Patchwork n Petticoats

Switching over to fiction

2012-02-15T14:00:00.001-08:00

When I started this blog I was going to do my complaining here. Eh, who wants to read complaints? That only prevents you looking at the bright side of things. So, I got to thinking that Patchwork and Petticoats is a great book title. I will explore a novel with that title. In fact, I think I'm going to write it here. Cathy(c) 2012 Cathy Thomas Brownfield

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2012-01-03T17:15:00.000-08:00

Move over, Clint. There are some things we need to talk about.

Who really wants to waste time complaining? Where is it going to get us? I have this thing I say when someone grumbles that something happened and ruined the whole day. If someone ruined five minutes of your day, why would you want that to spoil the other 1,435 minutes in your day? That gives a different spin to attitude, huh?

But there are so many issues!

Iran is threatening the U.S. Navy? I have to believe the ayatollah doesn't want to blow up the world any more than we do. But what can power--the desire for power and authority--do to anyone?

There is a growing wealth gap between U.S. Congress and the constituency. (Constituency--that's you an me.) Congress was never supposed to be a career job. Perhaps it has gone on too long to fix. Limited terms were instituted for a reason. But power. Authority. Wealth...See the problem? No? Well, take a look: Congress and Constituency. But just to whet your appetite:

* 1984: Median net worth of House member, $280,000. (Adjusted for inflation.)

* 2009: Median net worth of House member, $725,000. (160 percent increase over 25 years.)

* 2009: Median income average American, $20,500. (Decreased over the same 25 years.)

* 2010: Annual base pay, Congressman, $176,000.

* 2010: Mean annual salary, employed, $44,410.

An economic boom in Ohio has been anticipated. The means? Marcellus Shale. However, last weekend (12/31/2011) an earthquake hit the Youngstown-Girard, Ohio area. The epicenter of the 4.0 quake was set at 1/10 of a mile from the site of a brine injection well. Published reports say the "Brine waste water from oil and gas drilling operations is often disposed of in...injection wells."

Prior to drilling starting there were no earthquakes on record in the area. There have been 11 quakes since drilling began last spring. Another report advises that when this happened in Ashtabula County, Ohio, there were quakes for nine years after the drilling stopped, according to a news report.

Athena Anne KitchenFlint writes in West Virginia Highlands Voice: The blog of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, "...America's demand for natural gas is continually increasing. While American dependence has shifted toward foreign oil over the years, native oil companies continue to fight for market share...[T]o do this...around the turn of the millennium, the Marcellus Shale formation that is positioned under a good portion of the northeastern states...a sort of modern gold rush."

Which is most important...physical or economic health?

KitchenFlint describes the Marcellus Shale AND the process of fracking. She quotes John Manuel's article about fracking, "Some of these deposits, such as the Marcellus Shale running under the Appalachian Basin, lie beneath water tables supplying drinking water to millions of people."

"Things are in fact going wrong," KitchenFlint writes.

Bob Hagan, State Representative, D-65th, of Youngstown, supported Gov. Kasich's move to stop drilling until an investigation is completed. He said he wants to keep jobs in the area, but it's also about protecting Ohio's natural resources. (Do natural resources include people?)

With all the controversy near and far, there is a positive bit of news. In November, ABC New broadcast a story about stem cell research:

"There is promising news for people at risk for heart failure after U.S. researchers found stem cell therapy in humans has been surprisingly successful in replacing damaged muscle and getting the heart to pump better."

A friend of mine had a massive heart attack in June 2009. After too many middle-ofo-the-night ambulance runs to the ER, the doctors at Duke University stabilized Jay's medications enough to stop the middle of the night emergency runs, but he has been on the heart transplant list for about two years. He reads everything he can about stem cell research. He contacts programs for trials and would like to take part, receiving stem cells he believes can give him a second chance at living again. He has a Civil War novel he wants to writer. And he'd like to dance at his grandchildren's weddings with Camilla, his wife of 39 years (Jan. 5, 2012).

