A small modicum of humility:
Yesterday, I came screaming home from the upper peninsula of Michigan. Which is no easy task considering where I live.
It took all day to get home but I did get home in time to vote.
Why was it so important for me to vote?
Well, voting for me has always been important. My father took me to register to vote when I turned eighteen. I think he was on the ballot at the time and wanted my vote.
However, they always made it important.
We had pizza when Dad won.
My mom chided me and told one time when I disrespected the office of the president...(and this was in the seventies) that we as American's have always had the unique ability to stand behind whoever took the presidency.
So I sat there last night and said to myself, (when the very first results came in and Obama was behind for that very short time) "You have asked for The Lord's help and promised to stand behind whoever wins....You must honor that."
On the other hand, I also thought "John McCain cannot win, God would not let this happen."
And it was a dizzying experience when I saw the results came in....I saw people actually echo my thoughts and feelings. I remembered our family friends, and the uniqueness of my family in our little town. The Chapman's, the only black family in the small town where I grew up, were so loving and warm and took care of my mother as a teenager when she lived in an abusive environment. They had sheltered her as she was walking through becoming a young woman in their home. I remembered my friends in high school, who, as small children, were presented with prejudice because they wanted to play with the neighborhood children and were told they couldn't (by the parents of these neighborhood children) because of the color of their skin. It was something I couldn't figure out...This was America....How could anyone hold anything against anyone because they were brown?
It didn't matter to me what color you were, I always thought that brown was a beautiful thing because I was so pale; and the black women I knew were so proud. I couldn't understand because I never heard a single racial slur come from my father's mouth.
My grandfather was horribly racist and I heard a lot of garbage from him. But to me, it was because he was so old (and an abusive drunk)....And in my home, my parents raised fair and unbiased children who couldn't believe there was racism in The United States.
I remember when I experienced it with my son for the first time, and it rocked my world because I couldn't believe that people could be so narrow-minded. This was not the America my parents told me existed....This was an America that I read in history books...Who were these people?
I remember my father telling me about when Julius Chapman went to Alma College and was the first black man to do so, and then was denied his graduation because they said no one could pass the tests he had....As perfectly as he had.
In other words...A black man could not be smarter than their elite white students in this private college.
I shook my head in disbelief. How could you say this? How could anyone be so.....Stupid.
Today when I woke up and made my coffee and woke up my autistic son, I remembered Grace and Julius Chapman and thought,
"I hope you can see, from heaven, that a black man has been elected president. I wish Julius had been born now; And I thank God, that I was raised with my parents to be the person I am and that I was exposed to such good people and that I was there to know Grace and Julius, and I was there to hear their story and see their success in a small town up against such adversity in this world."
Today is a day The Lord has made.
Thank you God!
I just wanted to share that with you all. I know some of you don't have the same beliefs I do and frankly I don't care. I just wanted to share what I was thinking today. Take it the way it is presented.
From The Desk of Pete Yates
Gotta love him for Pete's sake!
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/politicsnorthwest/2008/11/04/sextoy_store_giving_away_freeb.html
Yesterday, I came screaming home from the upper peninsula of Michigan. Which is no easy task considering where I live.
It took all day to get home but I did get home in time to vote.
Why was it so important for me to vote?
Well, voting for me has always been important. My father took me to register to vote when I turned eighteen. I think he was on the ballot at the time and wanted my vote.
However, they always made it important.
We had pizza when Dad won.
My mom chided me and told one time when I disrespected the office of the president...(and this was in the seventies) that we as American's have always had the unique ability to stand behind whoever took the presidency.
So I sat there last night and said to myself, (when the very first results came in and Obama was behind for that very short time) "You have asked for The Lord's help and promised to stand behind whoever wins....You must honor that."
On the other hand, I also thought "John McCain cannot win, God would not let this happen."
And it was a dizzying experience when I saw the results came in....I saw people actually echo my thoughts and feelings. I remembered our family friends, and the uniqueness of my family in our little town. The Chapman's, the only black family in the small town where I grew up, were so loving and warm and took care of my mother as a teenager when she lived in an abusive environment. They had sheltered her as she was walking through becoming a young woman in their home. I remembered my friends in high school, who, as small children, were presented with prejudice because they wanted to play with the neighborhood children and were told they couldn't (by the parents of these neighborhood children) because of the color of their skin. It was something I couldn't figure out...This was America....How could anyone hold anything against anyone because they were brown?
It didn't matter to me what color you were, I always thought that brown was a beautiful thing because I was so pale; and the black women I knew were so proud. I couldn't understand because I never heard a single racial slur come from my father's mouth.
My grandfather was horribly racist and I heard a lot of garbage from him. But to me, it was because he was so old (and an abusive drunk)....And in my home, my parents raised fair and unbiased children who couldn't believe there was racism in The United States.
I remember when I experienced it with my son for the first time, and it rocked my world because I couldn't believe that people could be so narrow-minded. This was not the America my parents told me existed....This was an America that I read in history books...Who were these people?
I remember my father telling me about when Julius Chapman went to Alma College and was the first black man to do so, and then was denied his graduation because they said no one could pass the tests he had....As perfectly as he had.
In other words...A black man could not be smarter than their elite white students in this private college.
I shook my head in disbelief. How could you say this? How could anyone be so.....Stupid.
Today when I woke up and made my coffee and woke up my autistic son, I remembered Grace and Julius Chapman and thought,
"I hope you can see, from heaven, that a black man has been elected president. I wish Julius had been born now; And I thank God, that I was raised with my parents to be the person I am and that I was exposed to such good people and that I was there to know Grace and Julius, and I was there to hear their story and see their success in a small town up against such adversity in this world."
Today is a day The Lord has made.
Thank you God!
I just wanted to share that with you all. I know some of you don't have the same beliefs I do and frankly I don't care. I just wanted to share what I was thinking today. Take it the way it is presented.
From The Desk of Pete Yates
Gotta love him for Pete's sake!
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/politicsnorthwest/2008/11/04/sextoy_store_giving_away_freeb.html
November 4, 2008 1:00 PM
Sex-toy store giving away freebies to voters
Posted by Politics NW
About 20 people were queued up outside Babeland, a sex-toy store on Capitol Hill, before it opened at 11 a.m. to get in on a store promotion -- a free toy for anyone who says they've voted.
The hundreds of voters who have inundated -- and overwhelmed -- the store today get to choose between the Maverick, a $20 value, or the Silver Bullet, which sells for $15.
Sure, why not.
"There's been so much anxiety lately -- about the economy, about the election -- we wanted to do something fun to lift people's moods a little bit," said Pamela Doan, Babeland's public relations manager. "And the names of the two toys gave us an opportunity to do a creative play on words."
Doan said the store almost assuredly will run out of toys before today is over, but will have more of the toys tomorrow. The non-partisan promotion runs through next Tuesday, but supplies, as they say, are limited.
No comments:
Post a Comment