There are a few things that I learned
from my mother that I hadn't really considered until just recently
and I would like to share one of them with you. It's not what she
said so much as her example. She didn't hate people. It didn't seem
to matter to her what a person looked like or their skin color or
their nationality. She admittedly had some issues with gay marriage
but she still had gay friends and family members whom she cared for
deeply. The bottom line though was she never paid any attention to
the outside of a person, she instead looked at the heart.
She some how managed to pass that on to
me.
After the Zimmerman verdict,as many of
the various talking heads were crying racism, I started writing a
post on some of my own experiences as I grew up, but the further I
went in writing the more I realized just how lucky I have been ,and
it is thanks, in part, to my mother.
You see she never taught me to hate
people or to put any kind label on them. I was a sophomore in high
school before I even began to understand that there were any issues
or labels to be had. I remember one man , in the town I grew up in,
calling me a “spic” but it meant nothing to me because I hadn't
been taught it at home it so it carried no meaning.
So, as I was writing and recalling the
experiences and the friendships I have had, I came to realize just
how blessed I have been and still am. Just looking at my FB page I
came to realize that I have friends from just about every race that I
know of. Black, White, Spanish, Asian, Native American. I have
friends and family who are straight, gay, and lesbian. I have friends
that are Christian, Jews, Wiccans and atheists. All points of view
are represented and I have had the privilege to break bread with most
of you at one time or another and even argue the points that we might
not agree on.
The point is is that I was never taught
prejudice and hate and so it is a foreign concept to me.
It's not a lack of experiencing it, I
have, and it comes from all sides, I just simply don't understand it.
Why hate an entire race of people because there are a few idiots who
cause problems? Why even focus on those few when there are so many
others doing good things?
Do
you want to stop racism? Here are two suggestions first; Stop talking
about it. Stop letting the media determine ,and I mean all forms of
the media, determine what is racism in this country and what isn't
because to them everything is about race. Second, and this is more
important than the first, educate your children, teach them not to
hate based on skin color ,religion, handicap,sexual orientation or
whatever other category that you can come up with. Teach them morals
and that life has value and that all persons, no matter who they are,
have the same rights as you do.
If we did
those two things it wouldn't take long before our country and likely
the world would change.
Thanks Mom.
Train up a child in the way he should
go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6
No comments:
Post a Comment