I'm White...

"It takes strength to be gentle and kind." - Morrissey

I'm white. A white guy. I mean, if you are gonna put me in a racial category, you'd put me in "white." Kind of a Heinz 57 mix of genetic material. I think I have a bit of Irish, German, French, Polish, maybe other various Eastern European flavors. I mean, if we go back far enough, we all come from the same source, "Mithochondrial Eve."  All the colors of the rainbow emanate from one mother, one source. Still, I'm pretty damn white. I don't tan, I burn. I have freckles. When I was a kid my hair was so blond it was sort of white, and I had freckles all over my body. Some folks called me "Rusty."

Why do I bring this up?

Turns out it's the white folks amongst us who have emerged as the greatest threat to our Democracy. Who knew? For years some folks worried about Muslim folks, Black folks, people of color. But no, it's those burly white supremacists, cops, ex-cops, military, ex-military, the right-wing militias who have totally gone off the ranch militant. Full Authoritarian Trump-ist.

Freaky. I'm an older white guy, calling out my fellow white folk. WTF?

I'm not racist. I just don't live with racist thoughts or actions.   I subscribe to the Dalai Lama's idea: We are all Human Beings first. I may have some undetected biases, I am sure we all do, but I do my best to transcend them. All my problems over the years have been with white people. If has always been other white folks who bullied me, cheated me, undermined me, battled me, or tried to knock me down a peg or two. Still I don't hate white people. I am not a self-hating white guy. I am a human being, humble, open-minded.

I have learned not to take the slings and arrows from my fellow humans personally. I mean, there are unhappy people in the world. They come in all creeds and colors. There are people who hate. People who want to burn the world down. People who want to make other folks suffer. They are bitter, they are cynical, they are willing to hurt and bully other people. I try my best to avoid them.

I think we should all choose wisely when it comes to who we hang with, who we play with, who we work with, who we work for, who we look up to, who we listen to, who we believe, who we follow. Some of this is just easy, simple, logical.  I try to be a good person. I am inspired by creative, kind, generous, funny, intelligent, compassionate, loving, beautiful people of all races and creeds. I believe in Love & Spirit & Heart. Yes. Human Beings First.

Don't be blinded by the whiteness. Hate is hate. Domestic Terrorism is Terrorism. Stupidity is stupidity. We come in all flavors, but we are all essentially the same. Human Beings. Truly, madly, deeply, related. Brothers & Sisters. All.