enchanted me.

My immediate need was no longer food. It would be hours before we would emerge from our bedroom.

***

Sarah and I were having lunch together at a small downtown restaurant. She looked especially lovely; and I told her so.

“I felt a need to look nice today -- for you.” She sighed.

“Is something bothering you?”

She slid a letter across the table.

I recognized the letterhead as coming from the clinic where she had gone for her SRS. “You haven’t heard from them for years.” I peered into her drawn face. “Is it bad news?”

She shook her head. “I’m not really sure.”

I took the letter from its already opened envelope, and then read it. “Why would the government want your health records?”

“I called and asked Dr. Mark. He said Congress is creating a national database of all known transsexuals.”

I blinked. “Isn’t that an invasion of privacy?”

“That’s what I asked him. According to Dr. Mark, the government is trying to do good things for transsexuals and needs data.”

“Does he believe that?”

She bit her lip. “He wants to believe everything is on the up-and-up. Evidently, the Supreme Court has ruled that people like me have no right to privacy. He said the attorney at the Department of Justice who he’d talked to said transsexuals aren’t protected by federal anti-discrimination laws.”

“What about Schroer vs. Billington?” I stammered, feeling the floor move a bit under me.

A tear trickled down her cheek that she brushed away with a delicate gesture. “According to Dr. Mark, Congress is very unhappy about that case. They think that federal judge was over-aggressive in his decision given its timing — coming right after they banned transgendered from the military.”

“Maybe we’re being alarmists? What are they going to do with the information they got from Dr. Mark’s clinic?” For some reason, I felt personally violated, even though it had been Sarah’s data that had been breached -- and not mine.

“He said I shouldn’t worry. He had talked to the ACLU; and they’re prepared to take instantaneous action if anyone’s rights are threatened.”

I choked on a sip of water. “If? If? What does the ACLU need? They accessed your personal records, for Christ’s sake.”

She held her hands in front of her -- signaling for me to lower my voice. “I knew I shouldn’t’ve told you.”

“But. . .. They had no right. We need to get an attorney and go after them.”

She closed her eyes. A few moments passed before she opened them and found my eyes with hers. “We need to move on with our lives. Things are pretty good. Congressmen are just throwing their weight around because they can. Nothing will come of it.”

She patted my hand and smiled at the waiter, who had arrived with water and menus.

***

“Tony called me into his office today,” Sarah said after I had turned off the light on my bed stand.

Omigod! What now? “Oh?”

“He said he has to take me off the institutional audit team.” Her voice wavered.

She ran one of her big feet against my leg, causing me to involuntarily shudder.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means I won’t be able to work on any of the audits for colleges or universities. That’s about sixty percent of what the firm does.”

“Did he tell you why? Is he promoting you into management?” I was hoping more than asking.

“No. In fact, he said I would have to accept a small cut in pay -- given the circumstances.”

Shit! “We can’t afford a drop in income. I’m going to need a new car and. . ..”

“That’s just great,” she said bitterly, “I’m being treated like a second-class citizen and all you can think about is some big, obnoxious phallic symbol.”

“Whoa. How are you being treated like a second-class citizen?”

She sniffed.

She’s crying.

“Tony said our clients who rely on government grants can’t allow me to do professional work for them or they'll lose their funding.”

“Because you’re trans. . ..”

“Uh-huh,” she wailed. “I thought about quitting, but with the economy the way it is, any job is better than none.”

“That’s right. You can’t quit. As much as I would like to go in there with you and punch your boss right in the mouth, we’d better keep our wits about us. What about Oscar Wilde High School?” Our community had created a new high school for all the transsexuals — so they won’t be bothered by the other students.

“I think I can hold onto that account. Their funding isn’t from Washington, as far as I know. Maybe I can create a niche.”

I turned away from her and pulled the covers tight around me, lost in anguished thought about how to put our budget back in the black.

***

“Did you hear about the trouble down at the county library this morning?” Sarah had just returned from paying the pizza delivery man.