And the beat goes on...

Thoughts

2011-10-12T07:11:00.000-07:00

Well, there are certainly a lot of things going on "out there." Enough to keep a body upset and battling high blood pressure every day, every minute. People are tempted by paranoia on a lot of things, but there was that episode of The X-Files in which the woman, just before she went missing, advised, "If you think you're too paranoid, you probably aren't paranoid enough." My grandson and I read To Kill a Mockingbird together. Atticus Finch says courage is doing what you know is right, even if you know you aren't going to win. And I know that must be one of the reasons why the book is on the Banned Book List. And would I teach my grandson from anything else than banned books that are banned for a reason and we are darned well going to know why? Atticus wanted his children, Jem and Scout, to know that "courage is more than a man holding a gun." I'm looking for the movie version with Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.And our next read will be Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It's also on the banned book list. (Ref. above remarks.) For the same reason.Am I dangerous? A threat to homeland security? No. But I am a patriot. (To me that's different than patriarchy, but to some it is not.) I will exercise my right to free speech when I need to speak up.I applied for a job. Didn't get it. I'm thinking politics has something to do with not getting it, but that's OK. I'm remembering a conversation I had with someone who works at village hall. This person retired but stayed on at the position so she can collect her pension and still pull a paycheck. "Why shouldn't I? Everyone else does it!" Well, I didn't go into it with her, but I thought about how my mother taught my brothers and me that two wrongs do not make a right. And double-dipping is wrong. And it's destroying the tapestry of America. It's dishonest. It's greedy. It's an abuse of the taxpayers and it eliminates job opportunities for others who could really use paychecks to take care of their families. But, well, it's all about #1, isn't it?

Do we really wanna go there?

2011-02-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

What make a woman caustic? Maybe we don’t really want to go there. Lately I think I’ve been pretty critical. And though I say, “Please, God, don’t let me be like my dad in that respect,” I have seen my father’s daughter of late. It seems that people just don’t have any common sense any more. Doesn’t anyone think further than the ends of their noses? Use their heads for something besides hat racks? Consider the consequences for actions BEFORE the actions are done?

I remember when life was good, and a lot simpler. Anyone who wanted to work had a job. If you went job hunting first thing in the morning, by the time you got home you had a job…the same day! A young man and a young woman could get married, buy a car, a house, have a family and put food on the table. One full time job for everyone. A chicken in every pot.

Families—four generations—gathered together to celebrate holidays with big dinners or cookouts, and children actually knew some of their relatives, extended families included.

I don’t know if we have the world by the tail or if the tail has us. Who are slaves? What are we slaves to? (OK. Grammatically correct: To what are we slaves?) Do we own our possessions or do our possessions own us? Are all of those things WE THINK WE NEED more important than the things WE NEED? What DO we need? When we are on our death beds breathing our last, what do you suppose we’ll think about? What will be most important then? Why isn’t that what’s most important now while we can live the gift of life?

What do parents teach their children? What did our parents teach us and their parents teach them? And what will our children teach their children? What do we want history to say about us? Or are we so fatalistic that we don’t think it matters because the world will end 12/21/2012? When will the floating stop?

A Woman's Duty

2011-01-21T20:54:00.000-08:00

Women do what needs to be done. We see with our eyes what needs tending to and we do it because it has to be done and someone has to do it. When we're looking for something we move things to see if what we're seeking might be behind. But children and husbands will insist the thing they are looking for isn't where you say. And when you go and move something, there it is behind. "Where did you find that?" they ask.

Women make do much of the time. How can we do anything but make do when we don't have resources to do more? We do the best we can and, often, hope for the best.

Sometimes there are rewards. And is there really any satisfaction from the knowledge that a husband who thought his wife might not be very good at budgeting but discovered she was much more efficient with what she had to work with than he?

All any of us can do is our best. That's all there is.

