I see the news and it makes me sick. We are consumed with fear and hatred of the "Radical Islamic Terrorist," the illegal immigrants, the gays, the blacks, and God only knows who else that we are killing in the name of "peace and tranquility." My dying ass!
We have elected a man to the white house who embodies all the hatred rolled into one ball and he does it in the name of "Keeping America Great." I ask you just how great we are now? And when I say "we elected," I mean just that. Everyone that cast a "protest vote" or skipped voting because it "really doesn't count", or worse yet, the ones who actually marked a vote for a man who spews hate through every pore got us where we are right now! Blame it on Russia if you so choose, but had we been United as we claim, they could not have gotten their foot in the door.
When Donald Trump was spewing his hate and "Lock her up!" rhetoric I, like most other Americans, just chalked that up to showmanship and politics as usual. The majority of American's laughed at his antics knowing that no way would he be elected. But the electoral college bit us in the fanny And little did I realize the fact that this world is filled with frustration and hate that is mostly directed at our governement. This and the fact that church attendance has fallen to a new low tells me we have a real problem Back in Nickerson we hid our heads in the sand.
Oh, I knew that there was a "colored family" that lived outside of town some where, but we never saw them. We also knew the Klu Klux Klan operated every where. I never actually saw any cross burnings, but a small town is good for gossip. I never really knew who was in the Klan and at one point I thought probably my dad was. Seems he had a rather colorful past that was tied to the Chicago mafia, but like I said....
My mother was probably the hardest working, most honest, and kindest woman who ever graced this earth and she taught me well.
If someone is hungry, feed them.
I someone is thirsty, give them a drink.
If you find something valuable on the ground, it is still not yours.
A lie is a lie.
Some women are just born to be old maids.
Some men are just "momma's boys."
We are all the same color when the lights are out.
Most of her wisdom could be dispensed in a sentence of less than 10 words. No sense spewing out a bunch of useless words that no one was gonna remember no how! Gotta love my momma!
But back to my rant of today. I live in the county where all the gardens are. Beautiful Mesa! In the summer the fields are alive with workers picking the crops. On a 100 degree day I see them in thier long sleeved shirts and pants with hoods over thier heads. They keep thier bodies covered to keep the hot sun off of thier skin. I need shade and a breeze when I am outside. Inside I need my central air. They move across fields in tandem and behind them the fields are empty and beside them the trucks are full of green peppers, buckets of tomatoes and bags of onions. A sight to behold and the graneries are full.
Well, that is how it is supposed to work. But this year is different. I see Black SUV's driving the back roads. I see no workers in the fields. I see crops going to seed and not being harvested. Way to go America! This will teach Mexico that we mean business! This will show them! This will teach them to take our jobs!
Sorry folks, not seeing it here. I do not see any of the locals out there bent over picking me a carrot. Not happening. I do think a few of the locals may have went out to make some of that "easy money" but they aren't going back. It is sad that the system that has worked for so many years for both farmers and workers is no longer happening.
I hear the arguments that by taking down statues we are rewriting history. I do not see it that way. As far as I am concerned, the rebel flag waving off some rednecks truck is a flagrant reminder that we had to fight a war with our neighbors to free human beings from the yoke of slavery. Ever study how this came about in the first place? In nutshell, a bunch of rich men needed workers and needed them cheap, so they went to Africa to capture black people that were not doing anything anyway to come and live over here and work for room and board. Far be it from their little pea brains to think perhaps that property they now owned had a mother, father, siblings, wife, husband, children or anything that mattered. Not a pretty sight and I am pretty sure that they do not need to see a bunch of statues, flags or anything else to remind them. Much like a statue of Hitler in the town square is not something any of us intelligent people need to remember the Holocaust.
Does anyone remember back when Vietnam was happening and we had all those refugees? Different
nationality, same reception. America has always been a melting pot, so to speak, but we tend to forget that our ancestors were the first to be integrated in this land! The people that were here when we landed on Plymouth Rock are the only ones that really belong here. Call them Native Americans, Indigenous people, Redskins, or Indians they are the real owners of this land. Sadly they made one mistake. They took pity on the pious immigrants who came here on the Mayflower to make a new life. They fed them. They helped them survive the elements of a brutal winter in a strange land. Then they were killed by them. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!
America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Sometimes I am just not as proud of America as I should be, but then I remember! I can only control the thoughts and actions of one person and that is me! So I shall take my optimistic little self and keep waving my banner and hearing the chants that have been echoing down through the years.
"Remember Stonewall!" "Hell no! We won't go!" "Black or White, all is right!" And all the ones I have forgotten.
