Way back, oh, it must have been 1988 or so, I remember seeing an article in the New York Times. It was a beautiful summers day, and as was our custom, my husband, mother-in-law and I were sitting around, drinking coffee and passing a lazy morning by mindlessly flipping and reading, our actions halting on an article here and there to acquire or expand bits of knowledge. One of the articles caught my eye.
The lead picture was that of a well dressed woman standing in front of a non-descript older model car. I remember her wearing a scarf draped over her shoulders and held neatly in place by a small broach on her left side. She looked like anyone I could have seen at any of the chic stores that dotted Route 1 in Westport, Connecticut, where the article was datelined. Through the windows of the car, the photograph revealed piles of cloths.
As I read the article, I learned a lot about the woman, though to this day, I do not remember her name. She had been married to a wealthy man. They had split, though the article did not say why. In the ensuing divorce, she had lost everything. She lived in her car in Westport where her friends were and where she had resided with her husband before the divorce. Though she remained in contact with her friends, none knew, until the article appeared, that she was homeless and penniless. The Times article, though not actually siding with her, was pointedly informing the public of a growing and disturbing trend. The author wanted the public to know that the courts were, at an alarming rate, making women homeless in cases of divorce.
I did not realize, way back then, that the courts would do this to me. I did not realize, though I should have, it was right there in black and white, that our government would sanction abuse of its own citizens. They knew, even back then, what was going on, and turned their back to it.
Last night, as I laid in my bed, dreaming, that day and the article came back to me. It was as though a divine being was bringing me full circle, using that memory. I was seeing something clearly and with such a concise thought process, that the clouds that had enshrouded me for the last several years of living this hell, suddenly parted. I now understand why our government has abandoned its women and children.
Along with the memory, came the realization that our government knows, and has known for many years, what is happening to the women and children in this nation, and why it condones and supports the continued abuse. For, it is the strong that prevail and the weak who lose. They are simply weeding out the weak. Culling the crops if you will. The government is doing its job, protecting and defending, but not those who seek protection and defense, but those who can pay for it.
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