Patriarchy

2011-01-13T18:00:00.001-08:00

Patriarchy. Until I went back to college in 2007 I hadn't thought about its application to the Patriarchs, Old Testament variety. And when I think about how women are to be treated with the respect such as Jesus addressed women, when I think about how women are to be, I think of the Noble Wife in Proverbs 31. I consider the stories of Naomi and Ruth, Esther and Martha. They were strong women who commanded the respect of the men in their lives.

Problems arise when men don't respect and appreciate their women. They have difficulty understanding that God made man, both male and female, in his image. Each is a part and when two parts are joined they become one whole unit, equally-yoked and working toward the same goals. Men do not own the market on Intelligence.

When one of the parts isn't working properly, that part is hurting the whole unit. When a part on a machine fails to do what it is supposed to do, it is replaced by a new part for the machine to work properly. Many husbands have been replaced. The work or job is not the only obligation of the worker.

In thinking about how, as a nation, we moved from an agricultural to an industrial society we need to look at the whole picture. Prior to the Industrial Revolution husbands and wives worked together on their farms to produce what they needed for their family's survival. WORKED TOGETHER. When Pa took a job working in the factory for a paycheck, everything at home fell on the shoulders of the wife. And eventually we have evolved to where we are today...Ma is working for a paycheck and too many of us have all the burden of responsibility at home, too.

Take a look at good, old Benjamin Franklin. Who ran his business and kept the home fires burning in Philadelphia, Pa. USA while he lived with another woman in England and spent the last 12 years of his wife's life living in Europe? He came home only after Debra's death and only because she wasn't alive to run his business ventures for him. She waited for him all of those years.

For centuries men have abused the meaning of a woman answering to her husband. Jesus said the man is to be the head over his wife, as Jesus was the head of his church. He loved his church (the people, not a building) so much he was willing to lay down his life for it. The OTHER part of that? The part so many seem not to recall? The husband is to love his wife just as Jesus loved his church. He never intended that women not speak what they thought, rather, that there would be peace in the household when the husband and wife discuss things and make the right decisions together. Husbands are to be responsible, to stand up and be men rather than place blame for all bad things on their women.

Does that sound like women get a fair deal with their men?

Is it a sign?

2010-09-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

I can remember a time when I felt my opinions so strongly I had to break my neck to share them, particularly at my writer's lists online. So I read a post at one group, "A Soapbox Moment," and felt no need to give any opinion. It's some knit-wit's attempt to draw attention to himself or to draw public attention from something else. Subject: Someone wants to blow up the Koran to celebrate 9/11.

Now, that thought brings a couple of things to mind:

1.) My parents always said the left hand didn't want to let the right hand know what it was doing. So, when everyone's attention is drawn to something very public, on the right hand, what's going on where we aren't--but should be--looking, on the left hand?

2.) Apathy has been a problem for a long time. People just don't care about things they can't do anything about.

But was it apathy or something else that caused me not to feel the need to respond to Sue on the writer's group? Is it that the experiences of my life up to this point of my life tell me to pick my battles wisely rather than waste precious energy on things that aren't really likely to happen?

I didn't know about the two asteroids that missed the Earth by about 150,000 miles today (9-8-2010) until well after the event. But as I pushed my 3-1/2 year-old granddaughter on the swing I looked toward the sky about 2 p.m. (EDT) and thought, "How would I protect her, to where would I run with her if some catastrophe fell from the sky?"

Matrilineal world

2010-08-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

Of course, I'm not really a mad woman. Angry, sometimes, but I think I am reasonably sane. I think I may finally, FINALLY, understand the message: "Mom, your children are grown. Now it's time for you to do what's best for you."

I've considered a lot of things over the years, based on my observations of women who have influenced me during my lifetime. Essentially, I was raised matrilineally. That means by women. My maternal grandfather died when my mother was 17, his widow, 49. My paternal grandfather died when I was 4. My step-grandfather wasn't nice to my grandmother. And my dad was rarely home.