“I was listening to the news on the way home from work.” The radio is about the only reliable part of my car! “They said they had to destroy some of their books.”

“They said they were subversive, but when I looked up the list of destroyed books they were all by writers I admire: Jan Morris, Imogene Binnie, Meredith Russo, Jennifer Boylan. . ..”

I shook my head. “Who are. . .?”

“All transwomen,” she answered, apparently unwilling to hide her exasperation.

“It’s just a cyclical thing,” I said, eager to soothe her. “One-minute things are ultra-conservative; and before you know it the pendulums will swing to the far left.”

“Bullshit. . ..”

“That wasn’t very ladylike,” I observed, and then ducked, after a plastic water glass sailed by my ear. “Maybe you should do what I’ve done. Quit watching the news . . . it’s nothing but propaganda anyhow.”

***

We pulled into the parking lot at Nan’s pet store -- only to find the shop had closed. A letter had been taped to the inside of the glass door.

To our wonderful customers:
The impact of the boycott against transgender business-owners has claimed another casualty. In the last thirty-two years we have happily served the little friends in our community as best as we could. We’re sorry and will miss our four-pawed clients.
Thank you for your many years of business.
Beth and Teri

“Has life always been like this?” She asked. “Am I just more aware of how unfair things can be because it involves transpeople?”

I hunched my shoulders. Life with her is complicated. “Someone should do something about it.”

“What?” She asked. "It really doesn’t seem possible to resist the way things are going.”

***

It had been rumored for quite some time in the gay community, but we never thought a bipartisan coalition could be forged that would support the legislation.

Sarah and I would not be allowed to vote anymore because we're cohabiting in a relationship that is not a legally valid and binding marriage. The vote in our statehouse had been close.

“It’s been years since there’s been anyone running for office I was excited about backing,” Sarah said. Her voice sounded husky. Lately, she didn’t make the necessary effort to try to sound like a woman. “But don’t you think it’s a little overkill for Homeland Security to come to our house and confiscate our American flags.”

“We can still fly our Rainbow flag,” I said, trying to be ironic. “Our right to fly it is protected by the State.”

“Don’t you mean ‘demanded by the state.’ We face a fine and up to a one-year sentence in prison, if we don’t fly ‘our’ flag.”

“Someone needs to test that law in court.”

“We have to respect the law,” she said tearfully. “I’ve always been law-abiding and I’m not going to change.”

“Transpeople have no political clout,” I stated flatly.

“Our trans leadership has sold us out. They allowed transsexuals to be divided. The last government orders listed twenty-four legal subsets of transsexuals. The government has been quite remarkable at setting us against one another, by discriminatory laws and punishments for the various subsets.”

“Other than the anti-trans policies, I approve of most of what our government is doing. We need to exercise patience and have faith that logic and reason will ultimately win the day.”

She nodded. “Besides, if I break the law, they will punish you and my parents.

***

“Did you hear what the Prime Minister of Canada said yesterday?”

Sarah and I had been talking about the possibility of moving to Canada. I looked up from my newspaper and noticed how hairy her upper lip looked in the evening sun. “Why should I care?”

“Why should you care?’ She snorted. “He was addressing an international committee on human rights regarding the immigration of transpeople.”

“Oh!” Does she ever think about anything else?

“He said, ‘Since we have no trans problem, we are not desirous of importing one.’”

I shook my head with all the sympathy I could muster.

She laughed wryly. “I miss our house.”

And, whose fault is it we lost our home, unemployed one? “It’s simpler living in an apartment.”

“Our wonderful president had things to say as well.” She took the paper from me and folded it to page eight. “He said, ‘I can only hope and expect that the rest of the world, which has such deep sympathy for these criminals, will at least be generous enough to convert their sympathy into practical aid. We, on our part, are ready to give each and every one of our transpeople a first-class ticket to the country of their choice.’”

We had talked about the rumors of a relocation program. New Zealand seemed feasible. “Maybe you should apply for a ticket,” I half-heartedly suggested.

