Thoughts about growing up in the segregated American South

 I  have struggled intellectually with this subject for some years now. I have a clear memory of a black gentleman in a white shirt and tie coming to the door of Morton Avenue School in an automobile. There were two black boys with him. They stood there while a few of my classmates and I carried old textbooks from our classrooms out to the waiting arms of the black boys who loaded them into the trunk of the car under the supervision of the black man. He was, we were later to learn, the principal of a black school. They were getting our old worn out books while we were getting brand new ones. At the time it certainly did not seem unusual to me for them to be getting the hand me downs. It, in fact, seemed natural. I have as a result of my travels, education and life experiences come to realize the inhumanity of of the "separate but equal" practice of segregation that was practiced in our part of the world. It has taken time for changes to take place in our society - and prejudice still exists even now. 

In the Henderson Family Cemetery there still stands the remains of wooden markers that I looked on as a child and was told that those boards marked the graves of slaves that once were the property of one of my ancestors. Those markers are not more that ten feet from the grave of their once master. If I had to bet, I would say that somewhere in my family tree are distant cousins whose skin is a lot darker than my own. When I was at Georgia Tech, I took a required "soft" sociology course taught by a man who said he was the only registered Republican member on the Georgia Tech Faculty. He was a great influence on me. Atlanta at the time was starting to experience some of the early events associated with the civil rights movement such as lunch counter sit-ins. He made a statement then that has stayed with me ever since. He said, " This is the start of a great movement and I am afraid that racial peace will not ever be achieved in this country until we are all one color - that being sort of like creamed coffee. That was a great shock to some of the students - especially to those coming straight from deep south high schools. I had, of course, spent three years in the Army after high school and was less shocked. As you can tell, I have had a lot to think of for many years... but enough for now.

I know a lot of Muslims.  I have lived and worked among them.  Individually they seem to have the same hopes, dreams and aspirations as anyone else.  The problem that they have is that they don't want to stand up to to these fanatics among them and risk getting themselves killed while doing so. 

Qaddafi was a tyrant and I was glad to see him go.  But, I remember a story that one of my Libyan friends told me about how he handled the problem of religious fanaticism very early in his reign.  It was said that he rounded up all the professional Imams and loaded them onto transport aircraft.  When they were over the desert, the jump doors were opened and they were told that it was their time to enter Heaven. I don't know if this story is true, but I do believe that the man who told it to me believed it was true. 

Qaddafi left the Mosque doors open for prayers and any lay person could lead prayers but no one could be paid to preach.  I believe that this was part of his Green Book.

Perhaps the new Libyan government would last a bit longer if the new Imams would be offered another tour of the desert.  

The rise of agnosticism and atheism in the world.

I am a religious person.  I go to church - but not too often.  I justify this slackness to myself as due to my lifestyle in my later years - ie continually moving around in a motorhome visiting relatives, dealing with declining health, etc.  I pay tithing, make charitable contributions and try to deal fairly with those with whom I come in contact.  But, enough about me.  This is about the human condition.  (Maybe I should include an lol here.)

Frankly, I get a little peeved at times when unbelievers push their way into my comfort zone by suing the city or county or whoever about a religious activity or symbol that somehow offends them.  Like a Christmas tree or whatever.  It seems to me that these unbelievers are as much a pest with their evangelical efforts as the most zealous of any Christian missionary.

I recently read where the internet is becoming the de facto church for all such non believers - atheists, agnostics and humanists.  It seems that they are using various web sites to hold their meetings and testify to one another about their faith in  godlessness much the same way believers do about their faith in God. To coin a phrase, go figure.

All this research (not much really) reminded me of an assignment my high school senior class received from Miss Mary Lane, our English teacher and my Home Room Teacher.  We were required to write an essay on the subject: "Man Shall Not Live By Bread Alone".  Now this was long before the Andy Griffin Show ever existed - in fact there were very few TVs in our town and those that were tended to be found in bars where we were never allowed.  But Miss Lane in giving instructions said that we were free to interpret the assignment in the broadest terms our little minds could conjure up.  You can go to the bible and take a religious tack or you can go the other way and posit that of course man cannot live by bread alone, that he must have peanut butter.  But whatever way you take, it must be at least 1000 words and it must be on my desk by next Wednesday - - or maybe it was 500 words and Friday, my memory fails me on these small matters.

In any case, I turned in my paper.  I don't remember my grade and, of course the mighty work has long since crumbled to dust, but I do remember the gist of the essay being quasi religious but somewhat agnostic in tone.  After putting forth what I felt sure were wonderful, logical arguments, I ended the piece by stating that, "if not given something to worship, humanity will create something to worship".  Looking back now from more than three quarters of a century, I can say that this is probably the most profound thought I have ever had.  Sad commentary on my philosophical insights I have to admit.

