Author: Nadia

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHTBRIGADE

Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

(Text from Poetry of the Victorian Period, eds. Jerome Hamilton Buckley and George Benjamin Woods.  Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, and Company, 1965.)

Fire and Ice
AKA:  The Late Great United States of America.  
This poem has been on my mind alot lately:

Some say the world will end in fire;
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

– Robert Frost

I have noticed a particularly offensive commercial on TV today.  Guy makes some smart ass comment to his wife/girlfriend and there is this very loud sound of a slap.  Now, if it was the other way around and the man slapped the woman, he’d find his butt in jail for domestic violence so fast it would make your head swim.  Technically, it is just as much domestic violence for a woman to strike a man, but very few men pick up the phone and call the police.  Perhaps it’s a macho thing.  The dangerous message that this commercial sends is that it is okay for a woman to strike a man.  
Under the law it is not okay for a man to slap a woman back just because she slapped him first.  It is not self-defense, and the man is expected to retreat.  Otherwise, he will find himself charged with domestic violence.  Now, I don’t think anyone should be slapping anyone, but if someone slapped me in the face, I don’t know that I would be able to retreat.  

Have you ever been in a complete and total rage?   The kind of rage where all reason flees and you just “go for it?”  I am a 5’2,” 108 pound woman, but on those few occasions when I have experienced that kind of rage, I’d take on Mike Tyson without hesitation.  

Would it surprise you to know that some women are abusers and strike their partner on a regular basis?  He is always expected to retreat, and when he doesn’t it is he that is prosecuted not her.  This recently happened to a friend of mine, and as much as I wish that he had just turned about and walked out the door, he didn’t, and I can understand why he didn’t.  I think there are very few of us that can react calmly and retreat when we are struck in the face.  

I have never slapped anyone in the face, nor do I recall anyone ever slapping me in the face.  I did throw my cat’s scratching post at my boyfriend once, and he side stepped it and the damn thing went right through my very large window – which cost me more than a few bucks to replace.  

My boss is an alcoholic.  He almost destroyed himself 19 years ago because of his addiction to alcohol and cocaine.  He got sober and remained that way for 19 years.  Last fall he decided that it would be okay to have a glass of wine now and then.  Since that time, he has been in three rear-ender accidents, totaled two of his cars, and is facing a drunk driving charge.  
I have also noticed a decided difference in his personality.  He alternates between Mr. Nice Guy and Mr. Bully

His wife phoned me at home at 7:00 a.m. when he was arrested for DUI .   This morning my phone rang at 7:00 a.m. and his wife told me that he had been arrested last night for domestic violence; had bailed himself out and come back to the house and was again arrested for violation of a restraining order (which had issued automatically when he was arrested for DV).  He is now sitting in jail with $100,000 bail.  He is to be arraigned tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m.  His attorney is hoping for an OR (own recognizance) release.  His wife is willing to drop all charges if he checks himself into a 30 day residential treatment program.  He is not agreeable to this.

If he doesn’t go into a residential treatment program, I am afraid of receiving that third 7:00 a.m. phone call from his wife informing me that he has wrapped himself around a tree or killed someone else.