Thursday, August 05, 2010

We're taking bets that I am troubled...

An awful tragedy happened 2 minutes from my childhood home yesterday. Eight men were killed by a man who also killed himself. The man was being fired for stealing from the company and he was caught on video. Everyone that knew him said he was a quiet and nice individual. He complained to his family and friends that his work environment was very racist. While that doesn't excuse any of his horrible actions I wonder how quickly are his families and his girlfriend's accusations going to be swept under the rug.

I grew up in that area and know that it is as racist as any other area except that because we are in the Northeast we act like we are better because we hide our racism better. I am sure racism was going on against this individual. I saw it all the time when I grew up, but I didn't understand it then. Unfortunately racism, sexism, and all other isms are around everyday. Look at all of the people protesting the reversal of Prop 8 in California and the venom of both sides.

This man handled the racism horribly wrong and stole which means most people are not going to give this a second look. Does it make a difference? Can this tragedy maybe let people look inside ourselves. People think we have progressed and are in a better place since the 60's but I wonder. I just think we have to keep looking at why we can keep breeding hate. We are all different, but ultimately we all want the same thing; to live a good life. Appreciate the differences around you because to ignore them or even worse hate them will be even more tragic than this incident.

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