“You ass!” She stomped from the room.

There will be no sex in our apartment for another evening. Nothing new there. It’s been months since she’s appealed to me; and she’s made no advances.

***

I stared at the one picture I had left of Sarah, and then pulled it out of its frame. Its edges curled as it burned in the sink. The government had tried everything to restore her mental health before coming to a decision to exterminate.

In the end, I had testified against her. It had been my clear duty.

“You’re like a new person,” Joanne said, coming up behind me. She had been the one who had steered me to a cult-rehabilitation center for deprogramming after she . . . he had been taken away.

“I owe my life to you,” I admitted. “I had become cold, alienated, distant, and defensive.”

“He had you under his complete control,” she said.

“He” — even after all the help I’ve received it seems odd thinking of Ben/Sarah as a “he.”

She continued. “But now you’re warm, friendly, affectionate, and good-humored.”

“Ben was an agent of the devil,” I said, parroting what I had heard at least a thousand times, in the last six months. “Thank goodness our government has the courage to do the right thing with those people.”

“Thank goodness.” I echoed my own statement at a much lower volume.

The flames licked at the side of her face. A face I had once loved . . . and now?

The End

Thanks to Gabi for the review and help.

I have donated a group of stories to BC to help generate revenue for this site. Erin has said that these stories have raised tens of thousands of dollars in revenue for BC. I don’t receive any of that revenue.

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Stories available through Doppler Press on Amazon:
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Comments

It Gives Me Nightmares Just Thinking About This

jengrl's picture

This story is really frightening to anyone in our community. I hope that our nation never allows the extremists to completely take over and resort to Nazi Era tactics like this. We deal with enough discrimination and death in our community in real life. It is very thought provoking and very scary. I hope there are enough decent people in this world to stand up against it, should this nightmare ever become reality.

Hugs,

Jen

PICT0013_1_0.jpg

A nightmare indeed.

WillowD's picture

Thanks to President Donald Trump the United States is backsliding in a big way right now. But I think that most of the world has been getting steadily more enlightened over the decades.

he didn't do it.

Miyata's picture

Because it started long before Trump or Obama came into the picture. The Clinton administration on December 21, 1993, issued Defense Directive 1304.26, which directed that military applicants were not to be asked about their sexual orientation. This policy is now known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". The phrase was coined by Charles Moskos, a military sociologist.

Miyata312

'Do or Do Not, There is no Try' - Yoda

also

Miyata's picture

Obama indirectly started the separation into different groups. Trumps problem is that he tried to move his reality show into our Government.

Miyata312

'Do or Do Not, There is no Try' - Yoda

Scary story

Very scary story. One thing I'd like to comment on is a statement Sarah made.

“I’ve always been law abiding and I’m not going to change.”

Thinking like that can get you killed. When the state starts taking your rights away it's time to start thinking about resisting. If that means disobeying laws like one that says you have to wear a yellow star, sorry, mean to say "fly a rainbow flag", disobey. However, long before that kind of law is passed, I'd hope people had already signed up for firearms training so they could learn how to properly use their newly purchased firearms.

Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue

It Can't Happen Here

laika's picture

Ironic that the rainbow flag---a symbol of pride---would become mandatory. Of course having to live in a "Rainbow District" would make this less crucial, just be sure your papers are in order when you leave it to go to work. A chilling story, the parallels pretty blatant yet (though I'm sure some will call you an alarmist) not as far fetched as I wish it was. The "I love Big Brother" ending was particularly creepy, with a combination of deviousness and extraordinary powers of persuasion attributed to the False Woman who'd had him under its power, a standard element of this sort of scapegoatism. Good timing on the posting of this one Angela.
~~~hugs, Laika

Was the subject of your

Brooke Erickson's picture

Was the subject of your comment deliberate?

The novel "It can't happen here" is worth tracking down, even if it *is* outdated in some ways.

It's available on the Australian Project Gutenberg site

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301001h.html

Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks

thanx Brooke

laika's picture

Yes it was deliberate, but I never read it. Saw a cheesy film version. Only one of his I read was Elmer Gantry- a real cynical hoot, (had a thinly veiled Aimee Semple McPhereson character in there too). Went looking for It Can't Happen Here at Project Gutenburg and couldn't find it. I guess it's a matter of the copyright still being owned here. If it is, it's kind of silly, since I can download it just as easy from Australia's version of the project, and just did...
~~hugs, Laika

Oh, and it's also a song from Frank Zappa's first album from 100 years ago...

Scary, but

As an allegory it works, but if this unlikely yet plausible reality were to happen, there are other more trans-friendly countries they could have emigrated to such as Thailand or, ironically, Iran.

Ah, But. . . .

Other transsexuals would block Sarah's ability to leave the country because she doesn't share their zeal for the formation of a standalone transsexual nation. It's a matter of history.

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Shivering Dread

terrynaut's picture

Yowza! I shouldn't reach stories like that on an empty stomach. Ugh.

That was one disturbing story - very good but disturbing. I hope you consider publishing it. I think an occasional scare is good for people. It helps keep them from becoming complacent.

Thanks.

- Terry

Feeling a little down are we?

Angela, you know my status. Like most trans people, I have been through so many losses and hurts that lots of things don't seem that important. Now, in the last days, my family is showing signs of wanting to make up with me. Like many of us, I have been through the ups and downs with them so much that I don't know if I want to risk it again.

Please, no one over react and call the cops on my again. I am not suicidal, but if it came knocking at my door...well maybe it would be time to pour my life out. Just wish I could take some of them with me.

Gwen

anticipation?

kristina l s's picture

So just who might anticipate a world such as this and do I want to be part of it? I feel like I just got my meal in a restaurant and someone spat on my plate to applause. This is supposed to be what, some ultra right wing conservative moral crusaders utopia? Shades of nazi's rising and a tinge of xenophobic religious hysteria courtesy of some self serving moral crusader. I honestly refuse to believe that such could come to be. Yes some believe it, some may desire it and push for it. Yet most even if they do not understand would not accede to this.

Stand up and fight? Well that's a whole other thing but if it came to that... and quite frankly if it came to this, I for one would rather not be. Let your narrator live with his 'choice' if he can. Sarah got out so to speak, I'll raise a glass to her. Damn Jill a TG call to arms? Rocky for cross-dressers? I'm just about to have dinner, hope I don't get indigestion.

Kristina

Truth, Justice, and the American Way

It is so tragic that truth is the very first victim of political necessity. This story is a shocker and it was meant to be. It doesn't matter what the truth is. Only how politics spin it. Governments support lies all the time. Just look at history for examples of it. The sun revolves around the earth; the world is flat.

Trangenderism is not a choice but has biological and genetic causes that we're just now beginning to have an understanding of. Is that a truth?

Nazi Germany is the most stark example of how ambitious men can find power. Perhaps too much so because, everyone wants to believe it can't happen here. They're wrong. It can happen anywhere. Look at the past year of yet more names added to the list of Remembrances. A transwoman shot execution style in the back of the head. Another whose murder claimed she had it coming because she fooled him, and bludgeoned her to death.

Today is our Day of Remembrance, but is there any mention anywhere that in the mainstream? None I could find. So what is a 'girl' to do? Be law abiding till we're taken away like Sarah, or run to sanctuary like so many did in the 1930's?

