Good People Are Everywhere

Do you need a couple of dollars? A little voice behind me asked. I turned and found a  lady behind me at the grocery checkout counter. “No,” I said as I furiously dug through my bag, desperately searching for my phone to pay the balance of my grocery bill. I had $15.00 in cash, two dollars short of my bill. Watching me dig in my bag, I assumed the lady thought I did not have enough money and was desperately looking for change…maybe? I didn’t ask. I quickly said, “Oh no thanks I got it.” I was happy to finally find my phone which had slipped to the bottom of my backpack. Okay, she said.
    I quickly paid the balance, grabbed my groceries, and was about to leave, but I could not shake that lady's voice and look when I turned to her and told her that I got it. Her face and voice were kind and caring, with no hint of judgment or questions about why I didn’t have enough money. There was no frustration as I held up the line while searching for my phone or any suggestion that I leave some groceries. She was calm; her tone was a grandmotherly concern, simply wanting to ensure I could have all I needed. I stopped and turned back to her, seeing her for the first time, about 5'5", dark brown complexion, maybe in her sixties, could be older but looked like sixties. Her face was kind and smiling; that kindness in her heart radiated on her face. “Thank You,” I said, “Thank you for your kindness.” “You’re welcome,” she said, smiling. “You have a good night.” “I wish you the same,” I said to the beautiful, kind stranger who made me feel like I was not alone, and if I needed help, she was right there to offer it.💝

By Petol Weekes

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock: Prostock-studio  FILE #: 460991971

Black Female Buyer Posing With Grocery Shopping List In Supermarket

THE LITTLE THINGS: A Floral Light in A Dark Place

 

In 2020 the world faced something that most people my age and younger have never faced in their lifetime, a worldwide pandemic caused by the COVID-19 Virus. By March 16th, most businesses in New York were shut down, including my job, and we were in a lockdown, with only essential stores open. As the days and months went by, the infection rate and death toll spiked rapidly. In the US, the one place you did not want to be was New York, ground zero for infections and deaths. By late Spring, we had hundreds of New Yorkers dying and thousands infected daily.  The horror of the daily death reports, and the silence of the normally noisy New York streets, was replaced by an eerie silence, only interrupted by the jarring sounds of ambulances with sirens screaming, racing to and from a nearby hospital, filled my neighborhood with a sense of dread; at least, that's how it felt to me. I will never forget the dark grey I saw and felt throughout; even in the bright sunshine, it was a dreary dark grey. The dark shade of grey that to me, represents doom.

My biggest challenge at the time was overcoming my fear of stepping outside. But with a desperate need for air, vitamin D, and exercise, I had no choice. With much prayer and encouragement from friends, I ventured out as protected as I could with a mask, goggles, and face shield. I started walking everywhere, especially in areas of parks and on streets I had never walked before; it was something new and filled me with curiosity. But something I saw on these streets and parks that I did not expect to impact me as it did, was the flowers. Everywhere there were these little gardens of the most beautiful flowers, some planted in little plots in the middle of a busy highway, some on the sides of the road, some in front of buildings, with the beautiful flowers peeking through the fence, and in the parks. These were not just wildflowers; there was a design, and the plot of dirt was manicured; someone took the time to plant and take care of these flowers. As I discovered more of these little plots of beauty, I realized that I was smiling again; the flowers brought me joy. Sometimes as I stood gazing or photographing them, fellow New Yorkers, in spite of our social distance fears, connected and marveled with me over the beauty of the flowers, and we wondered who planted them. These walks became an almost everyday occurrence, and these moments photographing the flowers were, on some days, my only source of joy. Almost without realizing it, the dark grey that was so present in my life got lighter and lighter until it faded. 