I was raised by women who taught me right from wrong, compassion for others, passion for the gift of life I was given and instructions: You can achieve anything you want to if you're willing to work hard for it. Mom emphasized, "Use your own head to think with. Don't let others do your thinking for you. Look further than the end of your nose, plan ahead. Use your head for something besides a hat rack. And use good common sense."

She waited patiently for her husband to die. The doctors said he'd die long before he actually did. He died when she was an old woman who couldn't live alone.

How many women have done that?
How many more women will?

Am I really still the Mom?

2010-07-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

I am not a happy camper. I have tried to bide my time, hold my tongue, and work through these times. A year and a half ago my two youngest moved out of our house. Empty nest syndrome. You know what that is. In January, they moved back into our house with the agreement that they would help around the house, clean up after themselves and their pets, and occasionally do things like buy groceries or cook a meal.

Uh...the story of my life. Move in, forget the agreement because we're in, and leave EVERYTHING for Mom to do. Don't think about how she might have a life of her own that she had to get when everyone told her to switch off the Mom switch that doesn't exist and some day THEY will know exactly what I'm talking about when their kids do the same to them.

I am facing empty nest again. They are SUPPOSED to be moving three states away from me this weekend. We are SUPPOSED to leave on Saturday. Do they have all the things done that need to be done before we walk out that door on Saturday? No. Will they have everything done before we walk out that door on Saturday? No. So, will we walk out that door on Saturday? No. We. Will. Not. Because I'm NOT going to be left here to clean up after them...and. their. pets. Need I say more?

I can't even go out for lunch with friends without coming home to messes to clean up. Like one of the dogs urinating on the hall floor I was mopping at 12:30 a.m. this morning. How many people were in this house while I was gone? And NOBODY could open that freaking door and let the dogs out??? And NOBODY could get the scrub bucket, some soapy water and the mop and clean it up before I got home???

Fortunately, few people read my blogs so I guess I don't have to concern myself about embarrassing anyone. Not that I think anyone who lives in this house except me really cares.

Yeah. I am ticked...or pick your favorite expletive and insert it here.

Labeling

2010-03-18T08:18:00.001-07:00

I’m rambling today. Forgive me.

What was it that was so good about growing up in the 1950s and 1960s? Was it our ignorance that since has proven that “ignorance is bliss”? In those days we didn’t have to label everything and there didn’t have to be someone to blame for everything that happened. That’s why accidents are called accidents. And we didn’t have to label every problem, condition, everything!

For instance, the schools (whose teachers have been glorified as the saviors of students everywhere who have ever learned to read or interact in society—another story for another day), it appears, are all about getting more of those almighty dollars to expand and reach for those “state-of-the-art” districts that are so prevalent, if not prestigious. Well, so they want us to believe. Somehow I thought the cliquish stuff of high school was left behind by adults. Boy, was I wrong about that one!

My grandson is a delightful 5-year-old who so looked forward to going to kindergarten last year. He couldn’t wait to get there and begin to learn things like reading and writing and playing with other children. His mother is a daycare provider. He’s grown up around other children and learned to extend the same family values and attitudes toward those other children that he has been taught at home and at church. (Yes, I said church, a place too many children don’t understand because they haven’t been inside of one.) They are at the house so much they truly are part of the family!

But there have been issues. On the bus another little boy was kicking and punching my grandson. It was bullying, for sure. My daughter went to school and demanded the bullying be stopped. Then there was the boy who hated Sponge Bob, which was the design on my grandson’s backpack. With the pack on his back, this other boy was punching Sponge Bob. What the heck is that all about??? THEN, there was the other kindergartener who said to my grandson, “I hate you. I’m going to kill you.” Are we kidding??? Absolutely not acceptable! The teacher seemed to know these things were going on but nothing could be done to stop it? How’s that for a school district in a county who SAYS it has a zero tolerance for bullying?

