...Still Going...And Going...And Going...
Just like the ENERGIZER BUNNY.
Post number 400...sounds a little ominous, and yet when I started this blog, I didn't really think I could maintain it with such vigor. Yet, here we are. My Dad always said: "Something worth HAVING is something worth KEEPING", and he also said: "You want something bad enough...work for it". Using the laws we apply to LOGIC, we can determine that if we do indeed want something, we DO have to strive, simply because we WANT it...and we want to KEEP it. We have to posess it, whatever "it" might be. This can be applied to anything and everything in our lives, and not just limited to things in "our material world". It applies to the human heart...the human mind, and even the human soul.
Dr. Martin Luther King once said:
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
With that preamble, I'd like to direct you to yesterday's observance of Dr. King's birthday (which actually occurred on January 15th). More specifically, I'd like to direct you to an "op-ed" article written by Rev. Bill McGill (of Fort Wayne) that appeared in yesterday's Journal Gazette.
It's definitely worth the read. I've come back to it several times already.
Here is the link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080121/EDIT05/801210357


Now that's some STRONG words there...and it is all too painfully TRUE.
Look at the police briefs every day, and you can see what Rev. Bill is talking about.
Look at the children attending the schools and the manner of decorum they exhibit (if any).
Look on the streets of our city at all the young black males with lots of time to do lots of nothing.
Look at the drug-related arrests. Look at the lifestyle they're embracing...and then look at those powerful words from Dr. King, and tell me the dream is even close to being realized.
It isn't, and not because of (as Rev. McGill states) racism. White folks have TRIED in earnest to accept, embrace, tolerate and work with people of color...and were met with tepid results. It was white men of good conscience that took the first steps to making all men equal. It was Lincoln who signed the Emancipaton Proclamation. It was white men with a profound sense of morality who founded the NAACP in the early 20th century, and it was Lyndon Johnson who signed the Equal Rights Amendment to our Constitution in the late 60s. None of this could have been possible were it not more people of color urguing them to do what is right in the eyes of God and man.
There have beem some successes along the way, and as many failures. So, many whites simply just turn away and have chosen to simply ignore the problem, hoping it will resolve itself. And when we develop an air of disgust at the lack of responsibility they show, in spite of us attempting to help them along a path Dr. King has set before all of us, WE are labelled racist, biased, and so on.
Maybe "our" race is getting tired of banging our heads against the wall (it does feel damn good when we stop) trying to help our fellow man. Perhaps we're more concerned about being entertained than to be mindful of the needs of our brethren.

Maybe Rev. McGill is right in charging his OWN people (first) with the RESPONSIBILTY they must take upon themselves to achieve...to succeed...to empower one another in aspiring to Dr. King's dream for ALL mankind.
Scores of noted blacks have come forward before, trying to turn the hearts and minds of their people, and received a few kudos along the way, but many have been summarily dismissed as being another "Oreo" in the box, there to serve the white man.
That is just not true.
When it comes right down to it, the person BEST able to help you with any problem is...YOURSELF. You spend more time with YOU than anyone else, and I think that's what Rev. McGill is striving for...more personal accountability within his peoples' community. And that's a damn good start. Getting people to LISTEN is the real challenge.
People today are blatantly impatient, and have way too many distractions that keeps them from remaining focused for long. That in itself is a combination for disaster on many levels. I've said as much time and again within this blog. But it's not like I would know anything about that...because I'm white. It's not a white issue though...or a black issue. It's a HUMAN issue. I would think that the HUMAN RACE trumps any other "race" when it comes to survival...and progress. Dr. King spoke to those ends...about ALL of humanity.
And 40 years later, even from the grave, the echo of his words still have power.