Along the way, I met some of the green-thumbed angel gardeners and thanked them, letting them know how much their flowers meant to me. There was also this little garden in the most unusual place by the side of a busy road where I happened upon what is now my favorite flower and favorite flower photo. I call it the Candlelight Flower, as a light shining in a dark place. Recently I had the unexpected pleasure of saying Thank You to the angel-green-thumbed New Yorker who took it upon himself to transform this overgrown garbage-filled piece of land, plant the seeds and allow God to grow something beautiful, and in so doing, helped to heal my mind and heart and possibly the minds and hearts of many others. His name is Mike.

The Little Things: The Power of A Shower

 

Some people are bath people, they will lounge in a warm or hot bath for hours with candles, and music, read a book, or fall asleep. Not me; I am not here for it. I am a straight-shower person. Hot water running through my hair and massaging my shoulders is my thing. I can stand under bearably hot water for hours if you allow me. It's what wakes me up in the morning and my favorite bedtime ritual. Nothing beats a hot shower at the end of a cold day (sorry bath people). I feel loved by the water and embraced by the warmth; this is one of the things I value most in life, and one of the most automatic things, except on those ungodly days when to my horror, our building boiler is broken, and the water is ice cold. For me, this is an unforgivable sin. I call curses on that boiler, and if I allow myself, I would have hateful thoughts about our building management for allowing this dastardly deed of not properly maintaining the boiler. Don't they know how important this is to me?  Yes, I can simply boil a pot of water and use the special tub that I purchased for this very reason, but it is not the same.  It's just so wrong and unnatural and so much work. Natural is simply being able to turn on the tap and aaaahhhh, hot joy. Ah, yes, first-world problems.

In this said first world, there live some among us who have no such problems as a broken boiler nor problems of having to boil water and shower from a plastic tub. No such problem on waking up from a warm bed only to find freezing water in the middle of winter. In fact, they have no bed at all, no hot or cold water, they have no shower at all. The fact is many have not had a shower in days, months, or years? They never get to experience the simple joy of washing off the day's dirt, washing the stress of life out of their hair, or just the joy of that fresh and renewed feeling, or the pleasure of putting on clean underwear, clean clothes and a pair of soft clean socks, or the security of putting on a clean mask to protect in this time of Covid and other illnesses, to simply feel like they are human and that they matter. This is not available to so many who live among us. 

But God does not leave us without angels. One such Angel is Walter Harris, founder of "Power in a Shower," and his team of amazing volunteers. Along with a sparkling clean shower for our unhoused brothers and sisters, they provide clean clothes, including underwear and socks, masks, water, and snacks. More importantly, they provide compassion, care, a smile, and conversation, in a word, LOVE.

 Source:  

Domestic lifestyle portrait of young happy, and beautiful black African American woman smiling happy, taking a shower at home bathroom, washing her hair with shampoo.  By VisualsYouNeed- Adobe Stock

The Little Things: Olive and Her Kitties

🎵 "All Things Bright and Beautiful

All creatures, great and small

All things Wise and Wonderful, 

"Twas God that made them all" 🎵

This little song that I sang all through my childhood always comes rushing back whenever I happen upon scenes across the city where men and women are kneeling or sitting among stray animals or birds, mostly pigeons, feeding them, giving them love and attention that one could imagine they would give their own animals. I sometimes think of these people as a special breed who God specifically chose to take care of his creatures in the wild or the ones with no forever homes. Are they a special breed, or are they simply people who decide every day to reach beyond themselves and see these birds and animals as they truly are? Bright, beautiful, wise, and wonderful creations of God, and so are worthy of their time, their resources-no matter how limited, and their love. 

I happened upon one such kind soul taking care of some neighborhood cats; her name is Olive.💟😸

Songwriters: Cecil Francis Alexander / Edwin George Monk / George Mcbeth McPhee

All Things Bright and Beautiful lyrics © Capitol CMG Publishing, Royalty Network, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc

Song by Bill Staines

Unidentified Poor Grandmother in the street feeding Pigeons- Adobe Stock Image by Tavrox

The Royal Family is Long on Pageantry but Short on Humanity

It's been almost a month since Queen Elizabeth's death. The UK had been brimming with tradition, pomp, and pageantry, from the installation of the new King and Queen Consort to the late Queen's Funeral; it had been the spectacle for which the British Monarchy is known. World Leaders and royalty from all corners of the earth descended on England to remember the late Queen and to attend her funeral. Thousands of soldiers and military personnel paraded the streets, and thousands of people queued up to walk past her coffin and lined the streets to bid farewell to their Queen. 