Politics

Strange how family political views change. My father never voted for a Republican in his life - and I don't suppose mother did either as she usually went along with Dad on such things. I sat out the Eisenhower years - too busy studying. The general election didn't mean anything in Georgia as the Democrat primary always settled things. I actually changed party affiliation as a student at Tech because of the civil rights movement. Not negatively as you probably think but because the Democrat party in Georgia was completely raciest. Example: An Atlanta restaurant owner named Lester Maddox was elected Governor of Georgia by the Democrat House of Representatives even though he received less votes than the first Republican ever to seriously contest the office since Reconstruction. Lester Maddox was an avowed raciest whose symbol was an ax handle which he said he would use to keep blacks in their place. He had a barrel full of the handles at his restaurant that he sold to patrons. My father was a union man and followed the union line. We agreed to never discuss politics after I became an adult. I have voted for Democrats, however. Kennedy and Carter to be exact. But I only voted for Jimmy once. I actually came to like Bill Clinton during his second term. I didn't vote for Obama, but I felt good after the election and hoped as he did for a better America. I could still be persuaded to vote for a Democrat... but not this year.

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What's Wrong With Work?

I just read some comments that were posted after an article in which a politician was reported to have made comments regarding how poor kids in poor neighborhoods had no one around them who worked and therefore had no experience of the things necessary to get and hold jobs. From the comments, you would think he was advocating slamming such kids into a workhouse and feeding the gruel. The people posting used vile words to describe this person and said that "Kids don't work they need to go to school, etc, etc " - ALL IN CAPS, NO LESS!

Well, what is wrong with work anyway? I know I am of a different generation. But, ... I worked from age 8. I sold boiled peanuts for 5 cents a bag during the "season". At 12 I rode my bike to meet my father at his second job to mix mortar and carry bricks for him to lay. At 16 I worked part time at a shoe shop running up and down stairs carrying shoes for the ladies to try on. I also worked in the tobacco fields picking tobacco and at the warehouses where it was auctioned off, loaded in trucks and shipped. And, I went to school every day -- well almost every day. I never ate a meal at a restaurant with my family. I saved money. After graduating, I served in the Army for 3 years and then went to college - the first of my extended family ever to do so. I lived and worked in a funeral home to make money while going to classes. Yes. I got a GI check while going to school - $110 per month. I have been employed my entire life and have paid the maximum Social security contribution every year until after I retired.

What's wrong with working??

I have just heard the news that some members of a high school football team in New Jersey were involved in an assault of some people who are in very serious condition. The Coach of the team went before the school board and bullied them into allowing the boys under investigation to play the next game.

I am sorry, but I am now officially anti-high school football. Period. It is not just the New Jersey thing. These thoughts have been on my mind for quite a while. I was a player in high school. I even played while in the army in Europe. I am outraged over the Penn State affair and now this high school coach has gotten my ire up as well. Something is wrong when high school coaches are more admired and compensated than the Superintendent or Principal. And at the college level you can say all that in spades! It is time we got our entire education system out of big league sports. If there is a market for such activity, let it be run by the city or county recreation departments for the school age kids and by the professional leagues beyond that. I am sure that the big colleges and universities could work out franchise arrangements with the pros for the use of the school mascot names and rental of the stadiums and probably come out ahead of where they are now.

The sea is up and the wind is blowing pretty hard so no one is on the beach.  Something made me think of "cultures" and "environments" and "ecosystems".  And some thoughts are wallowing around in my mind.  I watch a lot of the stuff on the Smithsonian channel as well as on PBS that have just dynamite pictures of wildlife and obscure cultures that are found in out of the way places.  I really like to see those things.

But it seems to me that it is a required part of the genre that the producer of the piece must lay a load of guilt on the audience by reminding us that we are polluting the world, raping the lands and oceans of all the resources, warming the globe, etc, etc.  And then there is the people.  Whether it is the (ex) headhunters of Borneo or the people I used to call Eskimos but now seem to have a dozen or so different names, or guys in the jungles of Brazil, they are all presented to us as having such a wonderful culture that meets all their needs if we (not the photographers who are making money off them but just the rest of us) just would leave them alone and quit raping the land and polluting the rivers and ocean of the world.  You get the picture.

But then, it seems to me that the same folks (not the photographers, but the people who actually cast the piece with the subtle messages mentioned above) don't give a whit about preserving my culture.  My culture should just make way for everyone else and get over it.

Maybe I am just too sensitive.