Still?...Really?....

So I read a few days ago that a justice of the peace in Louisiana refused to marry an interracial couple. Ladies and gentlemen, lets let this marinate for a moment here....
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Bardwell states that he is not a racist and his only concern is for the children.... RIGHT.. moving on now. What we do know is not only is this ignorant and absolutely ridiculous it is also illegal. In 1963 the Supreme Court ruled that the government can not prohibit marriages simply because of the race of the spouses. Too late pal.

The thing about this case the shocks me the most is that this still happens today, in 2009. Aren't we supposed to be past all of this garbage? Isn't this supposed to be a thing of the past?

Maybe I was lucky to grow up in big melting pot of culture. I always had white friends, black friends, Hispanic friends, Asian friends etc. To me they were always just my friends. I always believed that all this racist garbage was something to learn about in our history books. I know that there are still people that have certain views, but for it to be so close to home hit me a little hard.

Since moving south of the Mason Dixon line I have been surprised quite a few times. When President Barak Obama was announced President of our country I cried. I cried because I was so truly proud in that moment. I was thrilled to see that you can be anything you want no matter what anyone says. A lot of people get very defensive and private when talking politics. Not me. I VOTED OBAMA and I am proud of it. Now back to my point. I wasn't surprised that Obama became President, but I was surprised to come home one evening and turn on the news to see that a town away there was a noose hanging by an Obama sign on the road. A FRICKEN NOOSE? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?.. I couldn't understand it and I didn't want to understand why someone would do something so disgusting. To think about it still makes me sick. This happened a few miles from my home. Could I be at the grocery store in line behind the person who did this? Could it be my tax person? Could it be an acquaintance or a friend even? To think that this still happens today is crazy to me.

I've been stuck on this topic for days. I thought it was the older generations that were stuck in their old school ways of thinking that were responsible for these things. I realized that this isn't the case. There are people my age with these beliefs. The belief that every man is NOT equal. This ignorance is passed down and inherited. Its sad, but true.

All I can do is hope and pray. I pray that I live to see the day where these issues won't plague me when I come home after a long day. I pray that my children will read the story of this justice of the peace in a book and say " WOW I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT!" Lastly I pray that I live to see the day where everyone truly is treated equally. It's a long shot but it can happen.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

The truth is that I don't have an ounce of talent when it comes to writing or expressing myself. I've finally decided to reveal all the inner workings of my hectic mind here. Someone once told me that this was therapeutic....We'll see.

One thing that I'm sure about is that no matter how different all of our lifestyles and experiences may be, we are all traveling down our very own Yellow Brick Road trying to find our Emerald City. What happens along the way may affect us or may not but we are all looking for something very similar. Is it happiness? Love? Financial Freedom?

I'm more than happy to travel down the road and face anything that comes at me, BUT what I'm afraid of is stopping to take a rest along the way. How do we know if we are on the right path or if we've trailed off. Wouldn't it be great if our path was as visible as the Yellow Brick Road? I just finished reading the wise words of a dear friend of mine regarding time. As I was reading through and thinking about how wonderful a writer she is the panic struck me like a ton of bricks. Here's the awful truth. TIME DOES RUN OUT ONE DAY. Now the question I'm fighting is am I still on the correct path or did I fall off long ago? If so, how do I get back on?

As you can see I'm very good at over analyzing everything and over reacting. I am so sick and tired of people telling me "you're so young! You have you're whole life ahead of you." Here's the thing.... That was true when I was 1, 5, 10, and 15. At what point does it just become a statement to comfort someone other than the actual truth. I could sit and pick all these little details apart all day long OR I could reshift the energy to finding my way back to the yellow brick road. Who knows if I'll ever make it to Emerald City. My plan is to enjoy my journey down my Yellow Brick Road as much as possible because after all, after we reach our ultimate goals, what's next? In the short lifetime that we are allowed on this earth there is no way to conquer everything. Lets stop worrying about the end point and have as much fun as we can trying to achieve as much as time allows. Besides the true journey comes after.