Good morning, good evening, good...whatever it is. I hope life is going on brilliantly for all of you...I hope life is not as trashy as it should be.
Today, I am tempted to touch a very sensitive matter and right now it is touch and go because the fact is Trayvon Martin was a victim of the system and the prosecution team's inadequacy. It clearly resembles the O. J. Simpson matter as regards the arguments of the prosecution team.
However, despite all of this, I want to ask what is racism? Someone says it is based on hierarchy. Another says you have to bring in slavery. But let us be objective; start with the meaning. Racism is hostile or oppressive behavior towards 'people' because they belong to a different race. Key word being people. I think the number of races in the world is more than the two we are so keen to identify. The races are not black or white. They are more than that...5 if my research is right and these are; Mongoloid (Asian and American Indian), Caucasoid (European), Australoid (Australian and oceanic), Negroid (east African black), Capoid (south African black). I wonder where the black and white distinction came in.
As regards slavery, the African chiefs at times willingly participated in it for exchange of goods. True the Arabs raided the interior from time to time but if we really wanted, we could have beaten the shit out of those arses and sent them back to the coast. We cowered away and let them take us. Now that right there is what I would call one race attacking another. And to be fair the arabs had exhausted themselves as a source of slaves to trade they expanded. It was not right but they did.
Sorry, it seems I am going off topic but anyway to the point. I doubt that it is fair for me a lad straight from Africa to say something degrading against a white man. I believe that is racist but according to some of the people I have discussed this with, it is not because, the white man is apparently in a place above me on the hierarchy. Seriously people, seriously...how can that not be racist.
I think it is us being hypocritical. Racism should not be about the white looking down on the black. What of the blacks who slur at the whites? What of people saying crap to a white man because of his skin? This doesn't make sense.
I am sure there are many examples of racism in the reverse. True, the black are the most affected, true we are the ones that cry out loudest against it but does it mean we should also partake in it. My argument might be weak but at least I hope there is some sense in it, deep down. There should be some high ground that we should all adhere to.
Racism is not about hierarchy it is about the people. If an Indian slams on the African, if an African shits on the Caucasian, if the Caucasian pisses on the face of the Afro-Arab...all that is racism. It is not about the white vs black. It is about the people. Racism should be what it is defined as in the dictionary not what we feel it should be because if it is what we think it should be (white vs black and vice versa) then we are being hypocrites. Every fucking soul deserves respect...right from the Mongoloid to the Negroid...
Just so you know, I am not defending the white systems. I am an African really bothered by the whole African and African-American view of racism. I am just being objective...if you've noticed what I have just said sounds racist.I do not believe that I am entitled to say something offensive to another person because my skin tone puts me far down the hierarchical ladder. It is racism through out and we should not take it for granted...just because of social conventions.
No poems for today...this is a very sensitive matter to all of us.
My skin is my skin,
but my heart is not my skin,
my mind was molded out of my wit,
be I black, be I white, be I brown,
I am more than what you see,
I am a person...
Until the next time, I remain your carefree dream chaser...
Keep chasing you dreams and avoid the hypocrisy that is our world as best you can....
Friday 19 July 2013
Wednesday 3 July 2013
Leaving the Past
Hello,
It is that time of the month once again. I know I am going to irritate many; maybe bore a few but all the same, I have something nagging me. It is seated right there, promising to tear my unusually soft head.
Anyway, there are a lot of things that we as humans enjoy to do. For starters, everyone likes to have that moment where they think of the past (that everyone includes me). It is not wrong so long as you do it objectively and not emotionally.
Objectively would mean simply taking whatever lessons there are in the past and using them now to make sure your go for whatever it is that you are chasing. You do not have to look at the past with longing and wishing you could change. there is no good that will come over it save for say, running back into the arms of that neurotic bitch that smacked you right in the face or that piss brained fool who took a shit on your pride. It could even go as far as giving that thieving moron a second chance. When you do that, you are being quite emotional in your temporary trip down memory lane.
This is a poem I stole from my aunt but it works....
Learn from it...
Leaving the City of Regret
===========================
I had not really planned on taking a trip this time of year, and yet I
found myself packing rather hurriedly. This trip was going to be
unpleasant, and I knew in advance that no real good would come of it.
I'm talking about my annual "Guilt Trip."
I got tickets to fly there on Wish I Had airlines.
It was an extremely short flight.
I got my baggage, which I could not check. I chose to carry it myself
all the way. It was weighted down with a thousand memories of what
might have been.
No one greeted me as I entered the terminal to the Regret City
International Airport. I say international because people from all
over the world come to this dismal town.
As I checked into the Last Resort Hotel, I noticed that they would be
hosting the year's most important event, the Annual Pity Party. I
wasn't going to miss that great social occasion.
Many of the town's leading citizens would be there.
First, there would be the Done family, you know, Should Have, Would
Have and Could Have.
Then came the I Had family.
You probably know ol' Wish and his clan.
