Photo: Ileana Johnson |
My friend Joe K., who spent five years in
Romania serving our country during Ceausescu’s draconian regime, commented that
“every time it would freeze in Bucharest, water in our radiators would freeze
up. We never had heat when we needed it.”
His comment was nothing new to me, we froze
all the time in our communist-subsidized reinforced steel concrete and drab
grey apartments covered with dingy air pollution. We lived on the fifth floor
and radiator steam seldom reached that high up. I was never warm in winter
except when I went to see my grandparents in the nearby village.
The village was located about 9 km from the
outskirts of town. Even though they were so close, they might as well have
lived in the 18th century. They never got electricity until late 70s
but they had a wood-burning mud brick stove that kept things toasty warm during
the day in the two tiny rooms. Grandpa’s bed was close by the stove which
served as a heat source and for cooking over the three eyes with removable and
adjustable cast iron covers to fit any size cast iron pot.
Temperatures dropped precipitously at night as the fire died out. We were sleeping snug in sea weed and straw mattresses and heavy wool quilted comforters made by grandma’s hand. We always woke up in the morning flea-bitten to a cold room until grandpa stoked a new fire in the stove and the crackling burning logs warmed us enough to get out of bed and put our warm and scratchy hand-made wool clothes on. The cats came down from the warm attic to be fed; they were the mouse catchers and a constant source of fleas and furry hugs.We always helped our extended family as we were all equally poor under the boot of communism. The socialist rhetoric was long on failed promises that never materialized and short on providing for the starving and cold proletarian masses.
I worry about domesticated animals left outdoors to fend for themselves and for our fellow humans who are homeless by no fault of their own and how they are going to protect themselves in these frigid temperatures.
Corrupt politicians on both sides of the
isle seem to be more concerned about the welfare of foreign individuals,
potential Democrat voters, who are overrunning our borders illegally, than they
are about our own poor people, veterans, and the elderly.
I hope there are enough shelters open to
protect our homeless population from frigid temperatures. We should provide
apartments for them instead of the illegal aliens, who are bussed into our
country with non-governmental organizations (NGO) and Democrat taxpayer funding,
demanding free housing, healthcare, food, electricity, education, and the right
to vote at the expense of Americans.
Poverty exists everywhere and people have a
right to seek a better life in a legal way. They also have the responsibility
to make their own countries better, especially the men. But they do not have
the right to demand welfare from our hard-earned tax dollars.
I love your description of your symbiotic relationship you had with your mouser. When we lived in the semi-tropics of Galveston Island, Texas, our dog and cat became invested with fleas, which must be one of the worse scourges ever!
ReplyDeleteIleana: I marvel at your writing talents and your tenacity of purpose. Such a worthwhile purpose. Harriet
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