I’ve let a
lot of stuff go by the wayside for the last few weeks. Some I let go because I had enough on my
plate to deal with and some I let go because I’m honestly working on myself and
trying to let things go that don’t deserve my time or attention. What falls into that second category,
overwhelmingly, are circumstances and people that cause me to want to go off. I’ve had moments, but I’m definitely more
aware and controlling my responses much better.
As a result of all this though I have let a lot of stuff go. I’ve ignored a lot of stuff too. There have been a couple uplifting events
that made me smile, both personally and in the world view.
I began
training for a 5K three weeks ago. I’ve
never been an exercise person, ever. I
haven’t been this active in so long I can’t remember the last time. However, I’ve yet to miss a day of training
and while I haven’t seen any results by way of my clothes or the scale, I feel
better physically, mentally, and emotionally and I’ve set my sights to actually
run a 5K in June. That’s huge for
me. Even when I started the training
(one of those from the couch to a 5K apps) I had no intention of actually running
a 5K in real life. Now, that is my
goal. Big smile.
A world event
that made me nod and smile was the Supreme Court’s ruling on DOMA. All I can say about that is, ‘Well, duh….and
about damn time.’
However,
there have been other things in my life and in the world news that saddened me
or pissed me off and I’ve been silent because I didn’t feel up to dealing with
it or because I didn’t want to go off in a manner that made my ranting appear
insane. LOL However, my gauge as hit the ‘full’ mark and
I’ve got to get these things off my chest in order to make room for more
positive things to come in.
I’m from
Central Florida. I grew up a stone’s
throw from Sanford, Fl. I was stunned at
the George Zimmerman verdict. While
legally I never thought they would be able to prove Murder 2 I thought for sure
he would be convicted of manslaughter.
Why? As a jurist just learning
that he ignored the instructions of the police dispatcher to remain in his
vehicle meant he was looking to involve himself in something that had the
potential to go wrong, the potential for someone to get hurt – including himself. That says something to me – he either wanted
to play hero or he wanted a fight.
Either way, he is responsible for his actions and since the young man is
dead, part of the blame lays at Zimmerman’s feet. I knew the black community would reel from
the not guilty verdict.
I know there
is racism in America today. In some ways
it’s worse than prior to the Civil Rights movement. Why?
People hide their racism. Society
accepts that racism is wrong, was always wrong, and that is should not be. That’s on the surface. Some folks have merely been trained to hide
their racism, they haven’t stopped being racists. I have no idea what is like to walk these
streets as a person of color and I have no idea what it is like to be a man of
color dealing with the deep-seated fear that communities have toward them. I do know that mandatory sentencing is
heavily slanted against people of color, they are in fact down right
racist. I do know that our prisons are
full of more men than women and more of them are people of color than not. All that points to a system that is
racist. Despite all this though I find
myself wondering why the African American community, and all communities of
various races, creeds, and color aren’t up in arms everyday over the crimes
that are committed against our youth.
Black on black, white on black, black on white – it happens every day,
everywhere. But one young black man
being shot by an adult (who was not black) is cause for the President to proclaim
it a national tragedy? It’s the fire
lite under the NAACP’s political influence?
The list of young children who died from that day until the verdict was
read is so long and so awful that I can’t even list them all. Children, killed by other children or adults
of the same race or difference race, just as dead as Trayvon Martin. But it’s the crimes of white’s killing blacks
that gets the media and the government’s attention? What about the white man in North Georgia who
was beaten to death by four black youths for no reason as he and his girlfriend
were at a gas station?
There are
enough tragic examples all over the internet.
My point? It’s time to figure out
why we are becoming a more violent society, at younger and younger ages, rather
than constantly focusing on what color a person is that committed a crime or
was a victim of one. The pain a mother
feels when burying her child is not dependent on the color of her skin.
Next thing I
need to get off my chest – and this is a semi-repeat – I’m wondering if I will
forever live in a country where, as a person who does not share a belief in the
Christian religious doctrines, I will always hear how something I say offends
one of them? I’m not talking about me saying something
about how ridiculous I think their beliefs are or other such insults, I’m talking
about how I can’t even voice my opinion on why I believe what I do without it
being an insult. Yet, these folks either
pick and choose what they do believe from their bible or they profess to
believe it all and yet lead lives that are utterly out of step with their
purported beliefs. Why can’t I be
offended by that? You know, because of
the hypocrisy of it all. Sigh.
Anyway, the
world would have been a much better place if the last line of the Gospels had
said, ‘Go forth and live your life as a shining example of brotherly love. That is all that is required.’
Because that
is all that is needed. One does not
require religion to be moral, one requires empathy.
Ok, I feel a
little better now. Thanks for tuning in. Next blog post will be about homeschooling….I
promise!
Mari B.
