“They are gifts from God” I replied, rubbing noses with him “Eskimo” style.

“Was I a gift too?”

“Of course you are!” We squeezed each other for the length of a giggle.

“But Nana, my baby brother is not a gift” he huffed as he folded his arms across his chest. “Maybe we should return him” deep thought was apparent in his sparkling hazel eyes.

“Heavens no!” I laughed. “These gifts are more precious than diamonds or gold.”

“Even him?”

“Oh yes, all babies, Dear One.”

He smiled and kissed my cheek, and I held him tight, reflecting on the years and the babies that had rested on my lap. The little ones who had asked those same questions and hugged me tight.

With my hand I brushed his hair back from his eyes.

The 2-year-old burst into the room, arms flailing, all excited. “Broke!” he yells. “Me broke you car.” Out the door again he zooms, pieces of Hot Wheel trailing behind.

“Nana, if we can't send him back, do you suppose we could maybe just rewrap him for a few hours?”

LOVE, HATE AND MIND RAPE ON THE INTERNET

© C. Lee Finkle 1997

What a lovely place to express yourself; the Internet. What an ideal means of communications from one mind to another. To be able to reach out and give of yourself from one computer to another; from one country to another; all over the world! We are at the highest point ever for keeping in touch with our fellow human beings, but at what price does this wondrous technological device come?

The Internet is a communicative dream come true for many of us. We can play with newfound friends online; chatter in chat rooms and there is even cyber sex for the extremely lonely (and often perverted) souls. There are rooms to hook up with people with like mindsets and rooms to play games, discuss movies, books, anything your heart desires. Most of the benefits of the Internet are truly beneficial if you use them properly…but what about the unsuspecting person who trusts that they are communicating with another whose intent is the same as their own? What about finding that spirit you think of as your Soul Mate, only to discover they have been deceiving you all along? Most of the time this deceit is discovered early on as the player doesn’t like to play his head games too long because it loses that attraction for them once the thrill of the deception either carries on too long or suspicions begin to tear their game apart. There has been, however, an occasional online affair that will drag on until the one being taunted and deceived either finds the strength and courage to end it, or does something drastic.

Deceitful users don’t just come in the form of a cyber lover wanting to whisk you away and give you more than you have ever had. These scammers know all about you from your notes to one another and learn what to use against you and how to hurt you deeply. The scammers also come in news groups and mailing lists and some just watch and see what posters are the most vulnerable and figure out ways to get inside of their world and destroy whatever it is they are after. So why do we continue to play this game of hearts and minds that bring us so much sorrow and pain? Because those who are able to be manipulated because of their desires, hopes, fears and longing for something tangible and real, continue to have these needs, and those who feed off of others wants and inner feelings are vampires of the soul, rapists of the hearts and minds and will always need this food provided to them by others.

So many are fearful of the viruses passed around the Internet, that eat at our computers, cause us inconveniences, but the worst virus of all effects our capacity to have unfettered communications fearlessly with those of our own race, the human race. No truer words were ever penned than that which says “no man is an island” for without the touch, whether physical or mental, of another being of our own kind, we cannot survive the rigors of this world. Without the warmth of another’s companionship we fall short of being whole. This is what these Internet sadists feed upon.

Be strong, don’t be a victim, be someone who has brought their soul and Spirit up from the ashes of a burned cyber relationship and into the light to rebuild and nourish themselves into the grandeur of someone who has lived through the worst and is now headed for the best. Bring forth your own power and know that you do not have to let this bring you down. You are not going to be trod upon with a defeatist attitude that would sling you into the depths of a personal Hell. You and only you can use these bad experiences to forge a strong and powerful new stance that makes you ruler of your own world, and no one can take that away from you.

Not all relationships on the Internet are a bad scenario. There have been many happy relationships forged from cyber dating, cyber friendships and cyber everything, but it is the purpose of this communications to let everyone who plays online know that the pitfalls are there. The snake-in-the-grass is waiting to spring on you and bring you down, so you must beware of what you say and do while going out to play.

Just one of my rants!

Claudia Lee