K. M. Curry ©

She was desperate, out of breath, confused.  Another round of fire just barely missed her as she banked hard to the right.  For years, hundreds of years she had enjoyed a good relationship, now, in the same words they used to say to welcome her, they cursed her and tried to eradicate her.  Her heart broke; shattered into a million tiny pieces.  She would forgive them if only she knew what was wrong.

Finally, she spied a tall tree that provided some cover.  She needed time to rest, to plan.  She dive bombed the tree and scattered all the birds that had been sitting contentedly in it.  She then flew with them for short ways hoping it would draw the people off.  She was winded and had to rest.

After she landed and got some of her strength back, she began to inspect her perch. .  Fluttering in the breeze on a flagpole next to her perch was a flag.

“Hello, Eagle.”  The flag opened a conversation.  “ I am ‘Glory,’ what do you go by?”

Eagle straightened up trying to look her best.  Not many of her kind had been lucky enough to meet a flag.  This meeting was, indeed, a great honor.  “I am  ‘Sorrow;’ “   she responded.

“Interesting name, but fitting given the circumstances,” replied Glory.

“Can you tell me what is going on with the people?” Sorrow inquired.  “I have always had such a good relationship now I must hide.”

“You are wise to stay out of sight.  There is a movement among the people.  The leaders of it include the President himself, and then others who have names people like to follow, like Clinton, Reed, Roberts, just to name a few.”

“I was warned about Reed and Roberts but the others, I thought they had sworn an oath to protect and stand my what we represent.  I simply do not understand…”

Glory and Sorrow stopped their conversation as cries came from below.  Sorrow spied the goings on first and began to hiss and scream in anger and fury.  “Sorrow, what is it you see?”  Glory asked.

“They have another of your kind, your sister.  A man is stomping her, trying to grind her into the road.  Another, oh no, I, I cannot watch!  Another has lit it ablaze!  I must go! I must try to help her! ”

“Wait, Sorrow, do not go.  That is my sister, ‘Stars and Stripes.’  If you go down you will only be hurt or killed yourself.  As much as my heart breaks…”

Screams from Stars and Stripes rose in bone-chilling horror and Glory could not continue.  Finally, the screams died out as Glory’s sister was no more.

Glory did not flutter in the wind; she hung like a tired dishrag.  She grieved for her sister and for the country both of them represented.

“Glory, I am so sorry you have lost a sister; I wish I could have saved her.” Sorrow whispered softly as a tear fell from her eye.  “How did things come to this?  I do not understand.”

Flag was quiet a moment and then began:  “Years back, the people signed a document that started:

‘We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.’

They had just come through a terrible war for independence and were trying to set up their government.  The creation of a republican democracy was a unique experiment, and the civilized world was waiting, watching for this fledgling government to fail.

She almost fell in the mid-eighteen hundreds when the war called ‘civil’ began.  Father fought son, brother against brother.  Again, it almost destroyed the country, but the people reunited and she regained her strength.   But hatreds and rivalries went on and hated groups and supremacist groups formed such as the KKK  and later on the Neo-Nazis.  They caused great sadness for those who were the object of their biases, but as a whole, the country moved forward.

Apologists for the minority groups, such as blacks, rose and at first, their cause was good and just.  Jim Crow laws and double standards were struck down; civil rights apologists became more interested in power, money, and fame.

The success of the country allowed the people to relax.  The state had taken over education, medicine for the least able, offered welfare for those who could not provide for themselves.  The people began to move away from a reliance on God or adherence to His laws and precepts.

Once they began to move away from God, their downward spiral began.  Oh to be sure, there were some shining moments and here and there were pockets of a revival of faith in God and patriotism; especially right after Pearl Harbor and then after the Twin Towers.   In spite of this, people were listening to those who said what they wanted to hear rather than what they needed to hear.

The success of the country allowed the people to relax.  The state had taken over education, medicine for the least able, offered welfare for those who could not provide for themselves.  The people began to move away from a reliance on God or adherence to His laws and precepts.

Groups claiming to do a public service did a huge business in abortions and selling baby body parts. Women,  pressured into accepting these lies were their rights, defended the barbaric practices.  Others wanted special rights depending on skin color, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs.  After a while, this country became almost the opposite of what it’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution described.  New reinterpretations of the Constitution,  were explained to the people by claims that these are “living documents” and as such can be altered with the times rendering them useless for guiding the country and the party in power got to set the rules rather than the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Sorrow, the eagle, looked at “Glory” the flag, and there were tears in Sorrow’s eyes.

“Why do you cry?” asked Glory.  Things change, people change.

“Yes,” Sorrow murmured.  “Things change, but the people have given up a priceless gift that they will never get back.  They have given up the blessings this land has known for over two hundred years’ they have given up their freedoms that so many fought and died for, and they have given up their future.”

Glory was quiet for a moment and then said, “There was once a man named Khrushchev.  He was from Russia, then known as the USSR.  He was famous for banging his shoe on the table.  He said that the communists would conquer America from within.  I think his exact words were:

‘We will take America without firing a shot … we will bury you!

“We can’t expect the American people to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism until they awaken one day to find that they have communism.

“We do not have to invade the United States; we will destroy you from within.’”

“I fear he was right.”

Sorrow bowed her head in agreement, and that one tear turned into two and three and four.

“May what was the miracle of America rest in peace.  I must leave this place, Glory.  I fare you well.”

