Drinking my morning coffee earlier today, I surfed social media, specifically Facebook. A friend had posted again since last night (we had debated amidst some of his friends things like our President, the junior women in Congress, things they've all said, etc.). Showing no self-restraint, I dove into this morning's post and stated my views. Quickly more of my friend's friends (whom I've never met) began their rebuttals to my statements.....It's been pointed out that I am a racist, that I am not a Christian, that I am close-minded, that I am spoon-fed on Fox News (little do they know, I rarely glance at Fox), that I do not care about brown-skinned children in detention centers needing water, and so on. You get the idea.
It amazes me, that people who do not know me, decide they know every facet of my being simply by my having made a few comments. I thought about pointing out that it was like the pot calling the kettle black, but not sure they would have grasped that old analogy, but that makes me judgemental of their intellect and recall, doesn't it?
When, oh when, will our society members, our citizens grasp that until we stop being offended by every word someone else utters, until we just hand over a glass of water, until we volunteer for our local organizations, until we stop passing judgement and expecting others to do our bidding, we aren't going to accomplish squat for humanity, let alone the planet?
I would hope my family and friends know me better than these strangers think they do. To read their comments, they must know every detail about every human who disagrees with them. I have a cousin of Mexican descent, I consider her family my family too. I have a grandson-in-law who is 1/4 Mexican, 1/4 Black, 1/4 American Indian, and 1/4 Irish; he and our granddaughter (who some would lamely label Caucasian, ignoring her mix of various European ethnicities) have a beautiful family, that started out with a couple of his from a prior relationship and theirs together, and now they are all one beautiful family. Couldn't love them more. And, you know what, I don't think about all our varying skin tones until someone on the internet points out to me that I am a racist.
I can tell you, with certainty, that I am put-off when a 'white' person acts like a cracker, a redneck (yep, sometimes I'm a red neck), a honky, a wop, a dumb dutchman; when a black person acts like a nigger, when a Korean acts like a gook, when a Polish person acts like a polack, and so on. We all have moments when we act like idiots, folks, and oh, it reflects on our ethnic background, our skin tone, our religious convictions, our political party, our gender.
There are nasty slang names for all of us when we're behaving poorly, greedy, lazy, judgemental, and essentially like less than the people God called us to be. Names have been called for centuries. Do I call other people those names? Rarely, and, if I do, it's just the 'white' ones I actually label! I am far more likely to berate myself and others of my likeness than those who are 'different from me' in their coloring, gender, or beliefs!
I poke fun at myself all the time for being ungraceful and I talk with my hands. Does that mean I'm making fun of someone with a disability? Some would lead you to believe that. I have a dear friend with a form of dwarfism -- guess what? She has some of the best dwarf related jokes going? Does she stand up for her rights? Absolutely! Do I back her up? I certainly try!
It seems to me that there are some people out there in our society, a different version of one-percenters (not the financially wealthy ones we hear about in the media), who want to fan the fire of divide, yet who want to put themselves above all others. Well, I'm tired of it. In the slang words of some tough guys, "Grow a Set!"
Quit looking for things to offend you. Quit espousing everything others do wrong. Start lending a hand. Start volunteering. Start saying nice things you observe instead of consistently tearing down others. Quit looking for the bad people do and mistakes people make. You are human and make mistakes too, we all do.
There is an old saying that says we reap what we sow. It's time we start sowing good instead of bad. It's time we plant a garden of teamwork, of giving, of solving, of working. It's time to stop all the talking and gossiping and finger-pointing. Can you picture us all in Kindergarten again? None of us would receive Satisfactory marks for working well and playing well with others. None of us.
I dare say, if Christ Himself were to run for (and be elected) President of our country, He wouldn't be good enough for this other group of one-percenters. He is the only perfect person to have every walked the planet and yet I read these folks espousing what He would say and do. Without Him in the conversation / debate, None of us have the right to speak for Him. He is the Son of God and God is a just God.
Justice, by the way, is giving to each that which is his own. It is not giving that which belongs to someone else. Learned that in a fine philosophy class decades ago at university from an old nun who had her doctorate in philosophy. Brilliant woman, fully tenured professor at a private university -- guess what? Never heard her griping away about the poor unequal treatment of women. She walked her own walk, did well, and taught us to do well.