Of course, the Opportunities would be present, Missed and Lost.
The biggest family would be the Yesterday's. There are far too many of
them to count, but each one would have a very sad story to share.
Then Shattered Dreams would surely make an appearance. And It's Their
Fault would regale us with stories (excuses) about how things had
failed in his life, and each story would be loudly applauded by Don't
Blame Me and I Couldn't Help It.
Well, to make a long story short, I went to this depressing party
knowing that there would be no real benefit in doing so.
And, as usual, I became very depressed.
But as I thought about all of the stories of failures brought back
from the past, it occurred to me that all of this trip and subsequent
"pity party" could be cancelled by ME!
I started to truly realize that I did not have to be there.
I didn't have to be depressed. One thing kept going through my mind, I
CAN'T CHANGE YESTERDAY, BUT I DO HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE TODAY A
WONDERFUL DAY.
I can be happy, joyous, fulfilled, encouraged, as well as encouraging.
Knowing this, I left the City of Regret immediately and left no
forwarding address.
Am I sorry for mistakes I've made in the past? YES!
But there is no physical way to undo them.
So, if you're planning a trip back to the City of Regret, please
cancel all your reservations now.
Instead, take a trip to a place called, Starting Again. I liked it so
much that I have now taken up permanent residence there.
My neighbors, the I Forgive Myselfs and the New Starts are so very
helpful. By the way, you don't have to carry around heavy baggage
because the load is lifted from your shoulders upon arrival.
God bless you in finding this great town. If you can find it, it's in
your own heart.
Please look me up. I live on I Can Do It street.
~by Larry Harp~
It is that time of the month once again. I know I am going to irritate many; maybe bore a few but all the same, I have something nagging me. It is seated right there, promising to tear my unusually soft head.
Anyway, there are a lot of things that we as humans enjoy to do. For starters, everyone likes to have that moment where they think of the past (that everyone includes me). It is not wrong so long as you do it objectively and not emotionally.
Objectively would mean simply taking whatever lessons there are in the past and using them now to make sure your go for whatever it is that you are chasing. You do not have to look at the past with longing and wishing you could change. there is no good that will come over it save for say, running back into the arms of that neurotic bitch that smacked you right in the face or that piss brained fool who took a shit on your pride. It could even go as far as giving that thieving moron a second chance. When you do that, you are being quite emotional in your temporary trip down memory lane.
This is a poem I stole from my aunt but it works....
Learn from it...
Leaving the City of Regret
===========================
I had not really planned on taking a trip this time of year, and yet I
found myself packing rather hurriedly. This trip was going to be
unpleasant, and I knew in advance that no real good would come of it.
I'm talking about my annual "Guilt Trip."
I got tickets to fly there on Wish I Had airlines.
It was an extremely short flight.
I got my baggage, which I could not check. I chose to carry it myself
all the way. It was weighted down with a thousand memories of what
might have been.
No one greeted me as I entered the terminal to the Regret City
International Airport. I say international because people from all
over the world come to this dismal town.
As I checked into the Last Resort Hotel, I noticed that they would be
hosting the year's most important event, the Annual Pity Party. I
wasn't going to miss that great social occasion.
Many of the town's leading citizens would be there.
First, there would be the Done family, you know, Should Have, Would
Have and Could Have.
Then came the I Had family.
You probably know ol' Wish and his clan.
Of course, the Opportunities would be present, Missed and Lost.
The biggest family would be the Yesterday's. There are far too many of
them to count, but each one would have a very sad story to share.
Then Shattered Dreams would surely make an appearance. And It's Their
Fault would regale us with stories (excuses) about how things had
failed in his life, and each story would be loudly applauded by Don't
Blame Me and I Couldn't Help It.
Well, to make a long story short, I went to this depressing party
knowing that there would be no real benefit in doing so.
And, as usual, I became very depressed.
But as I thought about all of the stories of failures brought back
from the past, it occurred to me that all of this trip and subsequent
"pity party" could be cancelled by ME!
I started to truly realize that I did not have to be there.
I didn't have to be depressed. One thing kept going through my mind, I
CAN'T CHANGE YESTERDAY, BUT I DO HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE TODAY A
WONDERFUL DAY.
I can be happy, joyous, fulfilled, encouraged, as well as encouraging.
Knowing this, I left the City of Regret immediately and left no
forwarding address.
Am I sorry for mistakes I've made in the past? YES!
But there is no physical way to undo them.
So, if you're planning a trip back to the City of Regret, please
cancel all your reservations now.
Instead, take a trip to a place called, Starting Again. I liked it so
much that I have now taken up permanent residence there.
My neighbors, the I Forgive Myselfs and the New Starts are so very
helpful. By the way, you don't have to carry around heavy baggage
because the load is lifted from your shoulders upon arrival.
God bless you in finding this great town. If you can find it, it's in
your own heart.
Please look me up. I live on I Can Do It street.
~by Larry Harp~
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