Thursday, August 21, 2008

sum things never change

I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions. This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream -- a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.-Martin Luther King Jr.

another long day  but for the most part a relaxin' evening....lots on my mind lately...so anyways, at 5pm today, Vicky one of my baseball buddies calls and asks me to go to the ballgame with her tonite since her hubby backed out   she was going with her granddaughter Savannah   had tickets to use up, so off we went   it was a blow out game but not without an incident i'll call it   so only tickets available tonite were up in the second level   i had wanted to sit up there at least once to get the view   i got my wish   so we're enjoying the game, or at least i was, and this woman (with her son and hubby i presume) in the seats below us gets up and moves right from their seats   she then leans over to me and says something about "her not having manners" and whatever else   i had no idea what she was talking about but got the impression she was talking about Vicky   so Vicky informs me what the scoop was   Vicky had her foot on this woman's son's chair   she wasn't interfering with him, but the kid had a fit   so anyways, Vicky proceeds to tell me what else the woman said   there were sum hispanic kids to their/our left   apparently this woman used a spanish slur when talking about them   well this woman was at least part hispanic as well   God i hadn't heard a racial slur in a very long time   i'm thinkin it's the year 2008 and the racial slurs are still goin' on?   well Vicky was livid, which i don't blame her, she's hispanic too  then her granddaughter also heard the woman use the word(s) river runt or rat and wanted to know what it was   the woman was again referring to the hispanic kids next to her   God, i can't believe my ears   this stuff still goin' on in this day & age   will it ever change i ask   not in my life time i don't think    i must accept hatred will always be  in my younger days, i had hope that we as a world would evolve, but it just aint happening   sum of us will change & grow, but there will always be those who remain in their hatred   the good thing i think, the young girl being talked about didn't speak english, so she didn't understand what the woman said   (that was part of the woman's complaint)   i know there will come a time this woman will know humility and change her ways   it just may take more lifetimes to do so....

all the above ran thru my mind on the way home, among other things   i then came to humility in my mind, and i'm still figuring it out although i've experienced much of it this life   It is all good, for i wouldn't be a better person for it   i'm contemplating where ALL of this fits in this world   until a better tomorrow...bless the broken road    

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's hard to believe but it happens all too often. I've been on the other end of it since I can remember. I grew up Native and handicapped (hearing disability)...I had thought I had broader shoulders than I did about it. I'm finding with my deafness it's all more apparent than ever. You would be amazed at the things people say because they think I can't hear. They fail to realize i can read lips quite well and it's just as biting and hurting because I understood the slurs and ugliness they spouted. Your in my thoughts dear friend. (Hugs)Indigo

Anonymous said...

    I live in Obama territory. In fact he was my State Senator. This area is so mixed and yet people are so distant. My town is fairly evenly split between black, white and Hispanic. I don't know what to say about racism. I see it all around me. I have friends in all these communities. There are people I care for deeply. And yet I see gangs coming in from the inner city infiltrating Becki's school. I want my friends about me, but I don't want to live in a gang infested neighborhood. At the same time I get so aggravated with people who go on for hours, and every word is dripping with hatred and resentment. That's not the world I want to live in.
Jude
http://journals.aol.com/jmorancoyle/MyWay