So, the speech and hearing therapist at my grandson’s school took it upon herself to advise my daughter that she suspected my grandson is AD/HD and should be medicated for it. When my daughter went to the parent-teacher conferences, the teacher said, “Oh, we’ve decided he’s not AD/HD. We suspect it is Asperger’s.” She gave my daughter a list of symptoms and advised referring to the family physician. Because it’s all on paper, she has to follow through on the investigation to prove that our little guy is NOT suffering Asperger’s.

So, she took him to see the doctor. AD/HD? No. Asperger’s? Brandon??? No way. And he’s proceeding with the paperwork to finish the matter.

What we know for certain is that the school environment has caused this child to be more timid, less confident, and to hate school. So there’s something to be said about homeschooling. A child is less likely to be bullied at the school setting, cowed by teachers who want all little people to fit in their little round holes and stifling creativity. Well, I’ve been saying that for years.

Now see me going to my personal library and pulling from the shelf that heavy, thick, many-paged book that is going to educate me about The Dumbing Down of America. I am angry, to say the least. Congressmen are dropping left and right because of what they are SAYING are abuses of their position and power. I keep remembering, though, something my parents always said: "When someone has your attention with their right hand, you better be looking to see what the other hand is doing."

Yeah. I do that and I don’t like what I see.

Corruption isn’t just at the highest offices in the land. I perceive it to be a pyramid that “politicians” climb with personal agendas and certainly not what is “of the people, by the people and for the people.” To be completely frank, here, I am skeptical enough these days to think that always was a sham, a lie to make everyone feel better. There are a lot of good people “out there,” but there are as many bad, I suspect. But maybe that happens when things get so complicated. And looking at the national debt, the horrible main streets in our town and on the highways of this county I know things are complicated. And knowing that there are people who retired from their government jobs but still hold those jobs so they get PAID PENSION AND SALARY…jobs that should go to other people who need A PAYCHECK (another story for another day?) …yeah…today I am not happy about what I’m seeing.

But there are some encouraging events, like former Alaska governor Sarah Palin resigning for, as yet unrevealed reasons…and Senator Bayh who resigned from Congress, not because of disgraceful behavior but because he couldn’t work with a Congress that isn’t doing its job representing the U.S. citizenry. Those two folks have spoken volumes to me.

Wouldn’t be surprised if my brakes fail or my car blows up.

©2010 Cathy Thomas Brownfield

Casting stones

2010-02-19T19:12:00.000-08:00

Today Tiger Woods read a statement for the public. As I heard it, the press wasn't permitted. And it seems like everyone in the media had to get in on the act of criticizing the man for NOT answering questions they think are pertinent to our society. I couldn't believe it was THE top story of the day for CBS Evening News.

I heard a remark about him failing as a role model for young people. And that caused me to remember a story from the Bible.

A woman was dragged from an adulterous encounter. The man she was encountering was not brought for punishment. Someone named Jesus was there as the crowd gathered to stone the woman for committing an act of adultery. Jesus spoke to the crowd, The one who was without sin should cast the first stone. He knelt down and drew in the dirt for a time. When he stood up again he asked where were her accusers. They all had dropped their stones and walked away because they all were guilty of sin.

Is sin measured in degrees? Is one kind of sin more sinful than another? Or does all sin fall short of the glory of God?

The man apologized for his failures. It's not uncommon for those who rise to fame rapidly aren't prepared for the notoriety, the money, the position, and get into trouble. But to come out before the world and say, "I cheated, I know I disappointed a lot of people, but I am committed to getting the help I need, to do the work I have ahead of me, to try to become a better man," well, maybe that's not such a role model after all. What more does the media want from him?

What more could anyone really ask of him? He's telling people everywhere, "You may fall short and make terrible mistakes, but you can change your life for the better." That's a pretty strong lesson in this day and age when so many people--all ages--feel like failures and need to hear someone tell them that their failures can be turned into victories.