Seems like it's so much like one step forward and two steps back thing. TG small town mayor elected, but proposition 8 and others like it passing in CA, AZ, and FL. I really hope this story never comes true but only time will tell.

Big Hugs to all on Remembrance Day.

grover

Powerful!

Really well done. George Orwell himself couldn't have done better.

Politically, I'd like to say something about this is what happens when the slippery slope of complacency and ennui meets with the determined march of really evil people. But, Orwell and real life are rarely that clear cut. This story captures the feeling of being caught in an inevitable turn of events that just gets worse and worse.

The ending is truly devastating. Ranks right up there with the best in dystopian fiction.

Anyway, this story makes a powerful case for why we all have a duty to work together to promote and protect equal civil rights for all people, not just people exactly like ourselves. Once the people who promote intolerance and discrimination get any foothold, they're never satisfied and always want more.

Sobering

The battle for equality with other human beings is constant and undiminishing. We lapse into complacency at our peril; this story starkly illustrates an extreme, but plausible, result.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance is also a good opportunity to honour those pioneers who paved the way for the relative freedoms which we enjoy today.

It is but a few days since we honoured those millions of men and women who fought and often gave their lives so that we might live free of tyranny.

Remember that we are not just fighting FOR rights, but to RETAIN rights.

I was born with defective sight; there was no hesitation in seeking a resolution to the condition. We should not be treated any different for any other reason, and those who do point a finger seem to forget that the largest digit, the thumb, is pointing right back at them.

There but for the grace of their God...

Susie

double jointed?

laika's picture

Not to make light of the topic or your comment Susie, but when I point my index finger
my thumb is folded over my middle finger and pointed foreward and kinda downward.
And when I wrap my three other fingers around it, it is pointed straight down.
In fact I CAN'T make it point back at me. Is there something wrong my thumb?!
The version that I heard is "There are 3 other fingers pointed back at you",
which does happen.
~~hugs, Laika

.
Oh, and when I titled my comment "It can't happen here" I was invoking Sinclair
Lewis's novel about a fascist dictatorship in America. When a populace gets frightened
they can fall for scapegoatism and do strange, unspeakable things to their fellow humans.
It's happened over and over in history. While human nature is pretty much consistent,
I am happy that our most basic laws in America are fairly protective of civil liberties.
At least for now. Pretty cool that judges can overthrow the "will of the people"
when the people are being dickhead bigots.

I'm on Susan's side, but agree with you, too

Yes, my other three fingers are pointed back at me at the level of my hand.
But my thumb is pointed up, and curls back a bit, so that my thumbtip is pointing up and back towards me head.

I guess it is just the way one holds their hand

One of the most difficult things to give away is kindness.
It usually comes back to you.

Holly

One of the most difficult things to give away is kindness.
It usually comes back to you.

Holly

Political Power

This was a very scary story and one that needs to be read by the people who are in the congress, both houses. It needs to be read by the new administration too. Yes it is a over the top expression of the fear that comes with being transgender. Yes some might say I am being paranoid but my paranoia has help keep me alive for 60+ years. This story is very powerful and I believe it would let the general public and the political leadership from the city to the federal government understand why we need the hate crimes bill, ENDA and to stop being treated as 2 class citizens with little or no civil rights.

love needs to be unconditional

love needs to be unconditional

Yes We Can

joannebarbarella's picture

Imagine it happening in the USA. I think you came awfully close to the conditions needed to create such a state in your recent election. Imagine that John McCain had won and then died. Sarah Palin would have been your President; A right-wing, know nothing religious nut-case who appealed to all the Joe The Plumbers out there as well as the fundamentalist sects. Eight years of her building on the legacy of the Bush administration and all of the legislation that has already diminished the rights and freedoms you once enjoyed and this tale becomes all too believable, particularly when people's attention is focussed on the economy and not on human dignity. Scary indeed,
Joanne

Well, it has already, to a somewhat lesser extent...

Puddintane's picture

It was Strom Thurmond, the "formerly" vicious racist, segregationist, and generally vile Southern Baptist Senator from South Carolina who managed to get transsexualism stricken from the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which would have provided strong protections for transgendered individuals in the USA, and would have provided protections for gay men and lesbians if homosexuality hadn't been removed from DSM-III when they brought out DSM-IV in 1973.

