Tuesday, April 25, 2006

ADOPTION AS A TABOO

I’m reading (okay, rereading) a beautiful book, “The Mists of Avalon.” If you haven’t read it for awhile- do give it another read. It’s worth it. Anyway, in the story, one of the ancient Druid people admonishes another thus: “You have broken a taboo. You must be punished for it.”

Hmmmm. I’ve always looked at adoption as being a taboo. Along with incest, cannibalism, suicide, there is also SEX. Having a child out of wedlock is also a taboo.

The adoption taboo is something we don’t talk about, something to be ashamed of, something to keep secret, something to prohibit; it’s profane and inviolate.

Our mother’s broke a taboo and they were punished. They had to give us away. We adoptees are being punished by that same taboo.

I believe that in the subconscious minds of large segments of society today, adoptees’ very existence reminds people of SEX/SIN. Subconsciously, to be sure, but the mind set is there. We adoptees are walking, talking, breathing, won’t-go-away reminders of sex w/out marriage. We are an “all grown up example” of what they don’t want their daughters to do.

Adoptees are punished by the state’s control over us. They will not give us the one thing that is ours by right - our original birth certificates. They will not give us back our identities. We’re part of the taboo.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

WHO AM I?

WHO AM I?


Welcome to Granny Annie's blogspot. Turn down the I Pods, pull up a rocker, and read my stories. I do not represent any organization nor do I speak for anyone but myself.


WHO AM I ? (THEN)

I was born in Chicago on August 9, 1937. Two weeks later my adoptive parents took me into their home and their hearts.

According to the state of Illinois, my life began on that day long ago when my father carried me home from the hospital. But as my adoptive life began, my first life disappeared. On August 23rd, my biological heritage was severed forever.

At just two weeks old, I became a new person!

I was no longer the daughter of 17 year old Margaret M. Walker. Now I was the child of Tillie and Charles Abramson.

My name was changed from Baby Girl Walker to Anita Mae.

My religion was changed from Catholic to Jewish.

My ethnicity was changed from Irish to Eastern European.

I lost my brothers and sisters.

I lost my grandparents.

I wasn’t a foundling but I may as well have been. My history was erased as thoroughly as if I were left on someone’s doorstep. My genetic history was wiped out by one stroke of the judge’s pen. I became a different person, created not
by my biological parents, but by the state of Illinois.

In my heart, I have always questioned my identity. But those questions remained locked inside me for fifty years. I was afraid to ask questions. I was ashamed to ask questions. In fact, for a very long time I didn’t even know you could ask questions.

As I approach the autumn of my life, I am still haunted by my lost past.

I understand that adoption is sometimes necessary to find a home for a child who needs one. But I also know that adoption is not natural. It is an artificial situation created by the state.

I believe that no government has the right to eradicate an adoptee’s biological origins forever.

Lesson One.

ADOPTED ADULTS CANNOT GET THEIR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES IN 45 STATES.

Only Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Oregon, and New Hampshire give adopted adults their original birth certificates with no conditions and with no falsifications.

ADOPTED ADULTS CANNOT GET THEIR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES IN 45 STATES.


WHO AM I ? ( NOW )

I talk to people in supermarkets.
I am afraid of getting lost.
I never met anyone I didn’t know.
I tell great stories to my two granddaughters.
I love to make lists.
I have a missing piece.
I can never find my glasses.
I am a citizen of cyberspace.
I sang old camp songs to my son and daughter.
I wish I knew Susan B. Anthony and Queen Elizabeth I.
I bid and made a grand slam - once!
I am a lifetime member of Bastard Nation.
I looked at the smiling faces of children for 28 years.
I love my husband Bob.
I am a reader and a writer.
I feed stray cats.