"Hope - Know My Worth" by Eloise Banting

Hope

I was born to heal -

Compressed into beauty -

From coal to something real -

To make those I touch free.

But so roughly I was FOUND -

By a man who did not know my worth -

I was found from my sparkle UNDERGROUND -

I was found in the beauty of Earth.

They took me away -

To be carved into their currency -

They said in your Eden you cannot stay -

Because you belong overseas.

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You will give me fortune -

You will give me fame.

Though you were born to heal -

I will force you into a bejeweled frame.

But I will pass you along -

Among my parasites - my friends -

I will lock you in my closet -

Because your profitable sparkle never ends.

Though you were born of the great spirit -

To give life in those that sold you - 

I will sell you and I SOLD you -

Because you will give me profit.

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But those deserving of me -

Know my worth so sweet!

And those who cannot see -

How my healing powers cannot be beat -

Are the ones who lose -

The goodness of my soul -

For they so self-righteously choose -

To see me as gold - more gold!

I was carved by the high man -

I was carved by the corrupt pope -

But I am not 'The Hope Diamond' -

I want to be just hope.

Yet you see more value -

In those jewels in the flood -

Not the ones passed around -

More than the diamonds of blood.

No man can see my worth -

Even the ones who crave -

The spotlight for protecting -

My bloody peers from their blood grave.

"Fallen" by Eloise Banting

Fallen

They called me a devil for my lace -

With horrors and names they were calling.

They called me the ugliest disgrace -

For I am among the fallen.

Pictures and portraits so rotten -

Caricatures of a clown.

And they said I would soon be forgotten -

Forcing me 6-feet underground.

Don’t they see my heart so pure?

My soul of the Universe’s vastness?

And every heartache ill I can cure -

But I am the one so classless.

But they need a figure -

To ease the evils of the world.

For they blame the seekers -

And they say I raise Hell on Earth.

Yet the ones who say so -

Are the ones who ignore -

The ones who need saving -

And forget what we’re here for.

The liar and the thief -

You say they are Satan too -

Who stole money for a friend -

When the devil is in you.

Because the devil is in you.

Not in the survivor -
Not in the sweet soul of the survivor.

The Trump Administration: What's their latest jab at women you ask??

So there’s news of another blatant insult and crime against women all over the world from the Trump administration. What’s new? The latest of these degrading executive decisions comes in the form of a full fund cut-off from the U.S. government to the United Nations Population Fund - an organization dedicated to reproductive health and care of women and people all over the world. 150 countries depend on this fund for healthcare benefits and it is predicted that there will be a loss of $32.5 million in their 2017 budget. The Trump administration says it will not support the UNPF’s alleged aid of forced abortion and sterilization in China, which has a strict two-child policy. To me - it isn’t about whether the UNPF supports these abortions or not - or whether they provided such aid to China -their ultimate goal is about ensuring that, if they are forced, that women have the SAFEST and most affordable healthcare possible anywhere in the world - who knows where they might seek these services or who might provide them - even if they are appointed by the government - if they cannot afford such care from qualified medical aids. So the Trump administration are re-appropriating these funds to the U.S. Agency for International Development - which is entirely too dangerous as the federal executive authority (the Trump administration) has most of the say in what the U.S.A.I.D. does - and the TA says no to women’s healthcare. 

In a final statement the UNPF said that these claims were “erroneous” and 

that that they “[refute] this claim, as all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decision, free of coercion and discrimination.”

Dear Piers...

Dear Piers,

I remember on a brisk summer night in Brooklyn, New York I was walking home all by myself after work and a few drinks. Wasn’t drunk by any means, but certainly felt a buzz. As I was walking up Cornelia street back home, I noticed two black men were trailing me. I sped up faster and I noticed their pace quickening, too. So I sped up even more hastily, and they, of course, followed suit. At that point, I knew I was in trouble.

You see, even in the darkest of situations, your intuition still goes off and rings an alarm in your mind telling you to get the hell out of where you are as fast as you can. It’s the fight or flight response - and, before, they even said anything to me - I was fighting and most certainly flighting. Then my fears quickly became realized as I heard one of them say to me, “Give me your money, miss, or I’ll shoot.”

He had the indecency to threaten my life, yet the manners to refer to me as “miss” ..? That’s something I’ll never understand or forget. Anyways, he had a gun in his pocket and held it out for a few fleeting seconds, though he didn’t hold it directly at me, I saw it. It was probably the scariest situation I’ve ever been in. 

So I quickly responded, “I don’t have any money on me I have to go back to my apartment and I’ll get it, I promise.” Which was, of course, a lie. I didn’t have any money on me nor did I have any in the apartment as I was completely broke during my year and a half long stay in New York - irrelevant, but worthy of noting as it shows the bout of trauma I was already facing, on top of this one. That said - no, I didn’t have any money for the drinks I had, they were purchased for me and I was pretty hot in the local restaurant scene in Williamsburg so the bartenders always hooked me up.

