Rant #2,393: I've Been Hurt

I have returned after a day's absence, but evidently, not without some controversy.

I previously said that I would not be putting up a new Rant yesterday due to a personal matter, and I followed through on what I said.

It did not mean that I wasn't around, just that I wasn't active here on the blog.

What I had to do took place a little later in the morning, and when it was done, it was done.

On Facebook, I put up a post related to that horrible David Ortiz incident, which is continuing to unfold as I write this.

More about that post later.

Anyway, somebody took me to task, basically knocking me for posting anything on Facebook the very day that I said I had to take care of some personal business.

Well, the personal business was over, I was at work, and I decided to post something--later a few things--because like most people who post things on Facebook, I just felt like doing it.

I tried to explain to the detractor that it is my decision--and my decision alone--to write a blog entry on a particular day. and no one else's decision.

Yesterday, I had to do something out of the norm that had to be taken care of, and it was not an all-day thing, so I posted on Facebook.

What's the big deal?

I will soon be taking a similar day off, and that particular one is an all-day affair, so it is doubtful you will see me on Facebook during the day, and I certainly won't be posting an entry here at the blog.

Now that that has been explained--I think the person just wanted to argue about nothing just for the sake of arguing, to be honest with you--we can talk about the David Ortiz post I put up on Facebook yesterday, which actually received quite a bit of support, I am happy to say.

Just to go over this horrid incident, the former Boston Red Sox slugger traveled back to his native Dominican Republic, as he often does, and was having drinks in a bar he frequents with a couple of friends.

All of a sudden, a gunman appeared, shot at Ortiz, and hit him squarely in either his back or his side, with the bullet penetrating a few organs and exiting out of his body with such force that it hit another person who was there, slightly injuring that guy.

But Ortiz's wounds were massive, and he might have been saved even a worse fate if he had been a man of lesser bulk.

There are many stories going around now about the incident being what amounts to a hit, and that Ortiz was targeted because he was having an affair with a drug kingpin's wife, but as of right now, that is unsubstantiated, but it does appear that Ortiz was targeted.

Anyway, read what I wrote on Facebook about this horrifying incident:

"You don't want to go and shake hands with a guy who is treating immigrants like [expletive] because I'm an immigrant. ... “Once you see what is going in this country based on being an immigrant or being black, it’s something that goes beyond going into the White House and shaking hands with the president just because.”

Who said this?

David Ortiz, a few weeks back, related to Alex Cora's decision to not accompany his team to the White House for the customary champions' meeting with the President.

Now, we know that David Ortiz was shot in a horrible incident in his native Dominican Republic, and he has been airlifted back to the U.S. for further treatment.

Sure, he was knocking President Trump's immigration stance, not the U.S. per se, but funny, he is being airlifted back to the U.S.--his adopted country, the country where he became a legal citizen a few years ago--by the Red Sox.

I don't hear him knocking the President of his adopted country now. And I think as an immigrant to our country, he has done pretty well for himself.

I wish Ortiz a speedy recovery, but funny, when the chips are down, the U.S. is always there to help, even if it is through what amounts to a U.S. corporation, the Boston Red Sox.

So, is our country really that horrible, as some would assure us that it is and Ortiz himself pretty much told us it was?

Where would you rather be--in the D.R., where American citizens on vacation are falling like tumbling dice due to poisonings at a few resorts, or being shot at, like Ortiz was, or would you rather be on U.S. soil, where we have the best of everything, and legal immigrant Ortiz--who went through all the policies and procedures to gain citizenship--will get the best care on his hopeful road to full recovery?

I think the answer is pretty obvious.

Knock this country if you feel the need to, but this country is always there, and has always been there, for those who are our citizens, whether they are immigrants or born right here."

This is a classic case of biting the hand that feeds you, I do believe.

Ortiz, as a legal citizen of his adopted country, has every right to say what he wants to say.

But sometimes, it is better to be happy about where you are rather than shoot off your mouth about something you know absolutely nothing about.

And where would he rather be now, in the Dominican Republic, or in the U.S.A., a country he is a new citizen of that he feels he needs to take umbrage with?

Quite frankly, he is lucky to be alive, lucky that he was able to fly back here to the U.S. for treatment, and yes, he is lucky to be a citizen of the greatest country on the face of the earth.

It is almost as if he were a guest in your home for the first time and then decides to shoot off his mouth about the lack of accommodations there.

I wish Ortiz well, and I hope this situation is not what it has been painted to be.

But Ortiz was targeted, that is for sure, and I hope that the authorities in the Dominican Republic find and prosecute anyone who was involved in this situation to the fullest extent of the law.

However, before knocking your new, adopted country, again sometime in the future, I would tell Ortiz to open up his eyes a bit and at the same time, close his mouth.

You are in a good place, and don't ruin it by saying idiotic things about which you know absolutely nothing.

Smile that radiant smile as you have for years; just keep your mouth shut while doing so.