SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT PREJUDICE

Prejudice is a very insidious sickness of the human condition and is usually only apparent in the other guy. 

Unfortunately, it will eventually infect all of us in one way or the other, forming our attitudes and affecting our interaction with others in our world.  Christ said “Be ye as little children”. If only we were able to maintain that degree of innocence.  I can truly attest to this regarding racial prejudice. 

I grew up in a small town of approximately 600 people. When I reached the age of high school, the only people I didn’t like were bullies, Japs and Germans. .That was because I had some actual mental or physical contact with those groups.  All other people were just that, people.  I never learned to distrust or to think that colored people were any different from me.  It wasn’t until many years later that I learned why. 

I had never had any contact with people of any other color so I had never learned prejudice. For that, I feel blessed and fortunate.  I thank you Lord, for those years of innocence.  That brings me back to the children.  Children are colorblind. They will play, argue and make friends with any other child until one of them crosses the line of civility, and that is one of their guidelines. I think that is the kind of personal judgment that Rev. King was referring too.  

I did learn in later years that my contact with colored races during my formative years was so minimal due to the cities “Sundown Law”.  People of color were not allowed in the city limits after sundown and knowing this they just never came into our area.  My innocence was paid for with that which remained hidden to my nature, prejudice, bigotry and mistreatment. 

 I could feel guilty about those things but that would be misplaced guilt.  I could spend my time trying to make retribution for that but it wasn’t me that created the circumstance.  I could be aware of how wrong that law was.  I could have compassion for those who were harmed.  Having the compassion does not mean that I have to accept the blame for an act in which I was not involved.  I can, out of compassion, understand the current plight and work toward improving it.  I also feel anger toward the ignorance of the past actions of mankind in their injustice toward their fellow man.  Color is not the first to be touched by prejudice and bigotry there are few if any throughout history that have not been under that attack.  I am currently one of those who feel its sting.  I am one of those arrogant white people who want the world to forget all of our races past transgressions.   I am one of those religious fanatics who believe in the deity and the graces offered by my Savior Christ.  I am one of those traditionalists who believe that marriage is reserved for the union of a man and woman.  I am one of those who fervently wish we had a different President of our country.  I am one of those who wish our young people would pull their pants up, turn their hats around, and respect the lessons learned in the past.  Just because I believe these things does not negate my belief in the fact that we all put our lives on pathways of our own choosing.  The mile walked in my moccasins may be different but I also understand that your mile is unique to you and I hope your journey ends well.  

God speed.

THE ABOVE TEXT IS EXERPT FROM: http://aresponse2.blogspot.com/2013/09/pardon-mei-said-what.html 

To trade one form of prejudice for another doesn’t make you better or different but it can make you a bigot of another color. Arbee

MINIMUM WAGE

MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014

MINIMUM WAGE DEBATE another wolf in sheeps clothing

Another wolf in sheep’s clothing trying to wheedle its way into the 2014 election discussion. 

In an attempt to direct the political discourse away from all the “false” subject matter such as spying on US citizens, and the IRS choosing to audit and harass conservatives groups over liberals at some 280 to7. 

Fast and Furious, Benghazi and sending armed force against a rancher in Nevada are a couple more questionable subjects. The Democratic political talking points are out to gain votes with the populace need for more income.  Rather than create more jobs by increasing the need for employment, they seek to gain votes from those trying to make a living by working entry level jobs.  

The big point they are using, to bribe voters, is that it is not possible for a family to live on minimum wage employment.  In that belief and statement they are correct. 

The misleading part of that statement is that those jobs are for those entering the workforce for the first time.  Those who have had to drop out of school; those who have to work part-time jobs as they try to gain skills and more education need those jobs.  

The supporters of higher minimum wages do not want our young millennial population to know that with a higher minimum wage, the pipeline for improving their own lot is clogged.  The 15 or 16 year old high school student trying to help his family’s economic situation will have lost his entry into the workforce to the college graduate or the main supporter of families with more experience.  Those young people will find it almost impossible to gain the work skills needed to make them a vibrant component of the economic growth and stability of our country.

 I personally believe in a minimum wage, one that allows people an economic lift, one that opens the doors of employment to those needing to gain work experience and one that helps young people learn the value of education and work as means to a better way of life.  Giving folks a place to grow stagnant, in the complacency of mere existence, does nothing to help the individual nor does it help the middle class.  

I also believe that the entry wage levels are a viable means of helping with a supplemental income for those looking for better employment and for those who are unable to work in more physically or mentally demanding positions.  Older folks and those with physical and mental challenges need economic supplements to exist.  

With the reduction of purchase power, as a result of increasing the money supply rather than employment opportunity, the societal aids of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and disability compensation do not stretch and require part-time employment for subsistence.  If the population lacks incentive to move up in income bracket, the opportunity to fill those needs becomes highly inadequate.

What is used to fool the sheep is just another ruse, another trick in the progressive bag of false hopes, to fool those in need of real systems to make their lives better.  The one who is given fish never learns to fish for his own food and eventually will become a slave to the one who keeps feeding him. 

Until there is no one left with anything to share.

FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE

When President Obama stood before his country and claimed his Presidency would fundamentally change our country, we had little understanding of what he really meant.  We had no real idea who this man was, what made up his agendas, and what he honestly believed those changes were to be.  Our national discovery system, the news media, was no longer objective and reported to our populace not facts but interpretations.  Without in depth scrutiny, we had no hard facts regarding his core beliefs, and consequently, the man we saw was the man Mr. Obama needed for us to see. 

Our country bought into a lie, not one that was told with ill intent but one that was told with complete honesty on the part of Mr. Obama.   This honesty is what helped sell the package of change.  This honesty existed because of a belief system that had been fed and nurtured during Mr. Obama’s entire life.  The beliefs of his father, his professors, what he had read, his community action and what he had been taught spiritually make up who he is.  His ability to foist his belief system upon an unaware populace was enhanced by a progressive world system that believes:  “you must say whatever is needed, in anyway your audience will accept, to move your cause forward.” 

 We see that being played out every time Mr. Obama speaks in a public forum.  His speeches are tuned to getting the most populace support possible, feeding the fires of discontent with whatever words will supply the most fuel.  He may feel he honestly has a right, honestly feel justified, honestly feel the United States needs to change and honestly feel he has an obligation to twist truth and reality to meet the goals required by his belief system.  Unfortunately, almost 80% of the mass media, those we are supposed to be able to trust, support him.  They don’t necessarily support his beliefs as much as they need to associate themselves with any agenda that perceives them as smarter than the average, “ignorant” American citizen.

Black liberation theology is most likely the most predominant portion of our President’s current religion.   Mr. Obama has been part of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s flock for at least twenty years.  Rev. Wright gained some slight scrutiny during the President’s first campaign and those who looked at it critically were quickly labeled racist.  The approach to Christianity is somewhat different than the traditional.  Traditional Christianity views Christ as the Son of God, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Traditional Christianity is founded on the belief that Christ’s death, Resurrection and Ascension were all for forgiveness of mans’ Original Sin and the forgiveness of sin for those who recognized Christ as their personal savior.  The premise of Black Liberation Theology is that Christ was basically a community organizer and a teacher whose main agenda was to see that the poor were fed and clothed.