With each passing day an ever growing segment of the public is becoming aware of the atrocities and injustices directed squarely toward normal families, even exemplary families, by Norway’s Child Protection Services agency whose brand name, Barnevernet, is by now badly damaged but not as damaged as the countless children who were abducted from their families and are being traumatized by the ruthless system.
This public awareness is not taking place in only one country but in many countries of Europe, most notably Romania, the United States, Canada and Australia, as the International Protests of April 16 have shown. But most importantly, public awareness is gaining steam now in the very place where this all started, namely, in Norway, with more than 5 protests including, Oslo, Bergen, Haugesund, Stryn and Vennesla. As a proud nation and one touting its independence, as they should, we wonder how Norway’s government will react to the rising displeasure of Barnevernet on the part of its own citizens.
Yes, even government officials, as official and professional as they want to be, still have neighbors, brothers, sisters, friends and colleagues and of course those who vote them in, and most importantly, they have political opponents waiting to unseat them at the next election. This pressure is building up and will continue to go up as long as we in this movement are determined and resolute and willing to make any sacrifice necessary. As a great Romanian once said “The operative word is: Everyone remain at your positions squarely facing the enemy.” Right about now, this would be an excellent advice for our Norwegian friends and supporters. And to add what a great American has once said, “Let Education be your total strategy, and Truth your only weapon.”
This movement started in a family, the Marius and Ruth Bodnariu family in Naustdal of Norway. It continued in the Church where it gained strength in numbers and it continued in the public square and not just on Facebook but in the brick and mortar variety. Rain or Shine or Freezing, on foot, pushing strollers and even wheelchairs. In word, in song and in the signature Romanian church brass bands.
Where will it go from here? Where God leads. Yesterday a Member of Parliament of Romania spoke at the Los Angeles, California rally and a U.S. Member of Congress addressed the crowd of thousands at the Phoenix, Arizona rally. So yes, we hope that our voices will be heard in the halls and corridors of power, as they should.
To you, our friends in Norway, try to take your message door to door in the streets and fiords of your country. You already know what to say. Marius and Ruth have already sacrificed so much. Many of us think that we are the ones helping the Bodnarius by all that we do. But have you ever thought that it is the Bodnarius helping us, helping you in Norway? Could it be that by going public, the Bodnarius have helped us all to awake out of a long slumber? Having bought the idea that communism is dead, that freedom has arrived, we got busy and sought to have more and more material goods for our families, all the while not recognizing that slowly but surely the State was ever growing, collectivizing society and centrally planning our every step in order to one day take full control over our lives. In one word we slept. Gulliver was being tied with many many thin strings. While he slept. You were not the only ones asleep. We were too.
But the State was not asleep. Barnevernet was not asleep.
So could it be that Marius and Ruth’s courage by going public was our wake-up call? Was Marius and Ruth knocking at our doors and windows saying “Wake up”? Who, then, is helping who? So this door knock that has gone around the world is now coming back to you, dear friends of Norway.
Norway, Knock, Knock. May I come in?
If I could come into your homes and if you had a DVD player and if you could invite your neighbors and even the mayor of your town, have some pop-corn to share, I would like to bring you a DVD movie to inspire you to action. You are Norwegian and you like the rugged outdoors, you are strong and you value your independence but you also love justice and have compassion towards the weak and wrongly accused. Imagine that you lived in a small village where an innocent man was wrongly accused and convicted of a crime he did not commit and it is now late at night and tomorrow this man is to be hanged.
The whole village attended the trial. The sheriff is a good God-fearing man and even though he tried to conduct a fair trial or at least pretended he did, some powerful forces, evil forces, derailed the proceedings in its favor leaving the people confused and brainwashed. The sheriff and the people now had their hands tied, so to speak. The law has been perverted, twisted and used to shield the guilty while punishing the innocent. The evil forces intended to thus put closure on their evil deeds and put the people at ease that justice has been served. But the entire village, every last human being in that village was not at ease, except the evil one(s). Those that were under his partial control were compromised including sadly the sheriff and his employees both under the power of the State badge.
But you are a young lady and you know the truth. You know that a grave injustice is about to occur to an innocent man not to mention leaving a young daughter orphaned of his loving father. But what can you do? You cannot change the outcome of the trial. There is no appeal process in this village. All you have is the truth tugging at your heartstrings, appealing to your sense of compassion and mercy toward your fellow man. Night has now fallen and you cannot sleep anyway.
A few more short hours, or long, and an innocent person will be hanged. What can you do? And yet what this lady character in the movie does next is for me the most emotional part of the entire film. She not only knows the truth but also knows that down deep in the heart of every woman in that village there exists the same sense of right and wrong, that a great injustice is about to take place. She knows that her lady friends all know that the accused is not guilty and starts going door to door! She appeals to their conscience, proposes to them a plan of action for the morning and gives them the space to think, to count the cost, thus appealing also to their courage. She knows that if only she can reach enough women that she can count on the innate goodness of her friends and the rest will be up to God.
Then she comes to the sheriff’s wife. Being also a good woman she too cannot sleep. And yet she feels a great conflict within her. Being the sheriff’s wife she always had a great respect for the law, so, how could she now interpose herself between her sense of right and wrong and what the law dictated, especially her husband’s actions. It seemed too much for her to handle.
But the young lady is kind with her, being optimistic that her friend will do what is right in the morning. Indeed the sheriff’s wife does not sleep the entire night and in her words hardly anyone slept that night in that village, thanks to the motivated young lady.
Dear Norwegian friends, are you asleep? Are you trying to fall asleep but can’t? Are you this young lady driven by pure motives, compassion and a strong sense that something must be done in the morning? I hope and trust that you are this young lady. You must. Please watch this great, action-packed, 1982 film, “The Capture of Grizzly Adams”, starring Dan Haggerty, Chuck Conners and Kim Darby, to see the rest of the story. (Although available on DVD at amazon.com, make sure first that it is compatible with your equipment, region, etc)
It is now late at night. Here and everywhere, not just in Norway. Yes, we have our own problems too and we’re trying to deal with them. But I’m sorry that at this time the spotlight is on you Norway. We hold you in our prayers because truly you are now, in this battle, on the front lines, or should I say behind enemy lines. What else can we do for you? Let us know. In the mean time invite your friends, order the DVD, watch it, translate for those that need translating. You probably heard the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
I leave you with this mental picture, What would the young lady in the movie say if she was to go door to door in Norway today?
Norway and the whole world would be a better place if more of these types of door knocks were out there instead of the type that Barnevernet has been making for far too long.
A Post Scriptum. For our stateside friends. As we move forward in this historic movement our young people are our greatest hope and strength for the future, thus to keep the young people inspired and active in this struggle, under the leadership of those older and mature, and since the young like to watch a good movie, this “The Capture of Grizzly Adams” movie is highly recommended, Dove Family-Approved, 100% clean and can be the topic of discussion in small groups, in a group of families. Since a DVD may not be licensed for large group showings, it can certainly be lent from home to home where a small group can view and even have a study guide on it to enhance discussion and make it educational, which it definitely is. This can fire up the youth plus they already have endless energy if you know what I mean. 🙂
Dan Cristea
agnus dei - english + romanian blog 