Gives Me Hope
20/06/15 08:17
Another stellar day in the hood. The sun is shining bright and with tomorrow being the first day of Spring that seems appropriate. Why not usher the first day of Spring in with open arms and eyes just as wide. I always end the week thinking to myself that I'll go into work for just a little while on Saturday to tidy things up. There are always one of two things that I never get to and in all the commotion of the week I'm not sure that task or those tasks won't be better done in the solitude of a quiet office on a weekend day. It would certainly be easier to go into the office were it raining or at the very least overcast. That is not the case today. Then there are the rationalizations. Oh, I'll just go in tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a better day. That is what I tell myself on Friday with everything fresh in my mind. If I wait until Sunday I may lose the momentum of my thoughts and resurrecting everything might seem less urgent were I to wait until Sunday. Of course, by the time Sunday rolls around I'm not pulling any punches. Fuck it. It can wait till tomorrow. I had the best of intentions but that is all gone now. All that remains is a bit of residual guilt. Enough guilt that I will want to do better the next time I'm feeling like going into work on the weekend. Yes, I will do better. Just between you and me? Not likely.
Nancy's five-year anniversary is now in the history books. It was, for all intents and purposes, merely another day on the calendar. Except for the fact that she got the "all clean" verdict, it came and went in routine fashion. We did as we always do, whether it was for a six month or one-year checkup, meaning that we planned to go into Boston early on for an early appointment and then we would do whatever pleased us before getting back on the road going north in order to beat the afternoon rush hour traffic. We never once considered hearing bad news and apart from some occasional nervousness in the days leading up to the appointment it was business as usual. We probably spent more time on planning what we were going to do in Boston while there for the appointment than we did planning what we would do if the news was not good. That is not to say that I was not acutely attuned to matters at hand for any sign of bad news to come. Did the doctor have the results before he sat down to discuss with us? Why, for the first time since we visited that office some five years ago did we not meet with the nurse? Why did the doctor not do a check up like has in the past? Why was the doctor still looking at the results of the MRI as we were walking out of the office? The expression "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" comes to mind so we promptly left the hospital and went about our business in town stopping at the new Whole Foods store in the South End and dropping by Peet's in Brookline for a pound of aged sumatra before hitting the road. " I think we can push the next follow-up out two years and then we'll probably be done", said the doctor. Sweeter words were never spoken.
Race relations have never been worse in this country. Not in my lifetime anyway. When Rosa Parks made that fateful decision to not take a seat in the back of the bus in Alabama in 1955 I was a mere lad barely a year old. We've come a long way since then but not without a struggle and, as some black folks would tell you, not far enough. In some corners of this country they may still be looking for reparations. When this country faced the prospects of having a black president in 2008 it was viewed as a sign that the great racial divide was a thing of the past and the movement as tumultuous as it had been was now taking a turn for the better. The demons of racial inequality were about to be exorcised or that was, at the very least, the promise of the new president. It was Obama's version of a rising tide lifts all boats. No one, and I mean no one, could have anticipated that race relations would be worse under a black president 3 years into his second term. What Obama and his minions, including the likes of Al Sharpton and much of the media, have figured out is that there is political gold in divisiveness. If leveraged properly it would result in a highly charged constituency come election day and that would be a good thing for the liberals. Forget that the liberals have as their unspoken priority to keep the minorities, including blacks, oppressed so they have a narrative of false hope that sells easily to the low information voters in the minority communities.
It is no coincidence that the riots and lawlessness in recent months in places like Ferguson. Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland and even in New York City where they chanted for days on end "what do we want - dead cops; when do we want it; now" precede the national elections by a year give or take. The fingerprints and actions of the Obama administration have never been more obvious in what can only be construed as criminal. To suggest such a thing, especially as it relates to Obama himself, makes you a racist. But I digress. Just when I thought that the entire black population had fallen under the spell of this corrupt and criminal president, I am pleased to say that I take comfort and considerable consolation with what I've seen coming out of Charleston, South Carolina. Nine blacks were gunned down at a church meeting by a lunatic who wanted nothing more than to start a race war in the space of time it took to reload his gun 5 times. That community wanted nothing to do with the Sharpton's of the world and while he was packing his bags to make the trip they disinvited him. While the president of the United States immediately decried gun violence and the need to further restrict people's rights under the second amendment the good and decent people of Charleston, South Carolina held hands and asked for nothing more than an opportunity to heal as a community. Blacks and whites alike joined hands and hearts and shared stories of the good souls now departed. No one took to the streets rioting and looting; no one carried banners looking to further ignite racial tensions; no one looked to the likes of Sharpton or Jesse Jackson to speak for them; they carried on like they always have. They asked but one question when faced with the unbelievable brutality leveled against their brethren; what would the baby Jesus do? To a person, they spoke of forgiveness. Love and forgiveness. There is hope for our country yet.
