Where were the men, who were supposed to stand up and protect their fellow women and, why

were
the women not able to detect the danger to properly warn and guard their children from these dangers?

This is the story of Perryville and a young woman who lived dual lives.

A good friend of mine recently shared her story of her childhood and what it was/is like in Perryville
Alaska. The Aleut people of the windswept Aleutian Islands live in one of the more remote places in
Alaska. Located on a series of volcanic islands are small towns and fishing villages inhabited by various
native Alaskan people. Perryville has a population that ranges from 50 to 100 full time residents,
depending on the season. Perryville was started in 1912 after the town moved here when; the large
Katami Volcano erupted, and this caused the entire village to voluntarily and immediately move. The
people moved with the clothes on their backs and whatever belongings they could carry off. Originally a
Russian territory, it was used by the US military for a heavy artilary post during WW2 when the
Japanese made advances on the Aleutian islands in the US Territory of Alaska.

My friend Mary was born in December 1978. Her mom was born in 1947 and she had two sisters and
three brothers. Marys mom would take her first drink of alcohol when she was somewhere around the
age of 17. Little did she know, at the time that this one small action would lead to a downward spiral
into the abyss of addiction. Basically Marys mother became an extreme and abusive alcoholic. Marys
Mom had two other daughters and also acquired a stepbrother from a new marriage. At some point
during the family change, they all moved to Anchorage. Mary being the oldest, had a strong and well
developed connection with her Grandmother who did not allow alcohol, drugs or cigarettes in her
home. Mary would visit every summer and would stay as long as possible to avoid her mother. Her
grandmother taught her many things about her culture, the old lifestyle on how they once survived
when the towns were even harder to get to in the times before her Grandmother and Great-
grandmother.

Unfortunately Marys mother, for some reason or other would, occasionally take out her frustrations
in her drunken rages on Mary. Since she was the oldest child, she felt obligated to protect and help
shield her siblings by taking the brunt of the beatings. These were both verbal and physical assaults with
her mother sometimes pushing her out the door with, no winter clothes and occasionally bare feet.
Mary would walk to the neighbors house or, a longer distance to the store so she could hopefully
borrow a quarter to call her aunt form a payphone. She eventually got smart and figured out to sleep
with her clothes on, in case her mom decided to come home from the bars and toss her out. Mary
silently prayed for the long absences without her mother, sometimes days away from home while she
was out binge drinking at the bar or wherever.

It was not always bad at her home environment. When her stepdad was home from working in Prudhoe
Bay, things were slightly better and she could at least breath easy and take a break from watching and
caring for her sisters for a few nights at least. One night when she was around 12 her mother went into
a particularly violent rage and picked up a large kitchen knife. Mary, understandably threatened, ran for
cover and cowered down at the end of the hall way with no where left to go. Fortunately, her stepdad
was home on time off and he somehow, reached out of the other room and stopped the downward
blow of the knife. The force of his big hand stopping the impact broke her mothers wrist and Mary told
me that she could feel the whoosh of air from the knife motion on her back. Her mother promptly
blamed her stepfather for breaking her wrist. Addicts always seem to have someone else to blame for
their own actions. That marriage failed soon after and her mother moved on to the next man.

Soon after Mary turned 10 she learned that her one solid rock in her life had passed on. She and her
siblings were able to visit Perryville one last time to see Grandma. Life continued on for three long years
and when Mary was 13, she was forever kicked out of her mothers house and never to return. She was
adrift alone for a bit of time and then, she and her siblings who were now 3, 7 and 8 were reunited with
Mary and they began living at a friends house in exchange for daycare and house keeping. They soon
grew unwelcome at her friends house and, went to live with her new Grandma, she was now pregnant
at 15. She moved out about a year later and, was able to save enough money for an apartment and to
make a long story short was again pregnant at 17 and she moved in with her new husband for a few
years and settled down, only to eventually change everything again because things simply were not
working out in the disfunctional relationships that she learned as she grew up.

Her Grandma who was a wise old woman also had her issue(s) with abuse. Marys Grandfather came
home once and, somehow for some reason lost is usual great self control and calculated decisions and
took out his frustration / anger on Grandma. Mary believes this happened only once but, the time has
passed to learn anymore from that particular ancestor. Her Grandfather never spoke of that event and
Passed away in 2007. In fact, now all 6 of her aunts and uncles are officially dead, basically from
alcoholism but, one uncle was found with a crushed skull on the town bridge and, a bent front bumper
on his ATV so, Mary is not too sure about his death.

