When I started this blog my intent was to make a case for our sameness as a race... to highlight the falseness of the spaces that separate us.
I wanted to simply say to all the people on this planet ( My Family) that it is much wiser to get together than it is to continue down the road killing everyone we see for arbitrary reasons of our own creation.
Now don't get me wrong... I am not the salt of the earth, not filled with the milk of human kindness, nor am I the guy that would be described as one that would give you the shirt off his back.
I am a simple realist... It is simply "bad for business" to hate, and in my humble opinion quite simple-minded.
When I was young and still forming, the impulse to go along with the crowd just was not in me I don't know why. When I left my home to play or go to school it was always an adventure (it still is) I wanted to meet people... in my neighborhood, town, country, world... and as my circle got larger I realized that it was harder for me to hate people because of what they are on the surface.
The fact that I was hated, or judged for my surface might have had something to do with that.
Still my reality was that I had met people from all over early on... maybe no one told me I shouldn't.
The Jewish couple from the corner store, the Chinese lady at the dry cleaners, the guys @ calabria pizzeria, & the African-American owned market (Jeez... I hate that classification) that was just one block of my neighborhood.
Here's a lesson I learned...
Their relationships were shaky at best, but I saw no reason to follow that trend.
So I watched.
I found it funny that they all had something to say about each other... but rarely said a word to each other, these people had run businesses on that block for my entire life and for all my 10 year old mind knew for a thousand years before.
Even then I was quite a talker... I had a lot to say and if no one tried to stop me I'd say whatever was on my mind, I still struggle with that one... but the thing is that it was that childish verbal honesty is the thing that allowed those shopkeepers to open up as much as they did each one in turn giving me their wisdom about the character and culture of the others... as they saw it, or worse as they'd "heard" it, of course very little was said (to me) about the people at the market but ...
Anyway... they all spoke at length, to me, about each other when business was slow and that's when I learned about "How it is" before I learned "What it is".
I "learned" how "they" were sitting on a big stash of money, and how "they" spoke plenty English when no one was around, and how "those" guys were mobbed up, and the whispers about the people in the market? Well I knew those ones very well even at 10.
But... I was then, as I am now, so I asked each if any of these things were true?
Their answers were all basically the same, but when the question was asked, the undertone was identical in each case... Sadness, fear, anger for themselves & compassion... for me because I didn't "know" yet...
"How it is"
That's one reason why I can never hate anyone for the group they where born into, or the lessons they learned there, I saw these people that could see nothing but how they were different, but I knew how much they were the same.
...and that's what this blog is all about!
I'll try not to lose focus again!
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