I digress...

And then he said, “Just give me your cell phone.”

I obliged, gave it to him, and the two men walked away and let me be while I sprinted home. The memory is a little fuzzy, as I try to block it out, but it was about 2 in the morning when all of that happened. About a few hours later, around 5 AM, I get a knock on my door and it was the NYPD - who, by the way, are some of the most beautiful angels!! I could not have been more grateful to them. They were so kind, supportive, knowledgeable, and sweet. And, of course, they did not arrive empty handed and had my cell phone on them!! How they retrieved it, found my apartment, and caught the guys who stole it from me is something that still remains a mystery to me, but it just goes to show their investigative prowess.

They requested that I come back to the police department to file a report and identify the guy who committed the deed, and I was definitely willing to do whatever they asked as they were so sweet. So - I went. I was there for hours waiting in an interrogation room. No, I was not interrogated, they just had nowhere else to put me. After a couple hours, they brought me to the line-up. It was exactly like you see in the movies!! I looked at all of the guys standing in front of the board that measured their height as I was standing behind one of those window-mirrors. You know, the ones where you can see through to the other side but those standing on the other side merely see a dark mirror. Well, I identified the right guy who stole my cell phone and that was that. I was summoned to court, and it was my choice whether I should put the guy in jail or not - I chose not to as I really didn’t want the karma of putting someone in the big house - which, now, I slightly regret, but hey.

The scariest parts of this entire ordeal were in those seconds that I was threatened with a gun and the moments after the fact in which I realized that I could have been mercilessly beat up or, worse, shot dead and even raped. 

And so this brings me to why I’m writing to you today. Was it my fault that any of this happened?? Not at all. I refuse to take the blame for this and I will most certainly not apologize for walking home. I refuse to apologize for my right to believe that walking home from the subway to my apartment is supposed to be a safe journey and I most certainly will not apologize for thinking that Brooklyn is a place free of depraved hearts for the most part - plenty of people walk home at night without getting threatened with a gun.

Just as none of this is my fault, it is not Kim Kardashian’s fault that armed men robbed her at gun point, bound and gagged her, and locked her in her bathroom while they stole millions of dollars worth of goods. Though my trauma pales in comparison, it is still trauma and the victim is never at fault.

To insinuate that it is Kim Kardashian’s fault for the nightmarish incident is like saying that women who get raped were wrong for going out to that party, they were wrong for dancing with their friends so as to become a target for a predator, and that they were wrong for dressing up or looking attractive. Just because Kim Kardashian is such a public figure and has chosen to propel her own empowering image through social media, which has inspired many like myself to be a smart and savvy business woman who stands up to prejudice and for people in the world, it does not make her a willing target for a crime such as this. And, yes, by saying that she needs to tone down her own self-promotion because it makes her a target for a gross crime is EXACTLY like saying it is a victim’s fault for getting raped, attacked, or even killed. Yes, advice to stay safe is always welcome and common sense measures are always worth taking to prevent such atrocious invasions of personal dignity, but like, you said, “It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, black or white, old or young” - they can happen to anyone. But what you’re saying to me, and to other women reading your views at least, in the rest of your open letter to Kim is that when a crime is committed against someone who is wealthy, beautiful, and has it all, it is still a crime, just less of one. You are saying that if it happens to someone who is less fortunate that it is a greater crime. You see, this is an argumentative fallacy as it falls under the realm of false equivalencies. But you’re right, it doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, black or white, old or young, these things could happen to anyone - but it doesn’t make it less of a crime when it happens to certain demographics and not to others, and good fortune most certainly doesn’t make it any more of a victim’s fault than if it were to happen to someone living below the poverty line. And, yes, by telling Kim to tone down her public image is insinuating that this is her fault.

Just as you are requesting Kim Kardashian to reevaluate her priorities in life, I request that you reevaluate yours and especially the messages you are sending to young girls.

Sincerely,

And with all due respect,

Eloise Banting

The Lesser of Two Evils: Why Is This a Toxic Game to Play??

So we’re at a point in the presidential race in which claims that it is SO historical because it is one in which we must decide between the lesser of two evils are running rampant. We must decide who is the worthier candidate solely based on which one possesses a lesser degree of immorality, fraud, and overall malevolence. Well, I think this is a really toxic way of looking at things. It insinuates that both Trump and Clinton are evil, and we must choose the candidate that is less likely to drop bombs on Syria - but still likely to. The candidate who is less likely to impede on women’s rights - but still likely to. The candidate who is less likely to dismantle and overthrow systematic healthcare, but still likely to.

No, no, and no.

I refuse to promote the argument that both are evil and we must choose the lesser villain. Yes, I formerly viewed both candidates as largely wicked,  but my disdain for Trump, no pun intended, TRUMPS everything. I refuse to view Hillary as the more mediocre candidate when she is our only hope at beating this dictator, this master-mind of manipulation, gender degradation, and corrupt business. This grossly infected specimen of a human being that is more sensitive to the words in a 140-character tweet than to the lives of the college-students he cheated at Trump University. She is not the lesser of two evils, because, simply put: Trump is the greatest evil of all and Hillary is a saint in comparison.