Does it matter what is between that husband and wife? Entertainment Tonight probably will beat it to death as they usually do, every day for as long as they can. Which is why I don't waste electricity on that show. Some matters are personal and private and not public domain. Do we really need the gorey details? If it was our life, our family, would we want all the details poured out publicly? Seems to me there's a fine line here between privacy and the peoples' right to know.

Personally, leave the Woods family alone to work out their issues. The one who has not sinned should throw the first stone.

(c) 2010 Cathy Thomas Brownfield

Gripe of the day?

2010-01-19T09:50:00.000-08:00

My mother had some thoughts on the concepts of that title.

Count your blessings instead of your problems and you will be happier.

Every cloud has a silver lining if you're patient enough to wait for it.

Let a smile be your umbrella. (I remember the old, old song!)

When you laugh, the world laughs with you. When you cry, you cry alone.

So I tend not to think about griping much. It just occurs before I notice. But it's not that I want to gripe today. It's more a pondering. On a writer list there was a discussion about the latest vampire literature craze. I guess, when I think about it, it's not unusual to try to 'read into' the stuff we read. Surely everything must have a psychologial meaning, right? I'm not so sure about that.

I am a writer. I am a writer of fiction. While I do like to use one thing to represent something else sometimes, I keep going back to something my friend Maureen has said numerous times, "Just write a good story." another friend, Janet, said, "Write the kinds of stories you like to read." And even SK (Stephen King) advises, "Write what you know."

Pondering comments about the toxicity of vampires, at first I thought those remarks were narrow-minded. But, if they are the stories that the reader doesn't like, well, it's reasonable to conclude that they don't have to read them. Another conclusion: even if they don't like the themes of the Twilight stories, the stories elicit remarks, make people use their gray matter to think. THAT is what 'good' writing is all about!

I don't think we have to write with psychological intent. I think it just happens as we write about facets of life that involve the human psyche naturally. The knowledge and skills the reader has will determine her or his interpretations. And always, it seems, the writer is expressing her or his opinions based on his or her experiences. Thus, everything is political.

Politics: the total complex of relations between people living in society. (Just one of a long list of definitions.

So, my gripe isn't really a gripe. I'm not sure I'm even writing a political statement.

(c) 2010 Cathy Thomas Brownfield
All rights reserved -- Contact author for permission to use.

The Heart of the Matter

2010-01-14T06:32:00.000-08:00

Five years ago "Tom," a minister, required a heart transplant. I suppose a lot of people had trouble understanding how such a bad thing could happen to a "man of the Cloth."

Last June (2009) a friend, "Jay" took seriously, life-threateningly, ill. I guess he's been ill for as long as I've known him, but being the way I am, I didn't want to think about that. "You can't give up," I would advise. The remainder of the year was a challenge for "Jay" and his wife. They learned that he will require a heart transplant to live. When they told me of this, I immediately contacted "Tom" in West Virginia, and asked him to talk to "Jay" in North Carolina. He did.

"The worst thing about a heart transplant," said "Tom," "is what you're going through right now."

The world got a little smaller when "Jay" learned that his sister's neighbor had a heart transplant 10 years ago and is still going strong. He is encouraged.

I remember when the first artificial heart surgery was done in South Africa, wasn't it? Then there was the first human to human heart transplant. Dr. Christiaan Barnard (Nov. 8, 1922-Sept. 2, 2001) performed the first kidney transplant in South Africa in October 1967 and the first successful human to human heart transplant Dec. 3, 1967. Dorothy Fisher was the first black recipient, and lived for 12-1/2 years after her transplant in 1969. Dirk van Zyl lived 23 more years following his heart transplant in 1971. Barnard's brother, Marius, was his "right hand man in cardiac surgery." The source I referred to advises that he did not die of a heart attack, but of a severe asthma attack.

That technology continues to improve, I believe there are plenty of reasons for "Jay" to be encouraged to have the heart transplant and live a long life, dancing at his youngest granddaughter's wedding when she grows up.

