Pardon me if I posted a similar article before but there are certain things that goad me into thinking about the filtering of non de plumes to tag all of us.
To begin, since Vietnam and my pleasant surprise in combat that we all bled red, it was after my service that I began acutely looking at such things as racism, political divides, prejudice and the general malaise it takes to single out a specific trait to corner another human being. To say we are not the same in physical appearance seems more than just a little obvious. To say that we all think alike is rather blatant ignorance. To speak of how we react to stimuli is, however, not quite so easy to place in a category.
So, always a, “basics,” type of person, It was, I think, my second year of college (actually my third but when you take a semester off to get your bearings during a war, with the draft in force, you need to consider this before taking said time off). I got drafted for taking that time off to decide what it was I really wanted to pursue. Being drafted was a shock and unexpected due to severe naivete. What? They would draft me! Nah, they have so many others they could draft. Dumb as a bullet. I enlisted instead of being bound inexorably to rice paddies in Vietnam. I hate getting my feet wet on a sunny day so I went into the Navy and got my feet wet.
All of this occurred during the late 1960s so I’ve had time to sort. Now that I have time to write I wanted to put down a little bit of my love for human beings. On the one hand, we have each of us being different in the manner of being raised and the circumstances that encompass us in childhood. Some good, some bad, some murderous. It is that sort of thing that determines a persons outlook on life although there are other outlooks available to them. Outlooks are not a dime a dozen though. There are basically three as mentioned above. So, what does color have to do with a person being subhuman? This is what I am driving at on this circuitous road.
My experience is that we all deserve respect unless we screw over others in any way. If you’re stealing a persons grocery money you’re a jerk. If you’re helping an elderly neighbor by taking care of the stoop labor to keep their flowers in good shape you’re a worthy individual. Perhaps even a great individual but worthy covers it pretty well. I have neighbors from every race but Asian where I live. We all take care of one another when the need arises. As far as I know, none of us gossips about the others but this may be one of those, “what you don’t know won’t hurt you,” kind of things.
Combat is a vice we get thrown into and many leave their lives on the battlefield. Those who make it through seem to drift toward religion or booze or drugs at one time or another. After booze I drifted head first into Christianity and that is what brought me back whole. It is from all of this that I grow weary of the demeaning of others due to their differences. I also know that this is the way it has always been which is why we are in this goofus situation in this world.
It doesn’t mean, however, that we need to go along with the situation and the Bible tells us how to separate ourselves and live cleanly, help others, and keep our heads up. It isn’t easy to get started but, like most things, it gets easier once you’re on the road.
Oh, that road, it leads to God and eternity for those who walk it.
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