Some Words...

I was all ready to post about my weekend with my niece which ran over into yesterday but then on the train this morning something happened. I had an encounter with a small mind. As I stood on the train platform sweating (it's already 85 at 7:30 a.m.) I was kind of pleased to see a train pull in that actually had open seats. As I got on the train and took a seat next to a lady who decided she needed a seat and a half to accommodate her morning commute, I refused to be ungrateful for a place to put my bum since it so rarely happens. I glance across the aisle and see a young man sprawled out on two seats as he drifted in and out of consciousness. A woman friend sitting in front of him told him to move over because someone was going to get mad that he was taking up two seats. He responded that he didn't give a damn. I suppose the look on my face showed my annoyance at his comment. Honestly people like that really piss me off. So his other friend who is sitting behind me says, "that chick had a stupid look on her face when you wouldn't move your arse." He replies, "that's because she's white." As much of a realist as I am I was still kind of shocked to hear such a racist remark. You see I'm one of those people that don't look at the color of someone's skin. I don't see Asians, Middle Easterners, or African Americans...I see people. I know I'm naive thinking that everyone has the same pair of 'non racist' glasses I have on but when you hear someone blast a comment like that in your face, it really hurts. I just shook my head in disgust and then he tries saying something about me to his friend behind me. His friend obviously doesn't catch on because he then says, "the one sitting in front of you." Gee...I wonder who that could be. So I respond, "What about me sir?" I happen to be the kind of person that rarely has the will power to keep her mouth shut. In my opinion this world is made up of too many people that keep their mouth shut. Anyway, he stutters. It would appear that I caught him off guard. He didn't expect me to face him head on. I was supposed to be intimidated by his stupidity. He replies, "oh I was just pointing out your shoes." Wow...what a comeback. His friends start to laugh, another girl says I can't believe she said something to you. He replies, "I'll let the first one slide." Funny thing is, he left me alone after that. People on the train were giving me glances like...we know they are idiots but the only thing I kept replaying over and over in my head was his original comment to me.

I cannot stand the fact that this world is made up of so many small minds. Minds that have no room for love or respect because they are filled to the brim with hate. Who teaches them that? How does a child learn to despise someone because of the color of their skin? I know for a fact that my own child has no awareness of skin color. I will never teach her about skin color. I will teach her that people look differently not because of what's on the outside, because of what's on the inside. Our minds color our skin and when you see shades unpleasant to the eye, it's because a small mind has no appreciation of a rainbow.

As long as there are small minds there will be war. War among those of us who have room in our hearts for love and those that have every crevice filled with hate.