"To Kill a Mockingbird" is one of the most beautifully written novels of all time. The message it sends is also a good one. Mississippi is banning this novel in it's schools because the "n" word is in it and, according to the school board, it makes some people uncomfortable.
I guess the people who couldn't stand the sight of 200 year old civil war statues and tore them down were a tad uncomfortable, too. I wonder if they sleep better at night now that the statues are gone.
I guess the college students who needed therapy after Trump was elected were uncomfortable, too. I wonder how they're able to step outside into the real world every day.
I keep thinking, "what is wrong with people?", and I have to accept that the younger generations have been so mollycoddled that they've become weak. Instead of taking the high road and working to improve the world in a positive fashion, they foolishly think the world will be improved if they eliminate the past. We all know that's impossible but apparently a lot of our college/university educated people don't know that.
So many of the old books, even children's books that have been deemed offensive and removed from schools and even stores, were depictions of a past time. Some had the offensive "n" word removed before the tender eyes of today's youth were allowed to read them.
Not long ago I read "The Help" and was so disgusted by it's content that I couldn't bring myself to finish reading it. It's truly ugly but it represented the times which, unfortunately, showed how black staff were treated by many of their employers. Reality is sometimes hard to see but it certainly is the best way to learn from the mistakes and the evils of the past.
I was born in 1940 so I remember the civil rights movement and the horrible events that came before, during, and after it. I understood from the beginning that I was witnessing something that was going to change the world for the better for all of us and that it would be a teaching moment we'd all benefit from no matter what color our skin was. What if some do gooder decided that the civil rights movement was too ugly and too painful for us to read about? Think it couldn't happen? Think again.
My grandson took exception to a comment I made about how future generations will be beige colored instead of dark or light skinned. He thought it was a racist comment but it definitely wasn't. I truly believe that the best thing for our world is all of the mixed race marriages and, along with that, the mixed religion marriages. It's the separation of race and religion that causes most of the wars in this world so, because the world has become more widely travelled, many people are simply falling in love and marrying the person and not their race or religion. I say "marrying" rather than "hooking up with" because I like that better. I can't see for the life of me how my words were racist.
He also thought I was being racist by saying that my 2 Chinese friends and I were pulled over at the border not long after 9/11 and had our car thoroughly searched. All 3 of us thought we had been profiled and were being checked to see if I was smuggling the girls across. Is that racist? I believe some people look for racism where it doesn't exist. I asked him if he thought I was racist and he said no so that's one good thing.
People shouldn't be afraid to speak about uncomfortable subjects. Open discussions among friends and family are how we as a society learn. I've sadly learned that my words were misunderstood and, instead of clarifying them, my precious and very loving grandson chose to see them in the worst way. This caused a rift that will take a while to heal.
I guess my message is that we shouldn't be afraid to see the past as it was and we should also ask questions rather than assume and let comments be misunderstood.
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