(c) 2010 Cathy Thomas Brownfield
All rights reserved -- Contact author for permission to use.

Future

2010-01-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

What will be happening 10-10-10? I ask only because I just wrote 1-1-10 and thought about that Chinese thing about the meanings of dates that are the same, day, month and year: 10-10-10 But I suppose if something bad happens on 10 Oct. 2010, the gestapo will come for me. If something good happens, someone else more important than me will get the credit.

Not only is Uncle Sam putting full body scanners in airports, which is a violation of my civil rights, an invasion of my privacy!, the Blair-Holt Bill before Congress will take our guns, put us in jail and put our families at the mercy of criminals and government powers, completely taking away our freedoms. When I say "us" I am speaking generally. I do not have an arsenal in my possession.

My husband and I were talking about Blair-Holt. He expects that nothing will come of this because when the government starts taking guns from honest citizens, there will be a civil war with bloodshed. I don't want people to die! I said. Well, he said, that's what happens when you go to war. People die. But, I want to protect my children and my grandchildren! I want them to live to old age and enjoy their lives.

But I know what he says is true. When there is cause for war, war happens. When war happens, people die, there is bloodshed. And heartbreak for the lost lives that may have gone on to do great things for our people had they not become the fallen.

I'm not convinced that the global neighborhood is a good thing. At all. I'm not a feminist. I'm not a revolutionary. I'm not a rebel. I'm concerned.

(c) 2010 Cathy Thomas Brownfield
All rights reserved -- Contact author for permission to use.

Where I'm from

2009-12-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

My name is Cathy, a common, simple name, not short for anything. My skin is light. My people come from Western Europe, Great Britain. I am flesh and blood born of my "white" parents. I have the mind of an intelligent human being, the compassion of a Jew of Middle Eastern descent we call Messiah, Jesus Christ, and the heart of a God-fearing woman. As humanity struggles with equality of races, those like me must not let our culture, our legacy be forgotten for we are worthy, too. What is equality?

While those who are different than me speak with bitterness and hatred against my people, my culture, they want us to generously give our support to their cause. Where is equality there? And why do they hold against me what generations before me--those over whom I have no influence--did? In the countries of our roots, was there discrimination? What was equality there? What did my people suffer there?

While a Moroccan man received a doctorate degree and teaches at an American university, he is vocal in speaking of his hatred of America, of patriotism, to his students, belittling a woman of maturity who dares to say, "I love my country where you have the right to speak your thoughts without fear the Thought Police will take you away, never to be seen or heard from again." If he hates America so much, why is he here?

While women of color have been labeled "mules of society," why am I made to feel ashamed when I, a white woman, say I understand the plight of women of color because women of poverty have fought the war of poverty, the social cliques that condescend to them? Why am I made to feel ashamed, as if I can't understand what it means to be deemed unworthy. Where is equality there?

What is equality? Merriam-Webster advises:

* of the same measure, quantity, value, quality, number, degree or status as another.
* impartial; free from extremes.
* able to cope with a situation or task.

The heart of a child does not know racism, is color blind. And a mother informs her children that "hate" is an emotion too ugly to understand. She will never tolerate a child of hers hating another human being. Disagree, she said. Forgive. Do not hold grudges, she said. If flesh is removed, can you tell what color was the surface? When a man gives his life for his compatriots, does color have any significance?

Two women argued over a child.
"This is MY child," said one.
"No! It is MY child," said the other.
They went to King Solomon to have him resolve the matter.
"Cut the child in two and give half to each woman," he ordered.
"No!" screamed the true mother who would rather give up her child than have the child killed.
And this was how King Solomon knew which was the true mother.

Oh, compassionate heart. Why need you fear? We are one nation under God. Even in the global neighborhood, we are one nation under God...one Supreme Being over all God's children. Peace be with you.

(c) 2009 Cathy Thomas Brownfield
All rights reserved -- Contact author for permission to use.