Make A Friend It'll Make A Difference

As I am tiring of the Barak Obama circus evolving before America on TV, I have been tossing some ideas around in my head for the last couple of days. I have been trying to come up with ways to bridge the barriers that separate many of us Americans from one and other. Cast ideologies aside for a minute and take a practical look at the world going on around us all. We would all like to be able to live the American dream, for those of you who are clueless they are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now this may be confusing so I will try in my own way to explain what I think these things mean. Life, an interesting concept in itself. We who are Christians are told that if we are basically good, believe in God, do good things and are sorry for our transgressions we will go to a place called Heaven for eternity and things there will be real gooood. Now there are little twists added by other religions but they all have distinct parallels to one and other and basically preach the same rhetoric. Getting back to life, it's been my experience from talking to different groups of people over the years that we all have the same basic wants and desires, it's true, whether the person I talk to is White, Black, Asian or Hispanic they are all after the same thing, a good life for themselves and their families. They want access to good jobs, good schools and for the most part they are all willing to do whatever is necessary to reach these ends. The way I have approached this with these different people is usually in conversations about our children, which I have found out that right there, we have a great deal in common because all kid's are pretty much the same. Then the conversations usually drift to what we are all after and that is what I have described above. The rest should be givens and I don't know how much I have to elaborate on Liberty means being free and the pursuit of happiness, is well, the pursuit of happiness. If an explanation is needed, comment, and I can add to this blog.

Which gets me to the point of this blog today, Make A Friend, it's kind of a novel ides in that it would probably be the end of racism, racial separatism, supremacist movements, get rotten politicians out of office, reduce crime etc...etc...I have had the good fortune to make friends with a very diverse group of people in my life and credit this with my attitudes towards most people (I will put the caveat in at the end). I have had the opportunity to make friends with a couple of Hispanic people and gained gained great insights into how much the same we are. I had the good fortune to make friends with Black people over the years through my membership in a particular fraternal organization and have had the opportunity to test these relationships over time and they have held up quite well. And again I found out that we have identical wants and desires. I have also, made friends with Asians and had the same results. So, how does one go about making friends with those not like themselves? First I would say, that we should become color blind when it comes to those we come in contact with every day, look at everyone as your equal, if you can't do that right away at least look at them as a member in good standing of this earth that we inhabit. Make a point when you pass people on the street to acknowledge that they exist. A smile goes a long way and maybe one day as you pass one of these people say a simple hello or how are you today. I am not telling you that you have to propose marriage to the person just a simple hello. When you encounter a clerk in a store look them in the eye and smile, a smile really goes a long way. If you are lucky you may actually make friends with someone a little different than yourself and have the same enriching experiences I have been accorded. I will not tell you that I run into the streets trying to make friends with everyone in arms reach, far from it. But turning away from others because of unfounded fears, differences in appearance and speech will only help divisive leaders and their movements to continue to wield power and influence. We should not have to legislate against discrimination of any kind, we should not have to punish one group for what happened before anyone alive in the world today was even thought of. Rights should be equal, we all are of similar intelligence and can all accept blood transfusions from one and other which should be a clear indication we are all from the same mold with little modifications in appearance along the way. This is 2008 and we should all know better by now. There's a catch to all of this, if you make a friend who is "different" than you, you can't do this to just tell others you have a friend who is black, white, hispanic, asian or from whatever racial or ethnic group. Remember the trick is to become "color blind". It isn't easy making good friends and I can attest to that, most of us only have a few in this life, so there is a tough job ahead for anyone who decides to tackle this one.

Now for the caveat; Be vigilant when going out into the world. Though most people are good and decent there are those who will do you wrong.

So you don't get the wrong impression of me and think I have gone soft and headed left, I am all for; Making the tax cuts permanent, a strong military, crushing the Taliban, finding and neutralizing Osama Bin Laden, the Fed's getting Tony Rezko to rollover on Blagojevich and Barak, no new taxes, making politicians accountable, no ear marks and totally against socialized medicine.