There are so many things to be thankful for in this world, but there are a raft of hateful bigots not numbered amongst them...

Puddin'

-

Cheers,

Puddin'

A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style

Angela Rasch, This Story

Should be a WAKE-UP call to defend our rights!!!
May Your Light Forever Shine

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

My god, Angela.

Anticipation was scary, including the choice of title. I think.
that is a good thing. What is so impressive, however, is how
very well you wrote it.

Masterful job, Angela.

Sarah Lynn

Scary

Very good story, thanks Angela.

We seem to be moving to more authoritarian models of society. Here in the UK there are so many CCTV cameras that it's estimated the average city dweller is captured by 300 cameras every day.

All a bit frightening really.

Hugs,

Alys

Four Years Later

Hi Angela.

Very scary story, but no more scary than real life as we know it now. You have the new NDAA act which is effectively unconstitutional. You have TSA thugs on every entry/exit point in the USA (except the Mexican border , of course) I could go on, but it saddens me to think that I have friends living in a country where normal behaviour can get you branded as a terrorist.

A previous comment mentions the proliferation of CCTV in the UK, placed there for 'our protection'.

I got out long ago, and now live in Spain. Sure we have problems here, but at least our constitution allows our voices to be heard. The TG community is protected here.

Your story really got to me, as was intended. Beautifully written, with no punches pulled. Great stuff.

Kind regards

Kate

P.S. Apologies in advance to Erin if the political content has crossed the line.

Kate

The Holycaust

Same story justvrainbow flags instead of stars. Mire chilling than Amy's Sanctity

Commentator
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Traurig?

Andrea Lena's picture

Ich kann fast Mahlers Kindertotenlieder hören.... Macht uns die Arbeit noch frei?

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

And Then They Came for Me

It's not easy being green.

Jill

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

It's possible

BarbieLee's picture

"First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke.
"where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe." Jame Baldwin
No one can own another unless that person gives them control over themselves. They might be imprisoned, chained but still be free. Little by little government which is NOT an entity but people want more and more control over everyone's life. I dare anyone to name anytime in past history where this has worked before people rebel
Barb
Life is a gift, treasure it.

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

No Longer Anticipated

joannebarbarella's picture

It has arrived, in spirit if not exactly in fact; Bathroom Laws; removal of Legal Protections; medical assistance denied; definition of gender defined by birth.

Jill, you wrote this twelve years too soon.

It can happen anywhere!

As the saying goes, those

As the saying goes, those that forget history are doomed to repeat it, maybe that's why the PTB seem to want to sanitize the history books, if people forget about what happened in the past it makes it all the easier to reintroduce some of the horrors.

You Have the Power. . .

. . .to vote.

Jill

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Unfortunately We Can't

joannebarbarella's picture

Neither Dorothy or I are US citizens so our votes don't count.

Too much faith in rational thought

Jamie Lee's picture

Sarah's may problem was putting her faith in rational thought by those elected to make laws. Rational thought that would put what's right for all before power hungry egos.

There are no checks and balances for these egos, they're in positions of power and there's nothing anyone can do to take them out of power. So, they decide what THEY like and don't like and start spinning lies that make it sound like their ideas are best for everyone.

They leave out bits and pieces so they can gain enough people to their side that it's impossible for their ideas to fail. It's only after their ideas become law are the bits and pieces revealed and those in the crosshairs start suffering.

The "sick" ones in this story weren't those who were TG, but those who thought less of the lives of those who didn't live "normal" lives. And those who stood by and let it happen.

It escapes those who did nothing to prevent murder that by eliminating one group of people there's nothing that says they won't go after others.

Suppose someone feels everyone should be slim, and convinced enough people to believe likewise. Those considered fat would be shamed into losing weight, attacked, or forced into camps that would force them to try and lose weight. It wouldn't matter is some died from heart attacks during forced weight loss, they got what they deserved, would be the thinking. And if a person is over weight due to a metabolic condition, or glandular problem and can't lose weight? Are these people killed because they can't reach some egotistical morons idea of what is slim?

