Peace and Quiet by Susan L.

  I spent most of yesterday absorbed in the life of David Copperfield. It's probably why, in true Charles Dickens manner, there are so many commas in my own writing. He does have a knack for run on sentences. I often immerse myself in his stories to get away from the graphic murder and mayhem so prevalent on the TV. Not that his stories are without violence and brutality. "Oliver Twist" is a far cry from the musical that makes Fagin out to be a loveable old criminal.
  Dickens was quite the advocate in his day: a human rights activist before there was such a thing. He used his writing, both fiction and non-fiction, to speak out against slavery, the incarceration of people for debt, the workhouses, and especially the maltreatment of children in schools or after being sold into servitude. His rapier pen shredded the morals and values of the rich when those morals were self serving.
  It's disturbing to realize that many of the attitudes of the 1800's are still part of today's culture. There are still great inequalities between men and women.
  There's a pair of toilet bowl cleaner ads on the TV right now. They are an animated depiction where "powerful clean" is chanted by either football players or military types. "Fresh clean scent" is chanted by cheerleaders or Barbie doll style girls in 1950's era outfits. They hold hands and leap into the toilet bowl. Weird but I had to ask myself, why isn't the women the one who can be the "powerful clean"? Or are men really that averse to fresh fragrances? Is male sexuality somehow threatened by lavender or lemons?
  I know it's only one commercial but time and again these types of ads enforce the stereotypical roles both men and women are supposed to fulfill.
  And the children...there are places on this globe where a life of brutality is purchased for a few dollars.
  I was going to end this post with a description of being snuggled up on the couch with a purring cat on my lap. Somehow, in light of how today's blog evolved, it has lost its delight.
  God forgive us for the injustices we commit. Forgive us for our complacency and greed. Forgive us for burying our heads in the sand when all around us are hurting men, women and children.
  "Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; Your nobles rest in the dust, Your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them." Nah 3:18