The new Monarch, King Charles III, regal and seemingly powerful, wasted no time naming his heir Prince William and Catherine, Prince and Princess of Wales. It all seemed like a fairytale; however, just a little scratch of the surface, hidden just beneath, was the reality that this was an institution so desperate to prove its "power" that it used the death of the Monarch to deliver mental and emotional blows to her "much loved" grandson Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

If I ever wondered about the character of the people who run the Monarchy, the ten days between the Queen's death and her burial gave me a clear picture and one that was not pretty. It was grotesque. When news began to circulate that the Queen's health was declining and the family would make their way to Balmoral, the Sussexes released a statement that Meghan would accompany Harry to Scotland. Those within the royal households decided this of all times was the time to begin what would be ten days of doing the most to publicly damage and use the vile British press to abuse the Sussexes in what seemed a plan to put them "In their place." 

Many watched in disbelief as British tabloids gleefully splashed headlines from palace sources that King Charles did not want Meghan at Balmoral, that they would not welcome her there. Prince Harry was not allowed on the flight with the other Princes. He was not told (depending on what news outlet you read) or told five minutes before Prince Charles briefed the press that his grandmother was dead. There was then the dinner snub by Princes Charles and William when Harry arrived at Balmoral. Upon his return to England, there was a military uniform ban for Prince Harry, while other royals who were not military veterans or, in some cases, never in the military paraded around in their military Halloween costumes with chocolate medals. There were also the blaring headlines of the palace inviting then publicly uninviting them to the state reception the night before the funeral. One can only determine that these headlines, copied by news outlets worldwide, were specifically designed to humiliate and exclude the Sussexes publicly. The cruel treatment of Harry and Meghan by royal household members was appalling, especially as they were grieving Harry's only mother figure since the tragic death of his mom when he was only twelve years old.

I have long heard about the cruelty of the Windsors; many of us who have been paying attention have seen the damage done to Meghan and Harry, some of which they shared with Oprah and on the mental health documentary, The Me You Can't See. However, watching the inhumanity of the palace and the press play out in real-time as it did during those ten days against two people simply there to pay their respects was devastating. I can only imagine how destructive and painful it was to Harry and Meghan, the targets of that abuse. 

So devastating was that experience Sussex supporters and others worldwide prayed and crossed their fingers until there was confirmation that the Sussexes left the UK and returned safely to their family in the US. 

Watching their despicable behavior on a world stage, I am not sure what the Royal Family and their courtiers thought they achieved. Maybe the royalists and white supremacists they were playing to celebrated their actions as a show of power and especially "putting that black woman in her place," but to us who watched this from the outside, the Monarchy, King Charles III, and the royal household looked weak, small and vindictive.

Secure leaders do not have to destroy those of lower standing than they are to prove they are powerful. 

For the British royal family, pomp, pageantry, spectacle, and fleeting popularity are all they have to distract gullible people from the fact that they are empty vessels, utterly devoid of humanity.

Songs From The Soul

 

Blessings to this most beautiful lady at the park who sings for hours, pouring out her heart in songs. She is usually there all by herself, singing over the water. She is not a singer by any stretch of the imagination, her voice is terrible, and she couldn't carry a tune if her life depended on it. Yet, she pours her heart out, relieving whatever pain, troubles, or sharing the the joy deep within her. I don't understand the words of her songs as they are in Spanish, but I do understand a heart giving its all, and songs coming from the depths of a soul

🥰

"The Princess" is The Queen of People's Hearts

 

As a child, my passion was reading; in fact, my family called me a bookworm.  I loved mysteries, especially detective stories. My favorite by far was Nancy Drew.  I loved the adventures of Nancy, Bess, George, and Ned. Another passion was for fairytales; however, I would always skip the scary or dangerous parts to get to the last part, where they get married and live happily ever after. I must admit I never thought about what their life would be after they get married or what "happily ever after" really meant. It was not surprising then when watching "The Princess," the new documentary about Princess Diana, which used only archival footage to tell her story, that when they mentioned "Happily Ever After," that is what has stayed with me, and has played on my mind. 

