"Domestic violence was a way of life in my home growing up,” said Troy
Vincent, the executive vice president of football operations for the
NFL. “My brother and I watched helplessly numerous times as my mother
was beaten and knocked unconscious while we dialed 911. We saw how she
struggled to seek help and find the courage to say no more.” Troy Vincent
NFL Executive Breaks Down at Domestic Violence Congressional Hearing
SARA NILES. Author and Social Media Influencer. Books, Essays, Social Awareness The lives we live determine our passions, and our passions impact the lives we live, in a dynamic, reciprocal pattern. My Life inspired me to write Memoirs: TORN From the Inside Out, The Journey, Out of the Maelstrom, Essays, Opinion Editorials, and social narratives that shed light during dark times.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Benjamin Watson's Ferguson Post
"At some point while I was playing or preparing to play Monday Night
Football, the news broke about the Ferguson Decision. After trying to
figure out how I felt, I decided to write it down. Here are my thoughts:
I'M ANGRY because the stories of injustice that have been passed down for generations seem to be continuing before our very eyes.
Read more:
NFL's Benjamin Watson's Ferguson Post goes viral
I'M ANGRY because the stories of injustice that have been passed down for generations seem to be continuing before our very eyes.
Read more:
NFL's Benjamin Watson's Ferguson Post goes viral
Monday, November 17, 2014
ISIS, the New NAZI Threat?
ISIS vs. NAZI
ISIS: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
NAZI: the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (English translation)
ISIS –the term evokes horrifying images and brings to mind ideology that brandishes hate like a sword, much like the acrimonious acronym, ISIS. Could it be ISIS is the new 'NAZI' threat?
I remember when another four letter acronym that originally was veiled under the disguise of hope, became instead, a symbol of pure hate: NAZI the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, formed originally to foster pride and hope for the German common people, yet became a hate mongering tool of power crazed Adolph Hitler during the 1930’s and 1940’s before the Allies toppled his regime. The Hitler led NAZI regime murdered millions of innocent men, women, and children in the most brutal and cruel fashion, much like the ISIS regime of today is doing in the ‘name of Islam’. ISIS has adopted the habit of brutally beheading innocent people and using the imagery on Youtube to both horrify most people, while mysteriously attracting others as their followers. The attraction of ISIS for the few who abandon home and family is much like the strange power of cultist religious group over its members, as they gradually become mindless and unquestioning, like brainwashed robots. Religions seldom hold violent belief systems that result in terror for the rest of the world, regardless of their tactics. ISIS followers are like religious converts willing to do anything in the name of its dark power, like beheading innocent people.
The beheading of American citizens that were simply trying to live life and do good for others, like the humanitarian, Peter Kassig, the third American to come to such a horrible fate, leaves the motives of ISIS crystal clear: they are hate mongers and terrorists. Why would anyone in their right mind want to join them after witnessing such atrocities? The only obvious answer is they are not in their right mind at all, but are lost. If being lost can cause one to be susceptible to the ISIS regime, then being lost is a dangerous place to be. Those so desperate to find a place in the world that any place at all will suffice, may find they have been seriously disillusioned. There can be no good outcome for ISIS just as there was not good ending for the NAZI party.
The NAZI party evolved into an evil killing machine that attracted power mongers, hate mongers and disenfranchised souls, seeking an identity at any cost, as members to the ‘new’ gang. The present day ISIS movement seems to have the same twisted power, the power to attract the confused, promising them a mission in life and an ‘identity’ as an ISIS member, as they hold destructive power over lives.
There is only one valid outcome: ISIS must be stopped for the good of mankind.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Hoarding: One of the Strangest of Human Behaviors
When I was growing up on a farm, hearing the term ‘Your room
looks like a pigsty’, brought to mind
the muddy slop that I knew our pigs loved to wallow in. I knew most animals
liked to keep their living areas clean, so the pig was different in its
propensity toward filth and slop. Humans are a step above animals so most take
great care to keep their surrounding clean and organized, and it is good not
only for practical reasons, but a clean environment is a reflection of a person’s
love and respect for self, family and others. Hoarders are of an entirely different
breed, some have a mysterious and compulsive need to surround themselves with
stuff, sometimes filthy, rotten stuff.
One of the most extreme cases was that of the Collyer
brothers, Homer and Langley, from the 1940’s, who hoarded up a four story
brownstone in Harlem, both sons of an opera singer and a doctor. The hoard was
developed after the death of the brother’s parents, as both discontinued normal
life as the hoarding took over. Both brothers were educated professionals when
the hoarding began, and both died buried deep within the tightly hoarded
building.
See Links New York Daily News: Collyer Brothers
Hoarding can be either ‘clean’ and organized or filthy and
disorganized, presenting extreme biohazard risks to the hoarder and those who
live with, or near them. Many hoarders
are intelligent people, and many have extensive resources, which further
confounds the mystery of why a person would hoard.
According to Mayo Clinic, there is no clear understanding of
why hoarders hoard, although there are signs and risk factors:
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Ferguson and Civil Disobedience: A Human Rights Issue
Sara Niles
Riots and acts of ‘Civil Disobedience’, even
peaceful protests are signs that something is wrong on a large scale. The history
of civil disobedience in the U.S. has, in each individual case resulted when a
sense of injustice lay smoldering in the minds of many until it erupted as a
visible sign of unrest; a few examples from the past include the 1965 Watts Riot,
which occurred hot on the heels of the Harlem riots a year before. In both
cases there was a prevailing mindset of racial discrimination and maltreatment
of Blacks, a sense of wrongness about things that festered untended by
political forces. There needed to be change but no change was coming, and there
was no sign of change in the near The earlier riots were clumsy attempts at
forcing change and were forerunners of the
national acts of civil disobedience that
were to come, as more and more people became acutely aware of injustice.
The building mindset of racial injustice ignited a
human rights storm that set the stage for the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement,
with Martin Luther King emerging as its leader (http://www.detroits-great-rebellion.com/Birmingham.html).
Change was being forged as history was made. The major work of the civil right
movement took place in the 1960’s, but there is still work to be done when it
comes of justice and human rights.
The issue at stake in the 60’s was a matter of being
treated fairly, justly, and with respect, just as it is now in Ferguson, Missouri
as crowds continue to protest the slaying of Michal Brown, an unarmed Black
teenager, who was shot ‘at least six times’ according to autopsy reports, by a
White police officer lCNN:Missouri Teen
The Civil Disobedience in Fergusson Missouri is a
sign of a much bigger issue in the United States: a double standard between the
treatment of Whites and Blacks in the justice system. The fair exercise of
human rights applies equally to all races, and all economic divisions; because
justice should be a basic human right of all people.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
SARA NILES: Books, Writing, and Social Issues: Out of the Maelstrom by Sara Niles
SARA NILES: Books, Writing, and Social Issues: Out of the Maelstrom by Sara Niles: Narrative Memoir: Trauma Tragedy and Triumph 260 pages 71,152 words Out of the Maelstrom is a stand-alone narrative memo...
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