So - it’s down to you, dear voter - are you gonna remain independent or a non-voter, simultaneously removing your voice from a political debate that needs it, or are you gonna step up to the plate and say what needs to be said: We CANNOT give this election to Trump. We CANNOT endorse the notion that Hillary is the lesser of two evils if we are to see Trump’s political demise. And we CANNOT give a racist, xenophobic imbecile anymore of a platform to display his theatre, antics, and misogyny than we already have.

I will give my voice to this election. I’m not going to give a CELEBRITY a role he does not deserve or one he is not capable of fulfilling. And I most certainly will not endorse the notion that Hillary is comparable to an exponentially greater evil. Because I’m with what is right and I’m with what makes America GREAT already. So I’M WITH HER and will forever be. #Hillary2016

Native Americans: Why Do They Have The Highest Suicide Rates?

A recent study released in April 2016 has found that suicide rates have reached their highest levels in the United States in nearly 30 years, with sharp increases in nearly every age group besides those over the age of 75. While the statistics are striking and often times disturbing, what resonates with me the most is that Native Americans had the steepest rise of all ethnicities in the US, with an 89% increase in women and a 38% increase in men. Further, the study indicates that without the appropriate intervention and treatment, these numbers will continue to rise at a rate that we have never seen before. So - I think - a key to preventing any further catastrophic levels of suicide in the Native American community is through awareness and through acknowledging the plight and world of the Native American. We must understand that many reservations are plagued with poverty, unemployment, domestic violence, sexual assault, alcoholism, and drug addiction. These circumstances are absolutely dire and without the necessary aid, they will only get worse, especially for children. About 25% of Native American children live in poverty, contrasting greatly with the 13% in the United States. Additionally, they are 17% less likely to graduate compared to the national average, and their risk for substance abuse is also much higher. They are also twice as likely to die before the age of 24 and have a 2.3% higher risk of exposure to trauma. So, clearly, Native American youth are the most vulnerable to suicide and in need of the most preventative aid. We must find ways to help and relieve the Native American community of this statistic because when any ethnicity thrives in the United States, we all thrive. Conversely, when one of us suffers, we all suffer. Let's educate ourselves and stay in touch with what our fellow Native American brothers and sisters are going through.

Twin Flames: Have You Found Yours Yet??

Twin Flames

Look, I get it. People are skeptical of the notion that soulmates exist. And I understand why. How are we supposed to believe that we were predestined to meet the other half of our soul after generations of reincarnation and millenniums of paying karmic debts? Though I definitely understand the skepticism, I really don’t think I belong in the category of non-believers and doubters of such a cosmic union. Yes, it is a bit silly to believe that God or the Universe or whatever transcendent, all-knowing figure you believe in decided since lifetimes before we were born that we were meant to be with a specific person. Yes, it is easy to say that it’s not real, and, yes, it is easy to perceive the idea of soulmates as something only a frivolous mind would ponder. But, through all the doubt and the nay-say, I still believe in it. I also believe in Twin Flames.

So, what exactly is a soulmate and a twin flame??

A soulmate and a twin flame are, in fact, very similar entities. One can have several soul mates, but only one twin flame. So let me elaborate...

A soulmate stems from your soul family. It stems from an energy that brings people into your life who are meant to be there to heal your karmic wounds and load off your karmic baggage. A soulmate is not necessarily a romantic partner, and you can have several soulmates at one time!! Think of them as kindred spirits -- a sister, brother, mother, or even best friend fall into the category of potential soulmates. The media has really given the idea of the soulmate a bad name, and it’s really time we change it. Though a soulmate connection can be romantic, it is not limited to this type of bond.

Okay, now for twin flames. Twin flames are what we know as the general idea of ‘soulmates.’ Since ancient Greece, Twin Flames were said to have been created from one soul that has been split in half upon creation. One half is masculine and the other half feminine, destined to me during a particular lifetime. Though one half may remain in an ulterior realm with God, the other half may be dwelling on Earth -- they aren’t necessarily in the same place at the same time!! Sometimes it takes lifetimes to meet your twin flame and that’s perfectly okay!! A twin flame represents one half of your own, unique soul!! A twin flame is the quintessential soulmate!! Though you may have several soulmates, you can only have one twin flame, and that is real, true love.

So, have you met your twin flame yet?? If so, I’d love to hear about your connection!! Also, tell me a little bit about your soulmates and how they lift you up to all that you can be!! Don’t be shy and I hope that this little blurb was helpful in clarifying the difference between a soulmate and a twin flame!! Thanks for reading Xxx

P.S. I personally think I know who my twin flame is, but that’s a secret I’m not sharing til we’re married.. Shh!! :-)