The Pagan Mom Blog

So each Friday I am going to talk about 5 people I recommend you follow on Twitter. Obviously this is a post more geared to Twitter users (sorry my non-tweeting lovelies!). But anyway I kinda felt like some massive injustice was being served by limiting myself to 140 characters on why I think these people rock. One of the best things I like about Twitter is the lists function. I am not sure how other people use them but I only add people to my lists that are imho awesome people. I tend to talk to these people much more often than anyone else.  And I have several different lists since I follow an eclectic sort of group. So today I am going to share with you 5 people from my Paranormal List.

ParanormalPdcst - I love Jim’s podcast. He works hard at covering a wide variety of topics within the paranormal field, a field that has proven to be quite large. He does quite a few interviews with well known authors such as Rosemary Guiley. On Twitter I have watched him interact with his viewers on what topics they want to hear and what interviews they want done. He then works hard to make them happen. He has done an excellent job at insuring his podcast is successful!

JD_Farrell – Jonathan is a regular guy and a paranormal investigator. One of my favorite things about him is that he encourages his followers to check out his evidence and pipe in with their two cents. To date I haven’t seen him take any criticism harshly, a good sign of a good investigator (imho of course!).

TheScarefest - despite some problems I had at the last convention, I still find them to be a great group of people. They combine my love of horror and my love of the paranormal….what can get better than that? Seriously, if you are looking for a convention with some amazing speakers on the paranormal, this is the convention you want to go to. My fave speaker at the last convention was Michelle Belanger, a self-proclaimed psychic vampire.

DaveTango – If you are not aware of who Dave Tango is then you either don’t watch tv or you are not heavy into the paranormal scene. A member of TAPS and on the show GhostHunters, I enjoy reading Dave Tango’s tweets. I don’t normally make a habit of following celebrities on Twitter but in this case it’s more about seeing the human side than celeb-stalking. Dave shows that he is just like the rest of us and I adore that.

KrisWilliams81 – yes, I know….ANOTHER TAPS member! I am sorry but I really like her style. She appeals to my logical side. Like Dave Tango you see a very normal everyday type person in her tweets.

I am writing this because I think so many people are caught up in the emotional aspect of the victims, that they aren’t looking at the flip side.

Let me state clearly that HIS ACTIONS ARE NOT INEXCUSABLE!

At 7pm last night I sat with candles lit and gathered every bit of positive loving energy I could and sent it forth. It was my personal goal to send that love to military families who have family at Fort Hood, those at Fort Hood, and most importantly…..to Hasan and his family.

Upon watching the news this morning we learned so much more. We went from 3 shooters to 1. When I saw the name, I groaned. I knew what was coming. The witch hunts. My first thought was “of all people, it just had to be a Muslim”.  Upon looking at websites with personal commentary and floating around on Yahoo Answers I was right. So horribly right. It isn’t just moments of horrifying violence that causes me to lose hope for humanity….it’s watching people blame and point fingers and go on radical rants about ridding the world of religion because of one event. Or in their argument, one event too many. Not once are these people considering the flip side. When you ask them about it, they huffily respond “Are you even caring about the victims?”. Of course we are, we all are. It’s a natural response to come to the victims and give them a hug and tell them it will be all ok. We take the time to commend the hero’s who step up when the odds are against them and put a stop to the menace. But we always seem to brush aside other underlying factors.

If you want to rid the world of violence, we have GOT to stop being so hateful to each other. If Hasan’s claims are true and he was consistently berated for his religion, then it’s of no surprise that it broke him down. He was not in great mental health. It was reported he was undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse, no one is in great mental health coming out of an addiction. This man also endured listening to his patients stories about war. Especially about war in a place that is known for being primarily Muslim. And as the Muslim Chaplin said this morning on GMA….he had no one he could seek counseling from. He was expected to not “whine” about his problems and attend to the problems of the soldiers going out and coming back. Combine all of this and you have a ticking timebomb.

If soldiers were berating him for his religion, why do we condone that to be ok. Because it’s not done with guns? If I was Muslim talking to a patient who just got back from Iraq and listened to this man berate me about my religious beleifs….I would be terrified. And it’s still the age old question, why are grown people still purposely pushing each other’s buttons? We tell our children not to do such things and then do it ourselves? You want to rid the world of war, we have got to start respecting each other. And it has to start here in our home, the USA. The same place where Christians loudly announce that half the country is going to rot in hell and that “god hates fags”. The same place where radical atheists propose to rid the entire nation of religious people and not allow religion into our country at all. The same place where Muslims now have to take extra safety precautions because people ASSUME that this is related to religion and not the mental instability of a man. This is when I have no hope for humanity. Because we as adults say we want to teach our children better, but don’t live up to those same standards for ourselves. And the children are not stupid….they see what we do. And they copy it. And they grow up doing it over and over. Then they tell their children to be better human beings. And their children see that they don’t live up to those standards. Again and again and again this will happen. Because we are too selfish to actually grow up and do what is right for all of us.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, I forgive you. Someone has to show you forgiveness, kindness and love. I am looking at all sides of this story. You will have to pay for your crimes but I think deep down inside you just need someone to say that we know Islam is not as bad as it is made to sound. You need someone to listen to YOU after you spend hours listening to horrifying war stories. You need forgiveness and love…and I give it freely.