Nancy's five-year anniversary is now in the history books. It was, for all intents and purposes, merely another day on the calendar. Except for the fact that she got the "all clean" verdict, it came and went in routine fashion. We did as we always do, whether it was for a six month or one-year checkup, meaning that we planned to go into Boston early on for an early appointment and then we would do whatever pleased us before getting back on the road going north in order to beat the afternoon rush hour traffic. We never once considered hearing bad news and apart from some occasional nervousness in the days leading up to the appointment it was business as usual. We probably spent more time on planning what we were going to do in Boston while there for the appointment than we did planning what we would do if the news was not good. That is not to say that I was not acutely attuned to matters at hand for any sign of bad news to come. Did the doctor have the results before he sat down to discuss with us? Why, for the first time since we visited that office some five years ago did we not meet with the nurse? Why did the doctor not do a check up like has in the past? Why was the doctor still looking at the results of the MRI as we were walking out of the office? The expression "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" comes to mind so we promptly left the hospital and went about our business in town stopping at the new Whole Foods store in the South End and dropping by Peet's in Brookline for a pound of aged sumatra before hitting the road. " I think we can push the next follow-up out two years and then we'll probably be done", said the doctor. Sweeter words were never spoken.
Race relations have never been worse in this country. Not in my lifetime anyway. When Rosa Parks made that fateful decision to not take a seat in the back of the bus in Alabama in 1955 I was a mere lad barely a year old. We've come a long way since then but not without a struggle and, as some black folks would tell you, not far enough. In some corners of this country they may still be looking for reparations. When this country faced the prospects of having a black president in 2008 it was viewed as a sign that the great racial divide was a thing of the past and the movement as tumultuous as it had been was now taking a turn for the better. The demons of racial inequality were about to be exorcised or that was, at the very least, the promise of the new president. It was Obama's version of a rising tide lifts all boats. No one, and I mean no one, could have anticipated that race relations would be worse under a black president 3 years into his second term. What Obama and his minions, including the likes of Al Sharpton and much of the media, have figured out is that there is political gold in divisiveness. If leveraged properly it would result in a highly charged constituency come election day and that would be a good thing for the liberals. Forget that the liberals have as their unspoken priority to keep the minorities, including blacks, oppressed so they have a narrative of false hope that sells easily to the low information voters in the minority communities.
It is no coincidence that the riots and lawlessness in recent months in places like Ferguson. Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland and even in New York City where they chanted for days on end "what do we want - dead cops; when do we want it; now" precede the national elections by a year give or take. The fingerprints and actions of the Obama administration have never been more obvious in what can only be construed as criminal. To suggest such a thing, especially as it relates to Obama himself, makes you a racist. But I digress. Just when I thought that the entire black population had fallen under the spell of this corrupt and criminal president, I am pleased to say that I take comfort and considerable consolation with what I've seen coming out of Charleston, South Carolina. Nine blacks were gunned down at a church meeting by a lunatic who wanted nothing more than to start a race war in the space of time it took to reload his gun 5 times. That community wanted nothing to do with the Sharpton's of the world and while he was packing his bags to make the trip they disinvited him. While the president of the United States immediately decried gun violence and the need to further restrict people's rights under the second amendment the good and decent people of Charleston, South Carolina held hands and asked for nothing more than an opportunity to heal as a community. Blacks and whites alike joined hands and hearts and shared stories of the good souls now departed. No one took to the streets rioting and looting; no one carried banners looking to further ignite racial tensions; no one looked to the likes of Sharpton or Jesse Jackson to speak for them; they carried on like they always have. They asked but one question when faced with the unbelievable brutality leveled against their brethren; what would the baby Jesus do? To a person, they spoke of forgiveness. Love and forgiveness. There is hope for our country yet.