“Good luck, Sorrow, perhaps you will find a better place.” Glory responded wishing she too could leave this place of anger and hatred.

Julie was her usual effervescent self, giggling at something her friend Hanna texted as she opened her laptop.  She pulled up Face Book ready to catch up with all the news of the day.  Her face morphed from its customary smile to a look that resembled the pain she felt.  As she stared at the screen she felt as if she had been punched everywhere at once.  She could not believe what she was seeing.  One after another the messages were filled with epithets, vile suggestions, and charges that she was a whore, pure filth, worse than a dog, and on and on.  She was warned not to show her face in school the next day if she knew what was good for her.

The devastation eclipsed her heart and her soul.  Her depression was such that she could not eat or sleep or even pray.  She would not come down to dinner, she skipped youth group at church and skipped school the next day.  Julie felt totally alone lost, who could she go to?  The things on Face Book that were now coming on her E-mail were even worse than at first.  Boys started to write her describing unspeakable things they would do to her because she “wanted it.”

She finally dragged herself down Friday night after her father threatened to break down her door if she didn’t open it and join the family.  The sorrow and brokenness she felt was evident in her dull, tangled copper hair, her pasty complexion, lowered eyes, and down turned mouth.  She sat at the table, a broken child.  She would not look at anyone and they had to put the food on her plate.  Mom had made her favorite, spaghetti.  She did try to sip some water.  She desperately needed the water, her lips were chapped and cracked.

Julie just sat there, her heart and spirit breaking.  How could she tell anyone such horrid things?  Now she was getting phone calls that told her she was a waste and the world would be a better place without her.  Why didn’t she just die.  Messages came across her computer; DIE, JULIE DIE!

“Julie, honey, won’t you try to eat just a little?  You must be so hungry.”  Mom coaxed.

Julie’s downcast head barely nodded and she picked up her fork and tried to take a small amount of the pasta.  She choked and gagged.  Mom jumped up.

She started to sob at the table, Chris, her older brother, left unnoticed, and went up to her room.  He opened her computer and as he read what she had been subjected to, his anger exploded.

“Dad!  Dad!  Come up here, quick!”  Chris called, fury in his voice

As her dad read the messages on Face Book and then on her email, then they listed to the voice mail on her phone and the text messages everything became clear.

They called the police and their pastor. They would go to the school the next day.
Pastor looked everything over and sat down in a corner of the living room with the broken girl.
“Is this why you skipped Youth Group Wednesday night, Julie?” he asked gently
“Uh-huh.” She sobbed.
“Julie, do you know that you are none of the things that those children wrote?
“I-I guess,” a dejected and dispirited  Julie hiccupped “Some of them must be true, so many people said them.”
“Julie, look at me,” Pastor said. He waited until he held her gaze. “You are none of those things. Satan has targeted you to hurt you. Are you going to let him win?”
At that her head snapped up.  Julie was not one to turn down a challenge, or to accept defeat when it was thrown in her face.  That indomitable spirit was still inside her and it reared up.   “This is from Satan?” she asked incredulously.
“You are the very opposite of those words. I do believe that this is a demonic attack; you have been on fire for God and it has been catching. I think Satan was very anxious to quench that fire in your soul.” Pastor responded.
“Do I have to go back to that school? After what they wrote?”    She dreaded the thought of seeing those kids again.  If they would  write such awful things what would they do to her face.  Fear swirled in her belly.
“You know, God talked about that. In Proverbs He called such people fools. In Romans 12: 19-21 it says not to take revenge but to do kindness to them. You will heap burning coals on their heads and they will be convicted. They will be made the fools and you will store up crowns in heaven. You let your heavenly Father take care of these kids, Julie. You are blameless. You can return to school when you are comfortable and hold your head high.”
Pastor continued.
“Would you like to do something right now that will help you heal from this attack?”
Julie nodded enthusiastically. The sooner she could begin to put this behind her the better. She was taken aback at his next words.
“Let’s pray for them.”
“Pastor, you want me to pray for the people who said these horrible things?”
“What did Jesus do after they had beaten Him and nailed Him to the cross?”
“He asked His Father to forgive them.” Julie said quietly.
“So He set the example for us, don’t you think?” Pastor asked?
They bowed their heads and began to pray. Julie started praying and those prayers were led by the Holy Spirit. When they had finished Julie’s heart was lighter, the joy she had had was sneaking back.
“Mom, can I have some of that ginger ale you mentioned?” Julie asked. “Come to think of it, I am starved, can I have some spaghetti?”
It was a couple of weeks before Julie returned to school, but she returned with a stronger conviction of her faith and maintained her joyful effervescent demeanor. She had given a horrible situation to God and He had healed her.

Her parents finished the police reports and contacted Face Book.   The next day they were down at the school and had a meeting with the principal, Assistant Principal, and Guidance Counselor.  Students were pulled out of class, and the steady hand of justice prevailed.

Julie did see a psychologist with regard to her experience, but she found her greatest help was with God.

Parents:  This is a fictional story.  Usually things do not turn out this well, this quickly.  All too many precious young people have been driven to suicide because of the vicious words and actions of their peers or others.  Monitor your child’s cell phone and computer.  You will not be popular for doing it but it is for their own safety in more ways than one.    Protect your child, your teenager.  Remember, Privacy is a teen’s enemy.