STOP THE CRAZY.....LET ME OFF!!

I have lived over 6 decades. I have seen the best of times, and, what I thought were the worst of times. I am descended from a people who were once slaves, owned, sold, raped and beaten at will. A people who overcame the sickening violence and obscenity of those who thought they were less than animals, to be a successful people who, against all odds, have intergrated into a society that at one time would not even allow them a voice in matters that concerned them and their own. I have not only heard, but have sung the cry, "We have overcome."

And, for awhile, it seemd that we had, indeed, overcome the trials, the test, and the tribulations that had once beset our ancestors misfortunes back in the day. And yet, here we are again, that old enemy of ours, prejudice is back, live and and in living color. An insidious enemy of a nation that once cried, "liberty and justice for all," and now decries the very voice that once made promises of freedom, justice and equality. A voice, not necessarily a people, that says, "If you are not white, you are not right."

Was I living in a dream? Was it merely an illusion that we as a people had begun to accept each others differences, to accept the fact that we don't necessarily have to think the same, talk the same, have the same beliefs, or even feel the same to co-exist with each other. I don't necessarily have to believe what you believe, I simply have to accept the fact that you have a right to your beliefs, just as I have a right to my own. It doesn't make me more than you, nor does it make me less than you, it simply makes us individuals who are not carbon copies of each other. Isn't that what makes the world go round?

Have the last two years of my life simply been a dream that I cannot find a way to escape? I don't want hatred, I want acceptance. You don't necesarily have to love me, you don't even have to like me, simply attempt to understand me, just as I will try to understand you, your likes, your differences, and your choices.

We live in a strange world, and it takes all of us to make it work. Let's try to work together, despite the voices that cry out for division, we are stronger together than we will ever be divided. How do we do that? I don't have the answers, but if we come together as a whole, we cannot be defeated in our determination to make the world better for those who follow us.

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