In all honesty, I don't care what color your skin is. I care what mine is when I get sunburned because that hurts! I care that as a 'white' person, I'm not given a choice of my varied ethnicities on questionnaires, I'm lumped in with a group called white/caucasian and there's so much more to my background than one lump. That has bothered me since college application days. Even my natural brindle hair-color doesn't fit a single choice on license applications. My mother's neutral eyes that changed color with attire and mood never fit on a standard eye-color choice. I don't care what color you are; I'm glad you have color -- without color the world would be a lot more bland! Am I victim of white oppression? Who knows?!?! I was accused last night on social media of my claiming white oppression. Oh brother! I'm white and sometimes I get judged just for being white. But, you know what? That's ok. Judge if you will, that is your choice to judge based on what I just said and on my skin color. I'm not going to judge you because of your color.
I may question statements you make against our country, someone else's religion or sexual preference, but it will be your actions, your statements, not your personal being. If you espouse tearing apart my country, if you espouse killing people who don't believe as you do, I'm going to judge that you are breaking a law and unsafe to the general public and will notify the proper legal authorities. I'm not just going to decide I am judge and jury and dole out justice. That's the great thing about our legal system here when it works right, when people are actually law-abiding.
I don't care whether you're male or female (science says there are two genders folks, leave it at that); just do your best at your daily goals, your job, with your family and that's all we can ask.
I don't care what your religion is, but don't be holier than thou over mine, don't shove yours down my throat. Respect the foundation of our country as a constitutional republic on Judeo-Christian principles. If that isn't your cup of tea, then there are almost 200 other countries to choose from. (If you're fond of Sharia law, then I suggest residence in a country where it forms the basis of the law. We have a something else here, so when in Rome, do as the Romans do and suck it up, Buttercup.)
Sure, we all have the right to free speech in this country of mine, but that doesn't give us the right to force someone else not to share their thoughts, nor does it give us the right to break the laws of this country (from treason to traffic lights).
If you want to judge, then talk to God about it. Go to law school. But don't take your personal flaws and try to impose them on me in a case of reverse guilt. Fix yourself. I'm working on me. If we all worked on ourselves more, I'm betting we could take much better care of our fellow man and our planet.
We must study history and learn from it. We must not pretend historical facts didn't occur and try to 'white wash' them. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.....Gee, who said that before me?!?
Have I said some offensive things in this post? Most likely. Is it my goal to offend? Not one bit. Will someone find a way to be offended by my using words we all know in a factual statement? Probably.
So, drink that morning coffee, laugh at these one-percenters who seemingly strive to make the rest of us appear evil, bigoted, racist, prejudiced, anti-woman, anti-everything, and live your life to the fullest, love all God's children as He commanded, striving to be a better human everyday, allowing for justice, respecting God's and man's laws (yeah, that's in the Bible too). I may not like what you do or say, but I can still love you. I can pray for you; that's part of my First Amendment Right of Free Speech too.
Cheers.
It amazes me, that people who do not know me, decide they know every facet of my being simply by my having made a few comments. I thought about pointing out that it was like the pot calling the kettle black, but not sure they would have grasped that old analogy, but that makes me judgemental of their intellect and recall, doesn't it?
When, oh when, will our society members, our citizens grasp that until we stop being offended by every word someone else utters, until we just hand over a glass of water, until we volunteer for our local organizations, until we stop passing judgement and expecting others to do our bidding, we aren't going to accomplish squat for humanity, let alone the planet?
I would hope my family and friends know me better than these strangers think they do. To read their comments, they must know every detail about every human who disagrees with them. I have a cousin of Mexican descent, I consider her family my family too. I have a grandson-in-law who is 1/4 Mexican, 1/4 Black, 1/4 American Indian, and 1/4 Irish; he and our granddaughter (who some would lamely label Caucasian, ignoring her mix of various European ethnicities) have a beautiful family, that started out with a couple of his from a prior relationship and theirs together, and now they are all one beautiful family. Couldn't love them more. And, you know what, I don't think about all our varying skin tones until someone on the internet points out to me that I am a racist.
I can tell you, with certainty, that I am put-off when a 'white' person acts like a cracker, a redneck (yep, sometimes I'm a red neck), a honky, a wop, a dumb dutchman; when a black person acts like a nigger, when a Korean acts like a gook, when a Polish person acts like a polack, and so on. We all have moments when we act like idiots, folks, and oh, it reflects on our ethnic background, our skin tone, our religious convictions, our political party, our gender.
There are nasty slang names for all of us when we're behaving poorly, greedy, lazy, judgemental, and essentially like less than the people God called us to be. Names have been called for centuries. Do I call other people those names? Rarely, and, if I do, it's just the 'white' ones I actually label! I am far more likely to berate myself and others of my likeness than those who are 'different from me' in their coloring, gender, or beliefs!
