I HAD a dream, sadly

Today is Martin Luther King Day. Yes that MLK who had a “dream”. That MLK who fought for equality. That MLK who believed in one thing. That MLK who lived his dream. That MLK who also died his dream.

People would say that we have come a long way since his days and, that we are progressing and have left those dark days behind.

Bullshit!

We are not any better off and all his efforts have gone in vain! So has his life and death. A lot of you may disagree with me but the truth is that we still have not come to tolerate anyone different. Always the “different one” is shrouded in mystery and myth and a pack of no good lies! People have not made an honest effort to try and understand those that are different. Whether people are different because of color, race, religion, disability, or any such thing that makes them “different”; people have not moved forward. Despite us entering the 21st century with great fervor and excitement this one issue has always dampened the outlook of humanity. I know so because of experience and therefore I do not talk sham talk.

Born in one place, raised in another foreign country I was always the target of this bigotry. Although I would say that I have not received any direct comments like those who have during the middle part of the last century, but I did feel the prejudice in the policies of that nation. The attitude of the people towards us and those like us, despite it being a religious center, that religion that is totally against racism with quotes from its holy tome and history to prove that. But here’s another funny side of things; since I was an expatriate kid, I wasn’t even looked upon very nicely in my home country! Since I had it better than most kids there (I admit I had it better but I don’t see the crime) I was again blacklisted and not thought very highly especially in those departments where my fellow countrymen were supposed to excel. Sports, mathematics etc. the list is quite endless but the idea here is that they didn’t feel I was worthy of even comparison. Whatever I did was shot down or looked down upon because I had it better and was not a true blue resident of the country.

“You don’t live here so you can’t talk about how this nation should operate.”
“Yeah well you don’t know the history of this nation like I do.”

Wow! I was blown away to hear such talk. Not only was it not true but it was also not the right attitude. If I was unaware of the history of my nation then why don’t you take the time out to educate me? If you love it so much you should be willing to teach one who doesn’t know. But apparently that was not the case. People are lazy by nature and don’t like to make an effort but this also showed to me that when push would come to shove these people would not be the best to help out.

Not only that, within this despicable nation, there are several states, much like California, New York etc. but within these states is much animosity and hatred. The kind of urban legends floating around the country regarding each people is horrendous and a bunch of tomfoolery. The whole idea of this nation to come into being was that people could co-exist as one nation but people are also very selfish and so really very few people have been able to come out of this bigotry. Those who have don’t want to go back and I don’t blame them because I hate this nation very much myself. I have not gained much but ridicule in my life because of who I am but yet I am patriotic and hope for the day that this nation and all other nations can rise above the differences.

I have written about this briefly before on this blog. Then I said we should not let our prejudices overtake our decision making faculties. I still stand by that, because I understand that as human beings we have this tendency to group people, by race, color, religion, region etc. but that is no reason for not thinking right! I know I have my perceptions of a people as does everyone else but when I meet someone from that group I am talking to that person and that person only! So why would I need to think about generalities when I am dealing with an individual case here? Why would you need to do that? The truth is we don’t. We classify for our convenience so we can remember quirks and traits of a group but when dealing with a person there is more to that person than those traits even if those traits are true. Quite often than not, those stereotypes are not true and are usually urban legends. As Bruce Lee said in trying to formulate the ultimate martial art, his Jeet Kune do an art that defies traditional styles and is all encompassing, an art that welcomes other arts but rejects none a sort of non-racist martial art in its approach to combat; anyways he was asked if the name mattered. He put it very rightly, that the name doesn’t matter it is only a boat to cross the river and once you reach the other end of the river you leave the boat behind. What he meant is that the art doesn’t matter, he always emphasized the individual over the art, and said that a combat art should be focused on the individual and not the art itself, a name is for convenience only. Much like our current problem. We have names for all the people and what makes them unique but the name only goes so far, once we reach the river-bed i.e. the person, we should discard the boat and focus on the individual.

My real reason for venting though is that I have lost someone really dear to me because of this bullshit. Just because I am different I could not be with them. It was thought as a nice idea to have race, as a criteria to judge people and I was left shocked to know that this kind of crap still lingers on to this day, and now I can’t be blessed by that person’s presence because of a thoughtless whim. I was also shocked to know that, the people involved have had considerable experience in interacting with others from different cultures and backgrounds, in their daily lives. I thought maybe that interacting with different people would change the perspective but apparently not! Funny thing is that their religious ethos are broken in this process. It also appalls me (and breaks my heart to know) that noone would take a stand and say something. I'm not asking people to be angels but I would like to see people give up on major wrongs, especially where one wrongs the other, and bigotry is one of those wrongs. So much for the Good Samaritan law and way to go planet earth!

I can’t change who I am or what I was born as, but I know I can change my beliefs, and so can you. So it’s time to take a stand against this kind of attitude and really stomp it out. Well that’s that and nothing can be done though if people don’t want to change so I will pray for these blind souls to see the light. I hate these god-damned racists and wish that God does damn them but I wish even MORE that they would see their folly. Hating is not the answer and doesn’t solve anything because then after all we would be involved in bigotry as well (see the flipside of life?) but, if they don’t see their mistake then there isn’t much one can do for such a soul but feel sorry and pray for them because they are indeed like sheep without a shepherd. I don’t feel sorry for myself for being at the receiving end, and neither should you if you have been in my situation, but feel sorry for the lost ones.