@hlezama,

Congratulations on the win. I waited until my daughter got home from school before picking a winner. A level of masochism is required to even try to recite that poem with neither laughter nor liquor ... although, I think I saw some cracks on "Buttock Bassoon" and "O-Ring Oboe."

You've just purchased glasses for two of my daughters. They inherited my poor eyesight. So, on their behalf, receive a warm Christmas hug!

That is undoubtedly the finest Christmas gift I will receive this year ... so I thank you.

For those who don't know, H. lives in Venezuela which is, alas, imploding. Groceries, if they can be purchased at all, are bought with currency ... measured in kilograms. Inflation is projected to be a million percent by the World Bank. Millions of refugees have streamed into neighboring countries. Those who remain behind are living lives one would expect to find in dystopian fiction novels.

The problem is political. The Socialist Revolución, a Utopian dream-scheme, has, predictably, reduced the country with the world's largest proven oil reserve, to a failed state. The rampant corruption and government autocracy necessary to keep the "Dream Alive" ... is now endemic.

No one, no matter the prudence of planning, could have, or can, avoid being devastated by the disaster that has befallen this country. This is EXACTLY what Orwell warned about in his frighteningly prophetic masterpiece, "1984."

There's a lot of people on Steemit auto-upvoting crap. I will stake my honor and reputation on the assertion that if you were to add @hlezama to your list of auto-upvotes, you would not, a single time, regret it. He has the same commitment to quality as do I.

Consider such an initiative a ticket for a front row seat in a Shakespearean Tragedy, played out in a theater so adept at their craft that you'll never even know that they're acting.

For all the frustrations we are ALL currently experiencing with the blockchain, understand that to many of our Venezuelan brethren ... Steemit is now their ONLY hope of putting food on the table. Their wedding rings have long since been pawned.

Do what you can.

Quill