Here on my soap box again...

I was recently sent a link to follow, read and offer my opinion on it. To say I was horrified by what I read is an understatement. I'm not really a political person except to say, my beliefs and thoughts are my own and a freedom I have to do just that. I do not presume to think they're perfect or right. Rather I believe that we are all given a choice and the ability to make choices based on our faith and our ability to feel. What choices we make are dependant on our life experiences and our responsibility to make well informed decisions. Our experiences and environments are not enough information on which to base seriously life altering decisions.

With that being said, please, follow this link: This is Your Nation on White Privilege

Once you have read that, I offer my opinion below:

I find the article to be "trashy" at best. It is a statement that is highly biased and incredibly emotional. This article to me was written solely for the purpose of inciting a tremendous emotional reaction from sympathizers to some "cause". I think that in our nation our people, black, white, purple, pink or polka dotted, was founded on truth, Christian values, and faith in all mankind. God made us ALL. He made a glorious quilt of color and custom. It is not my place to judge His decisions. In no place in our faith - ANY faith to my knowledge except those of extremists - does it say we are free to be judgmental. We are taught in the Christian faith, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." It isn't my place to judge the person who wrote this as he and she are entitled to their opinions. However, I was asked to reply as to my thoughts on this piece and I will share this.

I think in the last 100 years we have worked hard to alleviate the divisions between the races and cultures, even within our own country. We abolished slavery in the late 1800's. It was the decision of the war and of our national leaders that all men should be treated equally. This decision was made by loss of life and through a restorative government to produce a more stable, compatible and cohesive nation. I understand there are sects within our nation that have worked to realize a steady division. I also recognize that these same groups that others have tried to alienate have worked equally as hard to further that same division. They create their own subcultures into which no "white man" is allowed. They create their own spaces within society into which they do not WANT whites to interfere, intermingle, and intersperse. It's shameful to continue blasting the Caucasian race as segregationists when it is their own races that work at building walls that the government of "white people" worked hard to eradicate and make smooth transitions between the society of old and the "new" worlds. It's positively disgusting to read articles such as these that serve to do nothing more than build up those emotional walls.

If someone chooses to call themselves an "effing redneck" why should that bother me? It doesn't, because I have a choice to be bothered by it or not. Should I be offended? Should it bother me more than to hear men of the black race call each other "nigger"? They are mightily offended to hear anyone outside their "race" call them that, yet they freely call out to one another with a name they claim is bigoted, racial, offensive, highly segregation, wrong?

Our entire country has embraced the wonderful teachings and dreams of the great Martin Luther King. We have all recognized our own abilities and freedoms to have a dream and further to pursue it. Black, white, yellow, red, mixed, no one is told they can't pursue that dream. It is, however, up to us to find our own way. Sure, some people have more money than others and the pursuit of that dream is easier; the road to the pot of gold noticeably easier. However, the same steps must be undertaken by all. By virtue of brains, some people are allowed shortcuts; classes they don't have to take, steps they can skip. Should I be jealous because I had to work harder? Should I be ungrateful for my education because someone else received scholarships based on academic excellence or athleticism who could have well afforded to pay their way to college but didn't have to? Should I hate them simply because they had more privilege than I?

Should I hate that more blacks and Hispanics are given public benefits than white?

Should I hate that in my own neighborhood, there are illegal citizens and blacks being given public benefits and yet have never worked a legal day in their lives?

Should I hate that despite having worked 30 years friends of mine have been denied assistance because they were honest and gave an accurate account of the household income when seeking a temporary need for food assistance, only to find out that the bread winner made $398 GROSS income and didn't qualify, but if they were to consider NET income, the family of 4 was more than $500 BELOW the poverty level and well qualified for assistance.

Should I hate that there is a black couple in my neighborhood who receive disability for "questionable" illnesses (illnesses they freely admit are simply on paper and not real) but their neighbor, who has been disabled for more than 10 years STILL cannot get approved despite his inability to walk without assistance, cannot use his left hand (not his writing hand) but still has a college degree he's got hung on the wall so the "Government" thinks he should still be able to do something, anything, JUST by virtue of his having worked hard to achieve his degree, his dreams?

I see all these things in my world. I watch the iniquities. I see the injustice every day. It does affect me, my thoughts, my feelings. It does NOT however, make me blame an entire race. It does not serve to cause me to be judgmental. It simply isn't my place to judge.

It IS my responsibility to be a well informed citizen. It is my responsibility to vote into office those individuals whom I think will be the best persons to create a more evenly balanced society. It is my responsibility to help create a world in these United States that has both left wingers and right wingers. It is my responsibility to believe in the government we voted and created based on the vision of our forefathers. It is my responsibility as a citizen to be active in my community so as to have my voice heard by those in power by voting, writing letters, participating in my local government in what ever capacity is right for me. It is not only my responsibility but my RIGHT to do so.

That brings me to my last point. It is the RIGHT of the individuals who have written this emotional note about "White Privilege" to say what they say. They have that right because of thousands of brave individuals of every race, creed and color, from the year 1607 to current day who have sacrificed their lives, their families, their fortunes, their blood, sweat and tears for us to be FREE to say the things we feel in our hearts. So to the writers of this horrible piece of writing I say, I respect your right to your opinion. I respect your right to assembly. I respect your right to even publish your opinion.

I hope you respect my right to disagree vehemently. I hope you can respect my right to call your writing trashy and the very emotional garbage on which the unrest in our nation is fueled. I despise what you wrote, not because I think there is a spec of truth in it but because yet again, someone who feels as though something is "owed to them" based on the 19th century history of our country. It's done, it's over and it's been beaten to death. Let's let the mistakes of our forefathers be buried and let's proceed living in the world intended by our true Father. God never promised us the world was easy and simple. He never put us on this magnificent Earth and told it was a rose garden that never needed to be tended, weeded and fertilized to produce the beautiful roses. You have failed to see the broader vision.

It is our RESPONSIBILITY to tend this garden, the beautiful quilt called MANKIND. We are all different sizes, colors, creeds, cultures, nationalities. We all have minds and freedom of our thoughts. God gave us that right when he gave us the ability. It is our responsibility to God to tend this beautiful garden. We are to care for it lovingly. We are to respect the gifts HE gave us by feeding it, taking care of the planted, the transplanted, the volunteers, the old, the new, the revived. We water it, we fertilize it. When we give it bad fertilizer, it gets tainted. Let's not taint our garden. Let's take it upon ourselves to cultivate His garden, His gifts just as He gave them to us. Let's not accept these "weeds" into our gardens to choke out the beauty and glory of it all.

In Galatians 5: 22, 23 we are apprised of the Fruits of the Spirit. These are the actions which we should all strive to emulate and share: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. People of all religions. People of all nationalities. People of all cultures. They are the very spirit of all PEOPLE. They are the spirit of a more perfect society. They are the very core of our being and they should be the very core of all of our lives. IF we were to ALL live according to these, why would writings such as the This is Your Nation on White Privilege even be published. They would be completely unnecessary. I do NOT presume to say all people should base their beliefs on the Christian bible. I do however believe that all people should base their very lives on those basic principles. What could possibly go wrong if we should all choose to live exhibiting love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness and self control? If we are to be guided by emotions, let it be, at the very least, positive emotion.