100th Post - And it's of substance

This morning I was doing my usual "Drink the coffee and read the blogs" routine when I got to work to get my brain moving, and was struck by some frustration that was present in Greg's blog entry today. Greg is one of the most compassionate people you'll ever meet, is open to everyone, and his frustration is quite frankly warranted.

He cites this article which he referred to after hearing the story on NPR this morning. For those that don't want to read the article, the basic synopsis is that there's this town in Louisiana that is experiencing a ton of racial tension; in fact, they are experiencing the kind of racial tension that you only ever hear about anymore if the words "KKK" or "...next up and coming movie" are in conjunction with it. When I read the article, I was completely appalled by some of the things I read, and could not believe that in this day in age we're still fighting these issues. Racism complete with nooses and light sentencing for white people. Things that I often forget still exist in 21st Century USA.

But rather than the anger and frustration that Greg felt, I felt sadness and disappointment. I became sad for the love and friendships that the people in this town are missing out on because they are blinded by superficiality. I became disappointed by people who say that they are Christians (one of the town officials say that "They're Christian, law-abiding citizens that wouldn't mistreat anybody"), but yet hate rather than love their fellow members of the community.

Have we forgotten the inspirations of Martin Luther King Jr.? Have we forgotten the quiet but loud statements made by Rosa Parks by not giving up her seat on a bus? The Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation? Have all of the important people who fought for equal rights, died for equal rights and equal LOVE of all men and women... have these people been forgotten and their ideas left in the dust? Where are the fighters today? Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson? I don't think so; whenever I see them I think of hot-aired politicians and often forget that they are Reverends. Did we think that because of things like Brown v. Board of Ed that we didn't have to fight anymore? That because desegregation seemed to work we were all set? Legislation can't change attitudes, only people can change attitudes.

For as far as we have come as a nation, we still have quite a ways to go. Even here in New England there's still progress to be made. The first line in our Declaration for Independence states "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...". But even when that was written, we were blind to see that all men included men of all colors, women of all colors, and people of all walks of life.

The Bible does not state that God made one white man, one white woman; one black man, one black woman; one Asian man, one Asian woman... you get the point. In the beginning, there was nothing. God made one male, one female, and from them came all other men and women. In the eyes of God we are all brothers and sisters, and anything other than love for all people is a sin. 1 John 29 states that "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness". As a nation we are in the dark, we need to rise up and encourage each other to love. To discourage racism.

To encourage "One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all".

Greg asks in his blog for his readers to either point people to his blog or to blog yourself to help increase awareness of this issue to the blogging community. I ask my readers to do the same. Please help get the word out about the need for this sort of behavior to be eliminated.


(Martin Luther King Jr. - "I Have a Dream" Speech)
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Current Music: Billy Joel, "Only the Good Die Young"