With the election of the first black president, it has finally dawned on ignorant boneheads that the self perpetuating crap they've believed all their lives is just that: crap. People all over this great nation are starting to realize they've been lied to by their friends and relatives about stereotyping and generalizing. People finally realize they no longer have any excuses for their lots in life outside of their own performance. Women suddenly own land and a majority of seats in leadership commensurate with their numbers of the population. People of colors and cultures different from our euro-blanco norm finally are judged not by their accent or skin color, but by their individual traits, character and ability.
Finally after eight years of President Bush being caricatured as a monkey in weekly political cartoons, the guy can get out of the spotlight and rest and the new president can safely be caricatured as a monkey without any hidden agendas or underlying meanings being associated with it other than pure, journalistic license invoking the close relationship between humans and apes... humans of any color, of course. The subtle joke being, obviously, that while we have evolved from, and share the vast majority of genes with that slightly lesser species, we still share many many traits. Thank goodness we've left race behind us so we can get on to the real problems that face us even if we still share too many of those lesser traits.
After all, we do still resort to violent outbursts on innocent victims even if those victims are close friends of the ones who have cared for and fed us all our lives. Sometimes these outbursts are the results of unrestrained emotion and pass as quickly, and without permanent damage as a mild spring storm. Sometimes the outbursts are the concerted effort of an entire nation resulting from fear, intolerance and ignorance, and the damage is ongoing and irreparable.
We still succumb to the innate drive to reproduce, sometimes at irresponsible and alarming rates even though we've eliminated most of the threat of predators and competition for food and shelter that used to justify having twice the amount of offspring that we expected to survive. In fact, we succumb to that particular instinct even with no intention of reproducing or, more often, with the clear intention of NOT reproducing. In fact, there's another milestone: thank goodness that in our present state of evolution, we've managed to disassociate the myths, traditions, emotions and even the biological purpose from the pleasurable act that can, but doesn't have to result in reproduction!! Separating out the baggage from the process will surely lead to more responsible behavior like longer lasting marriages, more responsible parenting, and an overall awakening when it comes to relationships and sex.
We still willfully deceive each other for little more reason than because we can, and we still, perhaps rightfully, are suspicious of each other because, after all, as the higher species, we are not only capable, but all too ready to use these distinguishing traits simply because we can... as if to prove that we have taken that step beyond the last, less developed form of ourselves. Many of us have even evolved to the point of being able to justify these deceptive behaviors as a practice in a skillful art that were it not practiced might be lost, as though we might DEvolve if we don't cheat, lie, steal and manipulate regularly... or better still, that the cheating, lying, stealing and manipulating is justified as a means to some end that better serves all of humanity... you know, like Blago was trying to do for the people of Illinois... by any means necessary.
But at least we've left the racism behind us. On Abe Lincoln's 200th birthday (and the state of Ohio's 206th!!), nearly 150 years after the Civil War, almost 50 years after the Civil Rights Act was signed, and after a history of sacrificing our sons to defend the basic rights of others around the globe we have finally arrived at a point where nothing is valued higher than ensuring those basic rights, freedoms, and fair treatment for every citizen in our own nation. We have evolved beyond race. We have turned the page on that dark chapter and left it behind us once and for all. As our first black attorney general so eloquently pointed out, America is ready to move on now that we've fully, completely addressed and left behind the "awkward, painful" race issue. Man, am I glad that's over with.
Luth,
Out.
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