BETTER THAN WE ARE

For those who did not have the opportunity to see the video of Mr. Obama talking about race in America and about his personal experiences, here is the link:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/07/19/203706929/obama-explains-black-america-to-white-america?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130719

Here’s the thing to keep in mind.  Mr. Obama cannot, even with the power of the Presidency, make the American people better.  He cannot require intelligent gun laws, require intelligent attitudes about race and about the civil rights of gay people and immigrants, and reasonable approaches to differences of opinion of government.  Mr. Obama cannot make the houses of Congress do their jobs. 

Mr. Obama can bring these issues forward, but he cannot make us better than we are.  Only we can do that.

PS:  npr.org is a wonderful link to use as a tool for information.  Sometimes we don't agree with them, but we don't have to.

WE CALL IT BLIND JUSTICE

Our system of criminal law is based on the theory that Justice with a capital ‘J’ is blind to everything but the truth.  That the accused is innocent until proven guilty.  That guilt must be established beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The problem with being a nation of laws is that to keep that nation lawful, we must support the laws even when we occasionally do not agree with the results of those laws.   The problem is also that sometimes justice is blind because those who have the responsibility for processing justice are incapable of performing their responsibilities.  That courts can be totally inept in their work and allow the guilty to go free.  And sometimes allow the innocent to be punished.

But it is important to remember that no one ever escapes the consequences of their actions, and those who commit crimes or behavior which harm others are marked not with just the law’s judgment but also with society’s judgment and with consequences not always immediately visible, but which are there within them, irrevocably.  There is another old saying which is paraphrased here:  “We are not punished as much for our crimes as by them.”  Or in other words,  "what goes around comes around."

MY FRIEND PAULA DEEN Including a guest blog by G. Rogers http://thenewsosphere.wordpress.com

Now I don’t know Paula Deen personally.  But I like her and I love her humanity, and I accept her humanity as I do my own.  The following is presented from a guest blog as referenced above.  It pretty well sums it up for me.

“Okay, let's get it out in the open.

Paula Deen said something derogatory twenty years ago.  Then she admitted that she did.  Then she apologized.

Then she got fired.

So okay.  For those of you who have never called anyone something derogatory and/or used racial stereotypes, read no further.

Gee, looks like everyone's still here!  See my point?

Many people were brought up in families that were bigoted because that was the way it was back then.  They probably didn't understand it, or even like it, but that's how they were raised.  But some chose not to learn from their prejudices, and instead wished and caused harm on minorities, exacting cruelty because their minds weren't open to acceptance.

Paula Deen has never been involved in any anti-racial activities, nor blatantly and frequently referred to someone in a derogatory manner - her only "crime" was that she once called someone a horrible word because they held her at gunpoint.

Trust me, if you are ever held at gunpoint, you are bound to utter many words you don't utter normally afterward.

So it's a terrible word, and should never be used ever.  Except as it has been frequently, sometimes as a show of friendship.  And no one has ever used it.  Never wanted to.  Except for the multitude of people who post it on the internet and use it in memes.

And they never apologized.  And they still have their jobs.

Paula Deen's condemning is not about bigotry - it's about refusal.  Refusal to let something go.

Why don't we all?”

OURS

In ordinary lives, at intervals we all attend certain ceremonial events.  In our life we have just witnessed the high school graduation of a beloved granddaughter, our youngest grandchild.  Usually I am determined not to weep, and usually I do anyway, usually when they start to play the processional.  I hear ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ and I weep.  Well, not this time, I told myself, and I didn’t.  At first we were awed by the beginning of the ceremony, when the principal explained that this high school, a relatively ordinary school in a relatively ordinary area, had a very diverse population and students began marching in with flags representing the countries they have heritage from.  There were twenty-two flags; this was wonderful to us, just what we would have wished for.  What better way to emphasize to young people that there is a world out there than to experience this diversity in their own school? 

I didn’t weep at all until I watched our beautiful granddaughter sitting among her classmates, and I looked at that beloved profile and memories came flooding back of all the times from when she was an infant that we have seen her looking intently around herself, thinking her thoughts.  Just the curve of that face and all the love we feel for her washed over us.  I thought of childhood illnesses and the determination of our daughter to be there for her children no matter what.  I thought of a single mother who has worked two jobs to make sure this child was able to pursue the music studies she loves, and to provide everything she needs, if not everything she wants.  And I thought of all the work and sacrifices of the families around us there to support their children.  And I wept for the joy of it all.

They call these ceremonies a ‘commencement’, because it represents, really, not an ending but a beginning, the beginning of places in the adult world for these young people.  They are no longer children, they are young adults.  They are not just their own futures, they are ours. 

ARE WE THAT NAIVE?

We have to be the most naïve society that ever had access to electronic devices.  Some of us walk around the streets and shops and sit in restaurants and coffee bars and talk and talk and talk on cell phones.  Or we use pads or phones or whatever we have to do whatever we do.  And then there are the computers and all the sites that are explored.  And then all the other linked-up devices such as DVRs and cordless phones and Wi-Fi.   And we put documents out there on the ‘Cloud’.  

So where on earth do we think that stuff goes?  And do we really, really, really think there are little walls of silence around every electronic device and every entry on our Facebook pages and their ilk?  Are we really, really, really that naïve?

And finally, do we really want our government to tune us all out and fail to prevent terrorism, foreign or domestic?  Because terrorism of some sort has always been around, but now it has access to the same electronics and communications systems that we nice folks do, and if it means that the folks who are trying to keep us safe need to check out the data, well, we say, “Let them.” 

Because we figure that when Alexander Graham Bell uttered those first few words on the first telephone and some of those words were recorded, things changed.