Something to think about...

I was just catching up on a little blog reading and read something very interesting on Malcolm Gladwell's blog (which I think you should all go and read). Gladwell is the author of "Blink", a book I am currently reading and fascinated by. Just like the book, "Freakanomics" which I also recently read, Gladwell takes a hard look at reasons why people do what they do. His most recent blog post is about racism and, like his book, his comments are fascinating.

I think that racism is such an interesting topic to talk about in modern day society. It seems that we see it everyday and in light of recent situations involving, as Gladwell mentions, Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, etc. it seems like our society is starting to revisit the race issue in America...even if it is a little leary of the topic.

Issues of race have always fascinated me. Throughout history, it seems that race and religion are the intense human factors involved in all conflicts, celebrations, and other important and significant occassions we study, revel and revile. As a former history teacher, I always beleive the adage that we study history to learn from it's mistakes to prevent us from repeating them in the future. A quick look at the US government will show us that this isn't the case, but still...haven't we learned anything from the rough course of US and world history? We learned many times over that genocide is bad, but doesn't it still happen every day all over the world? Where is the lesson, compasion, emotion, and will to fight it? Do we really just not care as long as it isn't in our front yard?

Are we a racist nation? Does everyone harbor a deep rooted hatred for those not like them? Or, do we live in a world where everyone is so concerned about what they say and who they say it to that we don't know which direction to head in anymore and can't start the dialogue to solve the problem? Or at least be comfortable talking about it in the first place.

I'll be the first to admit that there have been situations in my life where I have, for whatever reason, felt like the minority, picked on a little, or even nervous in my surroundings. Isn't that a good thing? Shouldn't I learn from those experiences and become a better more accepting person? I think that I should and know that I have.

For me, the bigger issue is that it seems like we now have a culture that doesn't feel bad for doing wrong. In the news we see celebrities, politicians, actors, athletes, even the most common and lowly individual...none of them ever apologize for breaking the law, saying something inappropriate or cheating on their wife. They just "apologize" because they are sorry that they got caught...not that they did something wrong or broke the law. Honestly, I think that is a bigger issue. I watched Michael Richards "apologize" on David Letterman's show for his remarks at the Laugh Factory. It wasn't an apology....it was just a, "oh crap I screwed up and got caught on film and my career is over."

This is an interesting soapbox for me to get on in the realm of my little blog about nothing, but I guess these are things I really spend a lot of time thinking about. Maybe it is because I am weeks away from being a parent and I've been hit with the, "bringing a baby into the big bad world syndrome" or maybe it's just my nature to worry too much about all the kids in Africa dying of AIDS and there isn't anything anyone can do about it. Too much thinking about the world starts to make my head spin and my stomach ache, but, there has to be a way to make things better, right? Besides moving to the middle of no-where, creating my own fuel, living "green" and raising free range chickens?