marinabreeze

the rest of winter break, the Florida experience, and 2002

Song of the Times: the Isley Brothers - "That Lady"

Well, my dad got a little easier to deal with...but it's
still almost like my parents switched places, except my dad
still wants to accelerate the aging process of my sister
and brother while still struggling to accept the fact that
I'm no longer six years old.

Florida was interesting. I enjoyed myself, and it was nice
to be somewhere with no snow, unlike Ohio, and a heck of a
lot warmer than Michigan. But I came out of the with this
question: Why do some of the same people who scream and
holler "United We Stand" would rather stand in the aisle of
a moving bus than sit next to you, even though you're just
as American as they are, the only difference being the
color of your skin? Why do these people want everybody to
be super-patriotic but then turn around and act rudely,
doing things like cutting in front of you in line or
bumping into you without saying "excuse me"? How the hell
is anyone going to talk about "America is unified now" if
some of us Americans are stared down if they enter a
restaurant in the "wrong" neighborhood? Seriously, I would
love for someone to give me an answer to that question, b/c
if we're supposed to be "unified," there are segments of
the majority who sure don't act like it.

Then the stupid people in Michigan made me cringe. Let me
mention a couple of things. My brother goes out to Warren
(a Detroit suburb) to get academic tutoring. Well, the
receptionist that works there talks to my mom quite a bit
when she's there, and she was saying that many of the white
folks that send their kids there don't like the fact that
my brother and a few other black kids go there, for obvious
reasons. These idiots don't seem to know that we all eat,
crap, and pee the same way as them, bleed red, and have the
same capacity for learning as they do. Stupid people.
Then, the other day, my sister and I came back from the
mall (ig'nant teenage mallrats with plastered hair, high
heels, and babies in strollers) and my old high school to
hear my next-door neighbor pulling up in their driveway
blasting music and saying in a high-pitched Shenaynay
voice "I got yo food nigga!" Stupid people.

I also learned through the Florida experience, the Michigan
experience, as well with talking to my dad about religion,
that when we believe and subscribe to things, whether it's
a particular faith, or a cause, or practice, or any kind of
belief (doesn't have to be religious), you should know why
you do and believe those things. Talking to my dad
actually strengthened my belief in Jesus Christ, b/c I had
to make sure I referenced and kept up what I believe as
well as see the differences and similarities b/w Islam and
Christianity. Also, in Florida, seeing the same ignorant,
rude white people putting their hands over their hearts and
gazing teary-eyed at the U.S. Flag made me wonder if they
even knew what loving your country and being a unified
American people really meant. It even applies to the whole
thing with Pacey. Why do I like him? And, what makes him
think that being all into appearances is going to get him
far in life?

Yeah, why do we do the things we do and believe what we
believe? I think that the deal with most people is that
they get so complacent and set in a routine that they get
too lazy and/or apathetic that even when prompted to think
about things we resist it with a passion.

Well, I'm back in Columbus...I have more to say later, but
I need my zzzzzs.