Then what do these morons go after? Since most things are geared to right handed people, why not left handed people?

Saying something like this couldn't happen is to not realize that it has already happened to some freedoms. Look at each Country around the world and it can be seen how freedoms have been eliminated for certain people or people in general. In some Countries you can be killed if you speak out against the ruler of that Country. Protest against something, and you may be killed or jailed until you rot.

In 2020 you now have to wear a mask in many businesses or they won't serve you or let you into the business. Someone yelled quarantine and suddenly store shelves are bare of TP and other items people think they'll need. And because fear continues to be broadcast by the main media outlets, people continue to fear anyone without a mask.

The only thing that makes this story scary, besides the fact it could actually happen, is the quality of writing which made the story come alive. Which gave the characters life.

Others have feelings too.

Depressing but well worth a re-read

Looks to me like some parts of the USA is about 40% of the way through this, and continuing.

Alison

That's strong!

Monique S's picture

Wow, Angela, that's a strong statement. The brainwashing started with the fake pandemic, and even though your present government pretends to support the WOKE mentality, that - agin - pretends to support the rainbow community,
their secret goal are eugenics, don't make yourself any illusions on that! Why else would they sell a genetic manipulation as a vaccine?

I am glad to live in France, where the parliamentary elections might have put a stop to McWrong, but in any case, my Bretons neighbours (as shows the participation in the two recent elections) don't give an eff to what "Paris" thinks and demands. They just do what they feeel is right and for them still FREEDOM is the first and most essential value for their country.

Monique S

There are two types of French Citizen

Those who live in the Paris Area
And... the rest of the country. I've heard people tell of the hate they have for Les Parrisisenne (Except when those people are spending money in their area) and a general loathing for the Government of any party.
Not a lot different from elsewhere really. (inside and outside the Beltway (for the USA), inside and outside the M25 (for the UK)

Samantha

I'm a true Francophile ...

... and we've toured extensively by bike, cycle-camping, often in either the Alps or the Pyrenees and, as we aged, with an old campervan, but still with our bikes. We've found the French, almost without exception, friendly and helpful (there was once an occasion in a market where we were berated by a slightly inebriated Frenchman about Margaret Thatcher (who I loathed with a passion!) but that was a very long time ago!

We've been to Paris a few times and found the inhabitants much the same. We had a great meal in a small restaurant fewer than 200 metres from the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre enhanced by a pianist playing our sort of classical music.

R

Goose Stepping

Do they wear red noses so that people know they aren't serious?

Jill

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Excellent horror story Jill.

leeanna19's picture

Excellent horror story Jill. Chillingly possible

First they came for the socialists, (trans people) and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. (spliting the T from LGBT Divide and conquer)

Then they came for the trade unionists, (Then L & G) and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. (Being Bi is easier to hide)

Then they came for the Jews, ( anything not 100% straight is illegal) and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. Then we have lost 100 years of rights, possibly another country added to the 13 countries where being gay is legally punishable by death

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/14/countries-whe...

It is unlikey, but stll possible

Thank you for this story Jill, impressive.

cs7.jpg
Leeanna

Lest We Get Numb

Recent rulings of the Supreme Court, it would be fair to say, have many of us in shock. The willingness, EAGERNESS, to reject Stare Decisis and overturn its own decisions is frightening, especially with decisions that emphatically deny even the concept of privacy in personal matters. In his concurring opinion, Justice Thomas points to Supreme Court decisions about contraception, sodomy, and gay marriage, saying they should all be subject to relitigation. Throw in their recent attacks on native sovereignty, environmental law, and previous strictures against prayer in school, and state sponsorship of students at religious schools, and we're looking at an alarming revision of foundational principles of our country.

Which can be numbing. And people turn away from politics and the news, because it doesn't make sense.

Don't. Let this story remind you what's at stake, and what I like to think as the Pessimist's Motto: "It can always get worse." We need to support everyone who is losing their rights, and join the fight to get them back. Because no one is safe.