Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Forwards

You don't do the right thing because of the consequences.
If you're wise, you do it regardless of the consequences
- Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973)
Long time no see! I actually blogged yesterday, but then my phone rang, I went to answer it, and twenty minutes later, I came back to find myself logged off, and everything I'd written gone. Probably a good thing, since I'd just gotten an email from an irate cousin, claiming she was permanently removing me from her email addresses. Should I go into that? Hmmm.

It has to do with "Forwards." & Let's just say that some email addresses should be kept private. You may get the occasional personal note or funny little joke, but for every one of those...there are some people that tend to go overboard on their Forwards. My cousin is one of those people.
You know the thing about how you should never talk politics or religion in a dinner, work, or party setting? Okay, I think we need to add Email Forwards to that as well. (& If you forward the thing, you may as well have wrote it)
Yes, I can just delete them. But sometimes they are just complete propaganda. Did you get the one about Barack Obama being a member of the Taliban? Or the one where a 'nameless teacher' writes about immigration, saying in her California school, thirteen year old pregnant Mexican girls are plaguing the place with vandalism and theft? And do you love it when the end the Forward with a little American Flag, and the Words,

"Jesus and the American Soldier are the only ones who ever died for you"
Is it wrong to want to comment that there may be some hypocrisy in Hispanic hate mail that preaches the gospel at the end? Do people who forward mindlessly open themselves up for politic discussion? I think so.
In my defense, I've just deleted them for years. Things that made me completely ill came in my box, and I turned the other cheek. I suppose I'm just tired of them. I am starting to get the feelings that silently deleting them is in some way Accepting them. I'm a parent now. Racism is not acceptable- in any form. And I've come to find that the more of those things I accept, the more I receive.
So I commented on the emails, and got myself into a little trouble. Yikes!
Should I leave well enough alone?
Or is a part of me growing into my spirit...Is my conscience outgrowing my cowardess?
I hope so. What example do I want to set for my children? Don't stir up the pot? I don't think that's the one.
Sometimes Silence = Acceptance.
I hope my daughters can think positively. I hope they see that they are strong, powerful minds, and that though one voice is just one, sometimes it is the one that begins the Domino chains of thousands.
My mother is an immigrant.
& At some point, if you live in the US, somebody in your family was an immigrant.
My comment that "maybe the Native Americans are reincarnating as Hispanics and they are taking back their land" (Ha, ha- peaceably, of course) probably didn't help matters.
I do have a bit of sadness about the whole thing. I guess I'll go shake it off, and I'll blog again after awhile. Thanks for stopping by! Much love, much love to you this morning.
Have a sweet day!

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