We talked long into the night about how this made her feel. Basically living a dual life. She was more
or less forced to the roll of parent and child at the same time. I thought of my experiences with
alcoholics and they pale in comparison to her experiences and hardships at such a young age. These
experiences left both of us a bad taste in our mouths so to speak for dealing with drunken people and
hard core addicts. We had decided separately that neither one of us would want this kind of addiction in
our lives and to ruin our families.

Mary is now married again to her current husband and they have two awesome children together who
are 12 and 14. They go through their own rough and smooth patches as, many of us do, deal with their
own vices and problems and child rising etc. Mary and her husband are good friends of mine. She
shared her experience with me when I began asking about her culture, where she was from and other
details of life in an extreme, lonley and hostile environment. I thought about her culture and her people
and how they lived at one time with no words for sorry or good bye. How, in 1912 when the entire
town was moved to the new location the little fishing village must have truly worked together as a
community to literally start from scratch and begin a new life. Effectively living in a remote location such
as this region that the Aleut inhabit requires a tightnit community and strong family bonds. At that time
period of the move her ancestors had probably already been exposed to alcohol from Russian Sailors
but, this was only beginning. A much greater wave of danger and destruction was lurking just a few
decades in time later. Nearly all of the lower 48 tribes and native peoples were already well down the
addiction road but, what really made the natives ripe for sowing this disease was the little talked
about forced boarding schools for native re-education. These schools were not officially closed
down until 1978. By this time hundreds of thousands of children were stripped of their identities,
punished if native tongues were spoken and many many kids were physically and sexually abused by the
teachers and priests. This one two combo created the environment for the ultimate degradation and
broken communities of Native cultures around the country and, especially in rural Alaska. Sexual and
physical abuse is rampant, unemployment sky high, most of the elders are gone and there is little left of
the once peaceful and happy native towns and communities. Is is any wonder that some of the
reeducated who came back to their villages, were angry, bitter and violent?

How can anyone blame one person for this sad story? The terible affliction has affected many people
from all walks of life, in all areas of the country. Now in the rural Alaska communities I am told there is a
growing problem with heroin and meth. Mary does not hate her mother but, rather hates the person
she became when drunk and her actions her mother took while possessed of this soul sucking evil. I
sadly looked over the old book she showed me with her native tongue that someone thoughtfully
gathered in the mid 1980s. It is a thin book but, there were some photocopied pages from an
organization in AK that converts modern words into their best guess approximation of what the word
would say. How thoughtful of them, to guess at what a modern word would be and, nobody to speak
the language.

Mary and I spoke a little more deeply into this conversation. I could see the pain in her eyes of being
deprived of her entire childhood as we discussed the broader meanings of this lonely village with borken
apart familys. We discussed how it seems to apply in a broad sense to this entire country. We discussed
the flat out evil of addiction and corrupt politicians, the military industrial complex, pharmaceutical
industry, the food and agriculture industry, the media and TV, the prison system and the lame education
system that is more interested in indoctrinating than creating a healty critical thinking student. And all
the numerous other industries, all working hand in hand to gather dollars from us both legally and
illegally. But it is more than dollars. Can you guess yet? How could this have happened to our country?
Did this happen overnight? and, why is this happening? Will we suffer the same fate as Perryville but,
on a much grander scale?

Ask your self these following questions before you simply move on forget about Perryville and Mary.

Where were the men who were supposed to protect the women of their community? Why were the
women not picking up on the warning signs to educate, shield and protect their children?

Men, will you stand up in front of the women and children, as we all should and, defend them with your
life? I know many who will and, I can guarantee I will either, alone or together with my brothers.

Please be honest with yourself and ask what you are doing to protect them NOW? If the answer is
nothing or, very little then, may I suggest that you drop that addiction and put away your technology
and toys to stand BEHIND the women with the boys and girls because, I know nearly all of our women
will defend our children with their own lives.
The people of Perryville were sleeping when the devil crept up on the windy little community and,
sowed the seeds of two very rotten diseases called; addiction and indifference.

Please wake up Americans. Open your eyes and acknoledge that doing nothing or business as usual
is confirming your vote for tyranny, chaos and destruction. There are enough Marys and Perryvills in
this country now. If you are going to fight for your freedom and, ultimately your soul then, just know
that the worlds children will thank you for picking up the pieces and making it a better world for them.