trivia and skewed facts

Squirrels forget where 50% of the nuts they’ve hidden are. - interesting facts website

98% of statistics are made up - author unknown

i took the day off yesterday because i was ridiculously tired (and fell asleep on the couch again) AND because i was contemplating whether or not to go down this road....but i figured why not?  everything cant be sunshine and light....and this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart...because its one i struggle with almost daily in how to TEACH my kids to be openminded...to gather the FACTS BEFORE passing judgment...not to just jump on a bandwagon, however tempting....we are supposed to be smarter than that....we can't let the outspoken minority, or even worse a media with an agenda, make those decisions for us....this jumps out at me all the time in the political arena....but with this trayvon martin case it makes me want to jump out of my skin....we as a culture RUSH TO JUDGMENT based on our GUT feelings....if something SOUNDS wrong, then it must be wrong!!  but what if we dont know the whole story???  what if NO ONE knows the whole story??  and why is the media so quick to jump on a NEGATIVE bandwagon??  i know negative sells, but it is so detrimental to our society as a whole!!  and something with this kind of racial undertone is subversive AT BEST!!  at a point in time when our economy is struggling, and we face the reality of mulitple military engagements AND we are looking at an incredibly significant election, the media chooses to rally around this ONE homicide......not that it isnt important or significant.....but so is EVERY SINGLE OTHER HOMICIDE that does not get any media attention....

so what's the point?  where do you go to get UNBIASED information??  why can't those in the spotlight use their power for good?  to unite, not tear apart?  when will get to a place where political agenda takes a back seat to DECENCY and HONOR??  how can we raise our children to treat each other as equals when their parents cant?  and often dont want to? 

we are supposed to be the original melting pot, right??  i can't purport to love everyone the same, and i can honestly accept that i do judge people....but i would like to think that i dont judge them based on race.....maybe because where we live is so racially mixed and i have grown up playing sports and going to school with all manner of skin colors....and i can laugh with my "brown" teammate about her being the "token" on our team....just like we can give our redheaded irish coach shit.....i have mad love and respect for PEOPLE....and i can laugh at their quirks, even if they are cultural, just like i can take it when they laugh at mine.....does that mean i dont see color?  of course not....but color is not the issue on which i judge.....you can be an asshole in every color.....you can choose to be the equivalent of your culture's lowest common denominator, again no matter what COLOR you are....you can also be the best of the best....no matter your COLOR!

No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.
Elie Wiesel

it belittles us as a country when the issue of COLOR is what our "talking heads" choose to rally around?  why not ask why there seems to be a need for a community watch in this neighborhood?  or ask how many UNDERAGE homicides are committed each year?  or even better, use this horrible tragedy to figure out HOW we can TALK TO EACH OTHER ABOUT RACE.....it is not an issue that is going away....the fact that our president felt the need to take time away from his rather significant real duties to weigh in on this situation is ABSURD and just goes to show how much power the media has over our everyday lives!!!

so where does this leave me other than ridiculously frustrated with the bandwagon mentality of our country??  no where but where i've always been... except that i feel its more important than ever to talk to my kids HONESTLY about race....because guess what?  we are different.....we come from very different places culturally in some cases....we have different idioms and vernacular.....just like the italians and hispanics, right??  but somehow because their COLOR is not so different and because we did not specifically subjugate them, we can call them names and profile them without remorse....its just so messed up.....this is my example for today:  we went and saw hunger games last night.....and the theater was packed....luke ended up sitting next to a black woman who often showed her reactions to the drama onscreen out loud.....why mention this?  because (spoiler alert) when the young black tribute saves the girl from district 12 he says its for what she did for the other girl who was killed from his district....and when he said that, the woman sitting next to luke just went "mmmhmmmm" with a head nod....like HELL YEA  he did...it was  priceless!!  and adorable, and funny......there was absolutely nothing negative about it, except for the fact that it COULD feed into a stereotype....which is RIDICULOUS!!  i love a good strong, loud, opinionated woman no matter her color....but i LOVE a black woman with a head nod and a finger wag....that does not make me a racist.....its just a cultural quirk..... in the same way my 100% irish father in law can use and abuse all the "italian" quirks in rochester....its not an insult...its just a difference - and not all differences are BAD - and they shouldnt be made to seem bad!!

does racial profiling exist? yes it does.....was trayvon martins killing tragic?  absolutely......was it a racially driven hate crime?  i have no idea....and neither does anyone else at this point....we have to let the legal system do its job....and make sure that the correct information is put out there so that we can stem this newest tide of racial separation....

If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.  Winston Churchill

its our job to at least TRY to leave this a better place for our children.....this means not only TEACHING tolerance, but practicing it as well....and its time we as individuals demanded better from our talking heads....the only agenda anyone should be pushing at this point in time, and all the time is this:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

....you know, from the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

now as a woman should i be offended by that?  or should i just take it in the spirit in which its meant??  come on people, gain some freakin perspective and stop trying to make things worse than they are!!  we can nitpick and twist words all day long...we can make facts and figures mean anything if given enough time....its only when we stop with the agendas and start looking at the bigger picture that we will have any chance of peace and unity.....that and teaching our kids to look at each other as equals.....equals with differences, but equals nonetheless.