Slaves
If one favors Blacks over Whites, even in the back of their minds, they will applaud and recognize the actions of Blacks and ignore, minimize, or dismiss the actions of Whites, regardless of the actual merit of the action. If one favors Whites over Hispanics, they will applaud and recognize the actions of Whites and ignore the actions of Hispanics.
If one favors women over men, they will listen to and give recognition to women, while denigrating the actions of men.
If one favors men over women, they will listen to and give credence to men, and dismiss the same actions of women.
When someone points out to them proof that their prejudice is not based in reality, they come up with rationales and nonsensical phrases in defense, like "the exception proves the rule", or "that's just the way it is".
Prejudice in all forms is not a passing personal folly, but a detriment to the human race. A school teacher who favors one race over another is sabotaging the futures of the students in his or her class. An employer who favors one gender over another is undermining the very lives of those he or she does not hire, as well as selling the business short. A student who seeks Spiritual guidance ignores beneficial guidance from those he or she dismisses, and blindly follows another who fits into their prejudice. A husband ignores his wife and gives his attention to his male friends; a wife ignores her husband to attend to her female friends. A member of a group of friends spreads negativity about someone who they feel threatened by so the others will not welcome the person. A female supervisor who favors males creates situations for male employees to shine, and undermines female employees so they appear less effective, paving the way for the males to be promoted, and blocking the way for the females. A rock band hires the musicians they like, not actually the best musicians, even undermining their own potential. A police officer believes the statement of the abuser over the victim, and the abuser goes free to do it again. A psychiatrist believes the father over the mother of a troubled child, or believes the parents over the child, or the child over the parents, and treats the patient according to the psychiatrist's prejudice, not according to the reality of the situation. A leader is elected because people like him or her, not according to experience or intelligence. A parent favors a sister over a brother, or a brother over a sister, causing both of them unpredictable emotional scars.
A high school faculty staff nurtures and tutors the students they favor, and ignores and even undermines the students they do not; the students they let "Fall through the cracks" will not have the opportunity they would have had if their needs were addressed like the needs of the others were; how many of these students would have gone into fields such as medicine, how many of them would have contributed to treating disease, finding cures, saving lives?
© 2010 Marianne Black Snuggs
Premlatha Rajkumar
"Compassion is neither sympathy nor empathy, it is Understanding from the heart, understanding to see only the gift in every situation."
Free
A Dear Friend Sent Me This Message This Morning, Posting It For My Own Heart:
I couldnt go to sleep last night, felt you flapping like an injured bird... but it wasnt you it was (****) (like identical twins). Anyway, I used to work at a raptor center with injured birds and their instinct when they are injured is to flap around in fear and furthur injuring themselves. So what we would do first is cover their eyes so they couldnt see. Ok stop. YOU were an eagle a golden shimmery brilliant color and you had something in your wing, so you couldnt fly. Your wing wasnt broken but you were flapping so hard you were about to break it, so we covered your eyes with a towel then I held you firmly but gently and stroked your back. We were silent moving very slowly because you could sense our movements and would try to turn your head so we were silent. You had this thing that had obviously been there a long time as it had gotten infected and skin had grown and scarred around it but now that you were older it was impeding your ability to fly. You had gotten used to it and were accustommed to flying all wonky. You didnt know you had the ability in you to fly towards the sun as this thing (a thorn or metal or something) had kept you close to the ground... Anyway we took it out... and you just needed to be nurtured for a while. In solitude... quiet. You had been so used to the noise you didnt know how stressed and tired and frustrated you were... until you were given the opportunity to know the silence. Anyway the weeks passed and your wing was still sore, but you were different. Your spirit had changed. You had an inner light and knowing that you were no longer a grouse (big birds that live on the ground flapping and flopping about) You were in your heart soul mind and being an eagle... born to soar... no longer encumbered by the past you hopped out of your cage that had been for your healing and safety and into the light of a new day as a new bird. You looked up to the sky and noticed other eagles flying by. You squawked a huge squawk and they responded equally calling to your light... your heart opened and hesitatingly at first you spread your wings testing them to see if it were really truly possible that YOU were born to fly among them. You hopped and flapped but the wing lifted you this time the wind through wings... you gathered speed and height... you had never seen the world from this vantage point. You had been mistaken this whole time... you my friend had been born to fly.
~Richard Bach
And another posted this almost at the same time:
When a handicap gull asks if he can fly :
“Come along then.” said Jonathan. “Climb with me away from the ground, and we’ll begin.”
“You don’t understand My wing. I can’t move my wing.”
“Maynard Gull, you have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.It is the Law of the Great Gull, the Law that Is.”
“Are you saying I can fly?”
“I say you are free.”
“You don’t understand My wing. I can’t move my wing.”
“Maynard Gull, you have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.It is the Law of the Great Gull, the Law that Is.”
“Are you saying I can fly?”
“I say you are free.”
~Richard Bach
Elizabeth Barret Browning 1806-1861
A WOMAN'S SHORTCOMINGS
She has laughed as softly as if she sighed,She has counted six, and over,
Of a purse well filled, and a heart well tried -
Oh, each a worthy lover!
They "give her time"; for her soul must slip
Where the world has set the grooving;
She will lie to none with her fair red lip:
But love seeks truer loving.
She trembles her fan in a sweetness dumb,
As her thoughts were beyond recalling;
With a glance for one, and a glance for some,
From her eyelids rising and falling;
Speaks common words with a blushful air,
Hears bold words, unreproving;
But her silence says - what she never will swear -
And love seeks better loving.
Go, lady! lean to the night-guitar,
And drop a smile to the bringer;
Then smile as sweetly, when he is far,
At the voice of an in-door singer.
Bask tenderly beneath tender eyes;
Glance lightly, on their removing;
And join new vows to old perjuries -
But dare not call it loving!
Unless you can think, when the song is done,
No other is soft in the rhythm;
Unless you can feel, when left by One,
That all men else go with him;
Unless you can know, when unpraised by his breath,
That your beauty itself wants proving;
Unless you can swear "For life, for death!" -
Oh, fear to call it loving!
Unless you can muse in a crowd all day
On the absent face that fixed you;
Unless you can love, as the angels may,
With the breadth of heaven betwixt you;
Unless you can dream that his faith is fast,
Through behoving and unbehoving;
Unless you can die when the dream is past -
Oh, never call it loving!
Clear
 |
| "Observatory" |
When you're not here, I can't go to sleep.
Praise God for those two insomnias!
And the difference between them."
— Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi
Reflection
 |
| "Thank You" |
"Oaks are the true conservatives;
They hold old leaves till summer gives
A green exchange."
~Roy Helton
Projection
Be careful about projecting your own motives onto the behavior of others. Try to see others as they actually are, not as another version of yourself, or another version of someone from your past. Treat each person with the respect that you would show the person you most admire on Earth, and you will be less likely to act with your unconscious prejudice. Try hard, it's important, not just for them, but for your own heart.
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