Because I have been home for the past couple of weeks recovering from a major surgery (I am fine... just in healing mode now), I have had way too much time to look at facebook and all the news posts everywhere regarding Ferguson. I also started stumbling across videos of people (both black and white) abusing and not caring about the Welfare system (and were quite open about it when interviewed). Several things pop out that are a problem in this country: 1) Not enough good dialogue between cultures/groups (groups include organizations such as police) to understand the problems and difficulties on each side. As Charles Barkley points out, our dialogue usually starts when something bad happens. Everyone wants to just take a side and hold on to that side even when they know they are not 100% right. There is no compromise. I think the interview I have linked below has Charles Barkley summing it up fairly well. All should watch. But our conversations need to be open and no group should feel like they have to walk carefully. Get it all out and move on. 2) Free rides are abundant in this country only it is not a free ride for people who pay taxes. The videos I watched showed not only people abusing the system for years but it also seemed to be a generational issue that is becoming perpetual. What I dont understand is that we have a problem with illegal immigration. People coming to our country because of financial opportunities that provide a work force but do not pay taxes and do not partake in our legal system. I wonder about one statistic. If we were to change welfare to workfare where you have to provide work back to the community in exchange for the supplement (if physically capable which a majority are able). Give farmers the subsidy so that they can pass it on to welfare recipients that work on their farm. This would allow for a work force that would compete with illegal immigrants and maybe make it less enticing for them to cross the border. We could use this workforce to help build up our infrastructure making us an even better and stronger country. Ideally, these illegal immigrants should be working on fixing their own country so that their is not such the need for everyone to migrate to the U.S. The U.S. didnt get were we are today for free. Many people fought and loss their lives to fix oppression and protect rights. (This sounds harsh but let me clarify. I know we all are technically illegal immigrants taking land from the native Americans. This country was built on allowing immigrants in. But do it legally. Come here and participate legally in our society. I am only addressing this towards those who dont. I fully support a diverse culture but we all must play by the same rules regardless. I think having a country of many different cultures that can play along fairly makes us an even stronger country.) 3) Insufficient positive role models for our youth today. There is too much violence in all media forms. There are too many role models that take on a gang way of life. Dont get me wrong, i enjoy listening/viewing intense shows and I am NOT supporting censorship as that would go against freedom of speech but... A) we can make sure this is clearly labeled and empower parents to make choices for younger ages and b) I had the positive role models growing up that taught me to separate good from bad. I played army, cops and robbers, video games that were violent (although back then the graphics were not that great), watched horror movies, listened to death metal but I have an underlying core that cares about people, life, the environment. It is because I had the strong structure growing up that gave me this. I had parents that spent time with me, took me camping, showed me the wonderful things in this world that make life worth living peacefully. We need to work harder to give more of this structure to a large group of children (but as I mentioned, it shouldnt be a free ride, that sends a completely wrong message). In summary, we need to work on the moral backbone of this country. Not as races, cultures or groups of people but as human beings. We need more of the communication between groups and we need to let go of the past. Too many groups hang on to the past which although very unfair and cruel... very few people today had any involvement with. Letting go is the first step towards breaking down barriers. Lets focus on removing racial/cultural barriers and enjoy the good things of all cultures. Lets start building positive role models for our children. Lets focus our efforts on teaching them what it means to be a good human being (and not just what it means to be a white, black, yellow, green, orange, purple, whatever person). Lets give the youth of the inner city something to work towards besides what is in many cases the only source of passing time, gang life (and again, this is a multi-racial/multi-cultural issue). This is all just open dialogue/ideas. Conversations and ideas are what we need and I would encourage all to participate. Share and see what other ideas come from this. But be willing to look in the mirror and not just across the table. It is hard for all of us to admit we are not 100% right all the time but... guess what... we arent. I know and openly admit I am human and not perfect and would appreciate others holding the mirror up to me so I can see what I could do better. I chose Charles Barkleys interview below because it exemplifies this so far the best of any conversations I have seen on recent events. Lets make this world a better place for all! Peace and love to all! cnn/2014/12/02/us/charles-barkley-on-race/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 14:01:51 +0000