RE: "The Dictator's Dash" / "La Carrera del Dictador" ... A Fundraiser For a Friend
I have no words to express my gratitude, Quill, except, maybe, that you made us cry. After all the crap we've been through in the last days, including a horrible visit to Cumaná's central hospital last-night, with my step-daughter, who had a sudden pain--we feared might be appendicitis--and which left us so demoralized we had a hard time getting up in the morning (I'll find a way to show images of this hell they call hospital), generous gestures such as this help us regain hope in humanity.
This drastic realization we've had with these medical emergencies have shaken our souls. We are walking a tightrope, no net, and the roddens that make life-and-death decisions around and above us are nibbling the rope while they do "high diplomacy".
Today, we were also hit by a bad news regarding Vivian's Chilean Visa. It was denied. As you know, her aunt in Brazil had bought her tickets to go to Chile first (visit another aunt), stay five days, and then land in Brazil. The consular guys at the Chilean consulate in Puerto Ordaz judged my daughter's application suspicious and one in particular, Edgar Catoni, told her "hueles a inmigrante" (you smell like immigrant) and showed her the door before she was done packing all the documents they ignored.
She is devastated. She has not yet left the country and they managed to make her feel alien already.
It's been tough, but we'll see through this.
My wife is teasing me now about the fact that I started this comment saying "i had no words", well, what the hell, I guess it takes a rambling to find the words.
Blessings to you and your family, my friend and thanks to all the good people who make Steemit a welcoming place.
I have forwarded commission payment.... I think? I'm not sure, but I think the current exchange rate gets me across the line... just. otherwise I had better get posting and earning. I'm sure your humble bard will let me know if I am short.
He suggested a poem in honour of @azurejasper"s unwavering commitment to my continued existence. I now require him to do scholarly rigorous research into the topic that is @azurejasper and compose a masterpiece to compensate for my crappy fathers day offerings last week.
It requires something special, it was a shocker.
Thanks a million, @girlbeforethemirror. It was a mighty generous contribution. I'm sure Quill will satisfy any expectation. I think that it is a proven fact now that he can work magic with words and with human actions. On behalf of my family, my eternal gratitude and admiration.
Warm hugs from Venezuela
@girlbeforemirror,
If there was one person I knew would be in here, it was you.
Of all the poems I've written in my life, there was never one I more look forward to writing than this one.
Marg, thanks.
Quill
@hlezama,
Quill
That's a beautiful philosophy. Wish it were held by men in uniformed everywhere.
I just worked out this rough translation of your poem, Quill, which I had not commented directly. I think it is, like all your work, brilliant and poignant. It is beyond me why anyone in their right mind would want to imitate an evil doer, but again, it goes back to having a "right mind" and immitators of this kind do not. There are kids in every town in Venezuela trying to immitate the most violent capos in history, even when they know they won't live over 30 pursuing such a career.
Here's my spanish version (you can add it to the body of the post so that spanish-speaking steemians can get the overall idea)
La Carrera del Dictador
Hitler, y Stalin, y Saddam Hussein,
Todos sus héroes eran peludos
sus reinos inspiraron su modelo a seguir,
Como ellos, se volvió él, Maduro.
Él la afeitadora para imitar su apariencia tomó,
Porque los HOMBRES a sus bigotes le ponen hasta cera,
el look de Fidel descartado, así que la barba olvidó,
Pero convertirse en un Dictador abrazó como carrera.
Pero fue asumir su disfraz una imprudencia,
con verdaderos maestros Maduro compite,
La caída de países, asesinato y violencia
Es el bigote solo vanidad pa´l que lo imite?
Que vello facial, lo que espanta es la hambruna
Mao … afeitado; como la calva de Mussolini ninguna.
@hlezama,
And THIS ... is what I'm talking about. One of the most gifted minds on the blockchain.
Quill