I have been on this earth over a half century. I have had the opportunity to see beautiful places not only here in the US but in other countries too. Traveling and living in other countries changes your perspective of America.. Once you stand outside of a church that is hundreds of centuries old, you understand exactly how young this country is and it awes you.
But I have also lived through some of the darker times of this country. I went to segregated schools when I was a child. I remember first hand the ugliness of racism. I remember my parents wanting to avoid the whole issue, not because they believed it was right, but because it was difficult to explain to a young girl who saw a red light flashing in her head. My parents treated my questions about race about as well as a young girl asking about sex. They avoided it.
It was only because of economic circumstances that we ended up living in a place that was one of the last holdouts in this country to desegregated their schools. When I delve into some of my first memories, they are of Boston, Massachusetts. We lived in a two family in the section of Boston known as Hyde Park. My Dad was a printer. He worked hard and always came home covered in black ink because he ran huge presses that printed newspapers. I remember being happy; no arguments between my parents, no abuse, just being happy. My Dad took our family to his workplace one evening to hear a new, young Democrat who was campaigning for a state government seat. His name was Ted Kennedy. My Dad, holding me so I could see, later waited in line to meet Ted Kennedy. I remember shaking hands with Kennedy and my father telling me to always remember that moment. I have never forgotten it.
We moved to what was a small town at the time, Stoughton, Massachusetts. My Mom made friends with a young woman next door, but later on her life, she told me it wasn't easy. She made friends with the family across the street. They were Black. She continued her friendship with them long after we moved away. But she paid a price for that friendship when we lived there. No one wanted anything to do with her.
I have to give my parents a lot of credit. As young as my brother and I were, they had already set our moral compass in a direction that would never waver. We were taught that people are people. The color of their skin did not matter. What mattered was how people treated you. Although my parents did not know we would eventually end up in a place that pushed and pulled at our compass, they made damn sure we understood to keep pointing in the right direction.
Living in a world where racism was no farther away than our front door was confusing and hard. Mrs. Romney, you can say your life is hard, but it is complete bullshit. You have lived a privileged life in a White world where I sincerely doubt you have ever dealt with any one's racist attitudes except your own. I walked to and from school with little bullies who would thrown stones at small Black kids. They were walking home from THEIR school. Other kids called out "nigger", which was absolutely not to be said in my family. My brother and I were promised a belt and a mouth full of soap if we ever uttered that word. As kids, living with our parent's gag order, we didn't have many friends either.
Eventually we moved back north and we left that nightmare behind us. Other lessons popped up about religion and race. We had busing. It didn't always go over very well, but not for lack of trying. Kids bussed in could not immerse themselves in all that our school had to offer. There was no after school activities for them. There was no sense of belonging. They didn't belong here but they didn't belong there either. They gave up their sense of community where they lived only to find there was no way they could have a sense of community in their new school.
Religion was this or that. You were either Catholic or Protestant. If you were anything else, no one wanted to hear it. Now, in 2012, it's really about being being a Christian. And it's pushed by people who do not act very Christian like. I suppose I could read the Bible and come up with all kinds of things because the bible contradicts itself all the time. But I put my Bible away years ago. It it is like a newspaper. It was written by people who were not alive when Jesus was alive and the contents were picked out and revised by a bunch of men 500 years after Jesus died. Whatever scroll they didn't like was put back on the shelf. What I cannot understand is how Christians can say it is the true word of God and not acknowledge that Muslims are mentioned in the Bible about a zillion times. The other contradictory theme is about Jesus himself. He was born to an unwed mother, was a baby, and suddenly grew up. What happened in between? His life is explained in an ancient scroll that was left out of the Bible on purpose. The name of that ancient scroll? The Book of Jesus. It was left out because it describes Jesus as being a typical kid. He was lazy at times, did childish things, and got into trouble. Those ancient men did not want anything that put Jesus in a bad light. And the one thing Bible thumping Christians in this country refuse to believe is that Jesus was not white with blue eyes. He was brown, had brown or black hair and brown eyes. He was just a face in the crowd of millions of Jews that hung around Jerusalem back in the day. Did he say profound things? Yes. Was he the Son of God? I don't believe that, but that's my opinion.
All I know is that Jesus, who I believe did live and die, would not approve of the hatred spewed out of the mouths of racist Americans. Jesus would not approved of hatred towards gay people. They lived when Jesus lived. Since he didn't seem to have anything to say about them, one must assume it didn't bother him. Protestant Bibles have a book which Catholic Bibles do not have: The Songs of Solomon. This book is full of sexual yearnings and songs about love. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know people had sex back then. And they probably enjoyed it.
One last thought is this: if the Second Coming of Jesus came, how would you know? Maybe he would be Jewish, or maybe he would look a little like Jesus - dark skin, brown eyes and a profound love for all people, not just his true believers. I have an idea of who might fit that description. For now, I'll keep it to myself.
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