Hello again.

It is now time to update this story.

First, I have since learned the poem is A Moment of Silence By Emmanuel Ortiz.

Second, now perhaps I can share some of the details of what inspired this story. The little boy I based this off of is one of four children of Rabih Haddad. Rabih Haddad, for those who don't know, was a national case in which a prominent Muslim community leader was detained for almost two years with out charges, alleged to be funneling money to Al Quida through his international charity work. With out getting all the poilitics and everything, the basic thrust of the story is that I met this kid and was moved by how this was affecting him. At the point that I met him he hadn't touched his father in more than a year, barely got to speak to him. His birthday, the families celebrations, everything was as if his Dad had died, and at that point it wasn't clear if he would ever see his Dad again, and he was so outraged, so wanting to do anything, and had that youthful spirit of "This is wrong and we have to stop it no matter what". It was also this spirit that I thought best conveyed that this Man (Rabih) was a good father, this kid loved him and it wasn't a fake love or a he's my Daddy and I have to love him, it was genuine.

I didn't want to say anything specific before just in case it somehow damaged their case.

But a couple months ago Rabih was secretly deported to Lebanon, the family only found out when he called them from there. His wife and the children agreed to be "voluntarily deported" a couple days later to join him.

So, the child that inspired this story now lives in Lebanon, and will likely never be allowed to retun to the US. To make things more complicated, one child was a US citizen, but had to be deported to because otherwise he wouldn't have a family.

This is happening all over the country. A lot. It really sucks.

The End