I poke fun at myself all the time for being ungraceful and I talk with my hands. Does that mean I'm making fun of someone with a disability? Some would lead you to believe that. I have a dear friend with a form of dwarfism -- guess what? She has some of the best dwarf related jokes going? Does she stand up for her rights? Absolutely! Do I back her up? I certainly try!
It seems to me that there are some people out there in our society, a different version of one-percenters (not the financially wealthy ones we hear about in the media), who want to fan the fire of divide, yet who want to put themselves above all others. Well, I'm tired of it. In the slang words of some tough guys, "Grow a Set!"
Quit looking for things to offend you. Quit espousing everything others do wrong. Start lending a hand. Start volunteering. Start saying nice things you observe instead of consistently tearing down others. Quit looking for the bad people do and mistakes people make. You are human and make mistakes too, we all do.
There is an old saying that says we reap what we sow. It's time we start sowing good instead of bad. It's time we plant a garden of teamwork, of giving, of solving, of working. It's time to stop all the talking and gossiping and finger-pointing. Can you picture us all in Kindergarten again? None of us would receive Satisfactory marks for working well and playing well with others. None of us.
I dare say, if Christ Himself were to run for (and be elected) President of our country, He wouldn't be good enough for this other group of one-percenters. He is the only perfect person to have every walked the planet and yet I read these folks espousing what He would say and do. Without Him in the conversation / debate, None of us have the right to speak for Him. He is the Son of God and God is a just God.
Justice, by the way, is giving to each that which is his own. It is not giving that which belongs to someone else. Learned that in a fine philosophy class decades ago at university from an old nun who had her doctorate in philosophy. Brilliant woman, fully tenured professor at a private university -- guess what? Never heard her griping away about the poor unequal treatment of women. She walked her own walk, did well, and taught us to do well.
In all honesty, I don't care what color your skin is. I care what mine is when I get sunburned because that hurts! I care that as a 'white' person, I'm not given a choice of my varied ethnicities on questionnaires, I'm lumped in with a group called white/caucasian and there's so much more to my background than one lump. That has bothered me since college application days. Even my natural brindle hair-color doesn't fit a single choice on license applications. My mother's neutral eyes that changed color with attire and mood never fit on a standard eye-color choice. I don't care what color you are; I'm glad you have color -- without color the world would be a lot more bland! Am I victim of white oppression? Who knows?!?! I was accused last night on social media of my claiming white oppression. Oh brother! I'm white and sometimes I get judged just for being white. But, you know what? That's ok. Judge if you will, that is your choice to judge based on what I just said and on my skin color. I'm not going to judge you because of your color.
I may question statements you make against our country, someone else's religion or sexual preference, but it will be your actions, your statements, not your personal being. If you espouse tearing apart my country, if you espouse killing people who don't believe as you do, I'm going to judge that you are breaking a law and unsafe to the general public and will notify the proper legal authorities. I'm not just going to decide I am judge and jury and dole out justice. That's the great thing about our legal system here when it works right, when people are actually law-abiding.
I don't care whether you're male or female (science says there are two genders folks, leave it at that); just do your best at your daily goals, your job, with your family and that's all we can ask.
I don't care what your religion is, but don't be holier than thou over mine, don't shove yours down my throat. Respect the foundation of our country as a constitutional republic on Judeo-Christian principles. If that isn't your cup of tea, then there are almost 200 other countries to choose from. (If you're fond of Sharia law, then I suggest residence in a country where it forms the basis of the law. We have a something else here, so when in Rome, do as the Romans do and suck it up, Buttercup.)
Sure, we all have the right to free speech in this country of mine, but that doesn't give us the right to force someone else not to share their thoughts, nor does it give us the right to break the laws of this country (from treason to traffic lights).
If you want to judge, then talk to God about it. Go to law school. But don't take your personal flaws and try to impose them on me in a case of reverse guilt. Fix yourself. I'm working on me. If we all worked on ourselves more, I'm betting we could take much better care of our fellow man and our planet.
We must study history and learn from it. We must not pretend historical facts didn't occur and try to 'white wash' them. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.....Gee, who said that before me?!?
Have I said some offensive things in this post? Most likely. Is it my goal to offend? Not one bit. Will someone find a way to be offended by my using words we all know in a factual statement? Probably.
So, drink that morning coffee, laugh at these one-percenters who seemingly strive to make the rest of us appear evil, bigoted, racist, prejudiced, anti-woman, anti-everything, and live your life to the fullest, love all God's children as He commanded, striving to be a better human everyday, allowing for justice, respecting God's and man's laws (yeah, that's in the Bible too). I may not like what you do or say, but I can still love you. I can pray for you; that's part of my First Amendment Right of Free Speech too.
Cheers.
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