The royal wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer was a huge spectacle before a world audience, Diana in a huge dress (hideous in my opinion) marrying her prince "charming." What in most cases looked like a wedding scene straight out of a fairytale, upon closer inspection from the archival footage, one could see the cracks, fleeting moments when the turmoil on the inside came to the surface on the faces of both Diana and Charles. The sad, almost embarrassed smiles gave away what was to come. This was not the beginning of “happily ever after” this was the beginning of a nightmare, Diane Spencer's nightmare.

In the Documentary series "The Me You Can't See," Prince Harry shared about the helplessness he felt as a child watching his mother chased by paparazzi, too young to protect her from the onslaught of press intrusion, nasty and vindictive articles. Too young to protect her from the sinister plots of spiteful palace courtiers, or "The Men in Grey," as Diana called them. Men employed by the monarchy to serve the Queen and the heirs to the throne, men who seem intent on destroying anyone whose fame undercuts that of the heirs. I can only imagine the horror he must have felt watching it all play out in front of him, but he was far too young to fully comprehend the huge role his own father's jealousy and the Windsor clan's spitefulness played in their attempt to destroy his mother's life.

Watching Princess Diana's life, reputation, good heart, great work, every movement, and facial expressions scrutinized, mocked, and ripped to threads for no reason other than mean-spiritedness was sickening. Watching entitled reporters invade her privacy and declaring they were given reassurance that she was a virgin, others scrutinized her weight and accused her of being fame hungry because tabloids plastered her pictures in their papers, while others claimed she was demanding and domineering with Prince Charles. When paparazzi camped outside her gym, members of the public blamed her for not having a gym at Kensington Palace. They blamed her when paparazzi on a boat invaded her privacy and photographed a private moment, a kiss with Dodi El Fayed, her boyfriend; they claimed that she wanted this photo out there, she wanted to send a message.
The lack of respect and gross misogyny by British reporters and commentators was appalling; to them, she wasn't human but a piece of meat to maul, feed on and discard as they wished. With no thought to her feelings, they broadcasted she was just a babymaker for Charles, that the marriage was just one of convenience.  By the end, the press, so confident they could abuse her with impunity, labeled her practically a monster. So confident because they had the approval of the monarchy, that invisible contract between the press and the Monarchy that is at play to this day. 
For anyone not living on Mars, it is not hard to see that the same beasts of the British press have found a new victim in Princess Diana’s daughter-in-law, Princess Meghan. Using the same narrative, the same tactics, and in some cases, the same words, these beasts have been feeding on Meghan and now Harry for the past six years.

As I watched the archival footage of what the British Press and the Palace did to Princess Diana, I, too, felt that sense of helplessness. Helpless to aid a woman I did not know but who I loved from afar and now love through her son Harry. I, too, was powerless to do anything. I could not go back in time and fight for her. I sat there wishing, as Mariah Carey did in her book, ‘The Meaning of Mariah Carey,” that Diana had a fandom when she was alive, people who would fight for her, who would stand in the gap and beat back the rabid press pack, their monstrous paparazzi and the Royal Family who willingly colluded with them to destroy her.
Mariah, in relating to Diana, said, "She had that look—the dull terror of never being left alone burning behind her eyes. We were both like cornered animals in couture," she went on to say, "[On social media] our fans can come to our defense, bring all the receipts, and create a united front so strong then no bland host or commentator, or ravenous paparazzi can even begin to compete with their influence. We are the media. I only wish Princess Di had lived long enough to have Instagram or Twitter. I wish she had lived to see the people become the press." -As reported by Harpers Bazaar.
How less lonely her life could have been if she knew how many people around the world loved and fought for her.

