SamSaid!

JUNK, AND NOSTALGIA

     My wife and I are in the process oif selling a nice home that had been our primary residence for well over a decade  –  12+ years. The whole process falls into a series of very logical –  and typical  –  steps. First there is the threshhold decision to sell. Sometimes, that can be a bit traumatic. The very thought of someone else living in OUR house. Once getting past that hurdle, the rest sort of falls into place. We get a realtor, decide on the asking price, wait for a offer, dicker on a settlement price, reach agreement, get the pre-requisite inspection approvals, sign the papers  –  and then move out. It is at this point when things get more difficult.

     It is truly amazing how much “stuff” can be accumulated in 14 years. Little stuff, bigger stuff, inconsequential stuff, valuable stuff, duplicate stuff, etc., etc., etc. Confronted by this massive amount of “stuff”, or “junk” as it is termed by some, there are several ways to dispose of it. First, ask the kids what they would like; then have a “moving “or “garage ” sale; then look to local charities, and then look for ways in which to just give it away to someone who will agree to take it. The problem is that all of this “stuff” has a special value. There is a story or experience attached to every bit of it . And that makes pitching it a tough call.

    We know we can't keep it, and there is no place in which to put it, so it has to go. But in consigning these various  items to the scrap heap, I feel like I am throwing away a little bit of my life. Sure, I'll be accumulating new stuff starting tomorrow, but nostalgia applies to the past, not the future. So, I guess I'll take a deep breath and gulp a time or two and then say bon voyage. The items will be gone, but the memories will stay  –  at least for a while.

     Moving can be a very exciting experience, but pitching the little treasures doesn't come easy. At least, for me.

VICTIMHOOD  

   I wonder if anytone else is getting a little bit fed up with the black victimhood that is being incessantly beamed our way by the media and various spokesmen with individual agendas to pursue. I, for one, am.

     Without a doubt, slavery was the darkest chapter in the 225 year history of our country. It was awful, and nowadays, most people simply cannot envision or comprehend our countrymen buying and selling human beings. But they did. History is a fascinating story of the evolution of mankind over 3000 years. In many ways, it is indeed a fertile ground for intellectual study; however it is not a particularly rich and warming tale. Viewed from the 21st Century, most people can't really appreciate the evils that marked the past 20-30 centuries. Stripped to its essentials, history is a long long continuum of power contests in which winners had slaves, and losers were slaves. It didn't matter whether the slaves were yellow, black, brown, white, red or polka-dot.Slaves were slaves. Most certainly, slavery is not a black/white phenomenon peculiar to 100 years in the Southeast USA. As a matter of fact, slavery continues right now in parts of black Africa (US blacks prefer not to talk about that). The tough part about history is that you can't re-live it, can't re-write it, and can't change it. It stands as it happened. We all can look back  –  and then move on.  

     The Civil War ended 140 years ago, and by its end, hundreds of thousands of white American men died to bring slavery to an end in the US. In the current 21st Century dialogue, that fact seems to escape recognition. Did the abolition of slavery mean that the blacks had an easy road to travel?  Not so. For the next 100 years social progress was very slow. There were the Jackie Robinson exceptions, but full citizenship was still an illusion.  Then came the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and since that time the changes have been genuinely remarkable. Now we are being fed the pablum of affirmative action and diversity, both of which can be spelled Q_U_O_T_A_S. That's where I draw the line.

     My ancestors were not slave owners. To the contrary. some of them came to this country as indentured servants  –  just another term for slavery. And some also had to suffer the privations of child labor enroute to adulthood. Who should I sue for reparations –  King George III, Louis XIV, or maybe the Continental Congress? The whole notion of reparations for one segment of our population is enough to light off a firestorm  –  and properly so.

     I don't think I'm a racist. Not now. But there are two guys who could easily turn me into one  — Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Here are two guys who have agendas solidly based on fanning the flames of racism. I think most Americans are willing to accept each other and given the choice would dampen racial or ethnic differences. But these two guys are dead in the water unless they can foment racial conflict. When I watch an NFL or NBA game, should I assume that this is just another example of white guys exploiting black biological accidents, or should I assume that this is the result of talent meeting opportunity? I see black weather guys and newscasters on TV and see nothing wrong with that. But then I see the diversity buffs crying more, more, more  –  without regard to merit. Just cry “racism” and then settle out of court for the equivalent of legal expenses. Just a freebie $500K.

     I enjoy reading the publications of guys like Thomas Sowell and Ward Conerly.  Keep it equal, no more crutches, and dump the notions of affirmative action and diversity (whatever that is).  Conerly now backs a privacy initiative that will soon be on the Califonia ballot. It would forbid the State or agencies in the State from demanding racial or ethnic categorizations of citizens, i.e., Black, Hispanic, Jewish, Aleut, native American, Pacific Islander, Oriental, Caucasian, etc etc etc. We all just become citizens. Naturally, the intellectual elites of academ vigorously oppose it, as do the various interest groups.

     Not this guy  –  I think Ward Conerly  is right and he has my vote right now!!