Compassion Please for all Children of the World

I have gone through divorce and bankruptcy; I have been robbed, several times, wrecked cars and bikes and was even in a crash on a trolley car,

lost a girl friend to Leukemia (she died when she was 27, a year after earning her Master's Degree from USC), set my hair on fire (yes, drugs ARE bad for you),

had two very serious injuries to my right arm (one playing basketball, one racing dirt bikes), played basketball with broken ribs, a broken finger, stress fractures in both my feet and (for some reason THE worst of all) a broken toe

had fifteen (15) broken bones in less than five (5) years, all of them ouchy plus

and I have seen my dreams of artistic success (which often seemed SOOOO close to actually happening) die over and over again.

I have been fucked with and fucked over a million times and when I was young had more death threats than I can count ("but I really thought--insert name here--would like me better"; their boyfriends evidently didn't think so).

I even saw my father die of a heart attack in the car (I was 22) while we were driving him to the hospital so for all my "Golden Boy" luck I have had quite a few bumps along the way.

But nothing--and I do mean nothing--comes close to the pain you feel when you lose a child.  There is nothing like it.

At all.




The reason I bring this up is that in the world right now so much killing and chaos is happening, much of it due to our invasion of Iraq, and my feelings about losing my child are fundamentally no different than how a parent in Iraq or Palestine or anywhere else feels when their child dies.

All parents die when their children die.  Please try to think about what is happening in the world today from that perspective.  How would you feel if you had a child and your baby died?

Children in Africa and other countries around the world--including underclass children right here in America--are dying partly because of economic policies implemented by corporate interests in the United States. 

Young black and Latina children die because our system in many ways makes it harder for their parents to build a life that allows them to protect their children in the manner in which my child might have been protected had she lived.



We are at a cross roads and it is time we stop to think about showing love and compassion to one another, not only our own children but the children of everyone else, as well.  This war, all this greed and bull shit--it has got to stop. 

All parents grieve the same.  It doesn't matter where you're from or what color you are or what language you speak; losing your child is terrible everywhere.

There is nothing like it.  Please think about how our actions impact children on this planet.  I lost my baby partly because I wanted to make as much money as possible on my big-ass contract and so I stayed in California and (not knowing any better) we let shitty doctors fuck up when perhaps had we left and gone back home things might have been different.

No matter what, though, losing a child is a pain one cannot really imagine unless you have experienced it.  So please take a stand for peace and fairness and compassion over greed and corporate control.

The world needs all of us--now--to stand up for one another.  Black, white, American, Mexican, Cuban, Iraqi, Israeli, African, Asian, European, it just doesn't matter.  We are all one people, spiritually connected.  It is time to choose peace above ego and greed.  Love is the only answer that truly matters.