As I reflect on the documentary, I think about what I wish I could tell her. I would tell her about the Sussex Squad. I would tell her that we love her, that we hear her every word, and that we believe her, that we are fighting for her so that her words will be heard and her voice will not be silenced. I would tell her that we love her son Harry and his family, Meghan, Archie, and Lili Diana. I would tell her that we are standing in the gap for them, fighting the British Press, the Palace, and those men in grey every day, calling out their lies and hypocrisy in a way we wished we could have fought for her. We are also calling out Prince Charles and Camilla for how they treated her. I would tell her about the younger generation, the Tik Tok generation, who have jumped headfirst into royal history, and they, too, are speaking up for her.  I would tell her how inspiring and impacting it is to watch her work and her heart live on in her son, Harry. I would thank her for implanting her heart into him. I would tell her that her wish had come true, that twenty-five years later, she is the Queen of People's Hearts. 💟👑

Sources : 

Mariah Carey: "The Meaning Of Mariah Carey" 2020

Poster: The Princess Documentary (HBO Original) 2022
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13393128/

BiancaBetancourt:  https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a34206676/mariah-carey-recalls-princess-diana-in-new-memoir/ 2020

 

Introduction- Facing My Fear

 Hi,

I have thought about doing this blog for months and somehow talked or thought myself out of it. I've always felt that I have nothing to say and something to say all at the same time. it is this double feeling that has kept me from doing this.

Part of me feel like I have a voice and the other part of me feel like running away from that voice out of fear of being harshly judged or ridiculed. It may seem silly to have this fear since I host a podcast, but for me speaking my thoughts and writing my thoughts are worlds apart. I have learned to speak my thoughts in spite of my fears, so today I turn my attention to writing. Today I face my fears, confront my doubts, stand up to my insecurities and begin.

This blog will be an extension of the Facts and 2 Cents Podcast on YouTube, where we push back on the negative narrative against Prince Harry and Princess Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. This will be a place to get Sussex Facts and 2 Cents worth of my opinion.

Also highlighted here will be their philanthropic work, through Archewell, their foundation and  production company. We anxiously await Princess Meghan's podcast Architypes, and Prince Harry's Heart of Invictus Documentary series and his Memoir.
Archewell Foundation will be honored on August 15th by Human First coalition for its partnership in helping the most vulnerable Afghan refugees worldwide and those still in Afghanistan. 
According to Mr. Safi Rauf, Co-founder of Human First, and former Taliban prisoner “Both Sen. Blumenthal and the Archewell Foundation were instrumental in assisting us as we organized efforts to assist Afghans who were left behind when the Taliban took Kabul,” Rauf stated. “We cannot thank them enough for their support.” as reported by DigitalJournal.com.

The philanthropic work of the Sussex Squad will also have a home here as we support charity organizations around the world that are supported by the Sussexes. Currently the Sussex Squad is celebrating Princess Meghan's birthday (August 4th) and Prince Harry's upcoming birthday (September 15th) with a fundraiser for Sentebale, a charity founded by Prince Harry and his brother from another mother, Prince Seiso of Lesotho, in honor of their mother, both of whom have passed on. Sentebale means "forget me not," which is also the name of Prince Harry's mother, Princess Diana's favorite flower. The organization help young people with HIV and Aids in Lesotho and Botswana to get the help they desperately need. Prince Harry's other brother from another mother, Nacho Figueras, is an Ambassador for  Sentebale. Last summer Prince Harry and Nacho played a charity polo event in Colorado, which raised $3.5 million dollars for Sentebale.

The Sussex Squad fundraiser link here: https://afsf.betterworld.org/campaigns/sentebale

Facts and 2 Cents Podcast link Here: https://www.youtube.com/c/FACTS2Cents

I look forward to sharing more wonderful Sussex Facts with you, and I look forward to reading your 2 Cents. 

💖

Petol