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Showing posts from July, 2015

Clouds

We are driving back from meeting her first grade teacher when my daughter cries out, "Mom!  Look at that cloud!  It's shaped just like a heart." I glance quickly out the side window as I navigate the road.  "Oh, yeah," I say softly, not really looking hard because I know that often the shapes in clouds are meant for only one viewer.  My answer, initially, is a lie meant to let her know that I'm listening without causing me to nearly crash the car trying to see what she does. Then, right before I look away, I see it.  A single cloud, big and puffy, in the perfect shape of a heart.  "I think it's shining love down onto all of us," says The Nugget.  I smile.  She is so kind hearted.  As we turn a corner she wiggles in her seat, twisting and turning to keep the heart in her line of sight.  Already, part of the edge is drifting apart.  "I never want it to go away!" she cries. "Well, honey, clouds dissipate.  That's just what

If You're a Racist and You Don't Know It

Just sit quietly.  Do not clap your hands.  Do not attempt to understand anyone's viewpoint other than your own.  Whatever you do, cling to symbols such as the confederate flag as marks of history and deny that they ever represented anything to do with racism.  Discount any feelings from people of color who note that having this flag hanging in an official capacity makes them uncomfortable.  Tell people to "get over it" because it is "just a flag".  Have absolutely no insight into the fact that perhaps it is YOU who should "get over it" and agree to take it down because it is "just a flag". If you're a racist and you don't know it, then by all means, please refer all acts of racism back to the days of slavery and make sure to note that you were not responsible for this.  Tell people that they should move on, that even though things aren't perfect they are so much better than they were then.  Disregard the families whose unarmed