We Are All Damaged

When I look at you, I do not see your skin color,

Or whether you are male or female.

 I don’t consider your gender identity

Or your sexual preference.

When I talk to you, I don’t think about your religion;

Your nationality or ethnicity.

I will not judge your outward appearance that is different from mine

Nor will I try to break apart your IQ.

The only thing I look for is compassion and humanity.

I look for a respect in our differences,

And that includes our difference of opinion.

I look for tolerance, but do not beg for acceptance.

When I look at you

I see a wonderfully imperfect human being.

And if you are nice to and respect me,

I will freely give you the same.

If not, I will walk away.

I will not beg for your approval

And I will not deal with your issues toward me,

For these issues are yours.

I would expect you would do the same for me.

For like me,

You are an exquisitely damaged human being.

My Two Cents on the Charlottesville Riot. (And yes, I believe it was a riot.)

I try to stay away from politics mainly because it irritates me to no end. However, what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend is not entirely a political problem—it is a HUMAN problem.

Why?

We can’t let it go. We can’t let go of hate and our past. (This includes EVERYONE in this equation.) We can’t let the past and hate go because we HAVE NOT learned from it. We shame each other for what our ancestors did and seem to forget that healing starts with US.

White supremacy is a scourge that needs to be stomped out. Black hatred needs to go too, as does hatred for women, and for those who practice religion. Frankly, I think when it comes to religion, folks need to mind their own beeswax unless it directly hurts someone, and I’m not talking hurt feelings. If someone lives in a way you do not agree with, but does not hurt you or others, mind your business! But this is another discussion for another day.

Charlottesville was a hate fueled on both sides. I can’t honestly say I know who started it, I’ve researched and read different tales. But really, put a white supremacy group anywhere and you are going to have trouble. Mix that with BLM and ANTIFA and that’s a powder keg. The results were unsurprisingly explosive and tragic. This nonsense cost one poor lady, who was ran over by a neo-nazi, and two state troopers their lives when their helicopter crashed as they were looking over the scene. I cry for their families and applaud these lost folks their braveness.

All these groups have the right to assemble and to protest. However, no one has the right to run people over, injure them, beat them, or kill them—no matter what side you’re on. I think hate groups need to go, but you can’t force it. Being hateful is not a crime, although what you do with that hatred sure can be. Violence is not going to help the issue. Talking? I doubt it. We must learn and communicate, be informed, and enlightened—all of us. Folks, we have other extreme threats to our nation from other areas. If we stay divided like this over our differences, we are doomed and ripe for foreign picking.

Facebook—don’t get your news there. It boggles the mind and angers you to the point of an aneurysm. Twitter—I don’t listen to celebrities because honestly, I think they have no clue. Stay away from biased news if you can. I get mine from the local channel, and hell I wonder about them sometimes. I boycott Fox News, CNN, MSNBC—well I do watch Lockup on MSNBC on Friday or Saturday night… I also boycott most online news outlets. I try to learn which ones are fake and which aren’t. One thing to remember, “he who controls the media, controls the world.”

Trump? I don’t blame him for the carnage, BUT he really needs to shut his yap, stay off Twitter, and LEAD his county for a change. Anyone who hurt someone at this rally—or riot as I would call it—has something to answer for. Unless they were trying to defend themselves, of course.

Furthermore, I, as a historian, do not like the destruction of monuments. I think that’s what started the whole thing. If you don’t like them on state property, put them in a museum and leave them alone. As for stone mountain, there are those who are calling for that carving to be blown off the planet. That carving is historical and to destroy that would be a tragedy. It is important to realize that destroying monuments and statues will not destroy hate. It is important to see and learn—otherwise, we are doomed to repeat atrocities of the past.