Isms

 Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism’s in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, “I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.” Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I’d still have to bum rides off people.

-Ferris Bueller

I was posting some updates on Facebook and Twitter on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the 26th. I was at the complete zenith of happiness, as I had received some amazing love from family and friends. Some random, some just the usual type of love that I needed.  It was then I saw the first of 3 rants/comments/observations that made me seethe.

 

The first one was a response to a post by a friend. He was remarking on the state of the world when people are getting beat up over a 180.00 pair of shoes. Ok, that’s all well and good. It is stupid to get beat up over a pair of shoes. There’s no reason for that to happen and there’s no reason for shoes to be 180.00. We all agree there.

 

But it was the comment that made me angry beyond belief. This person said :

“well, I hate to be cynical, but did you LOOK at the people in this photo? They obviously can’t afford it anyway.”

 

All the people in the photo were of color.

My blood began to boil. The absolute assumptions in this comment angered me to the core. All people of color are poor? All people of color can’t afford a $180 pair of shoes? COME ON.

 

And that wasn’t the half of it.

 

The next day was Christmas. I logged in to say Merry Christmas to all of my freinds who were too far away for me to reach normally.

Then I saw it.

 

An update from someone in a position of great influence in  church.

This person was complaining about seeing people in their pajamas at WalMart while he was BELL RINGING. It was such a classist statement, it made my blood boil.

When you are doing something for charity, you should be on your best thought patterns and behavior. There really shouldn’t be comments made in the public forum like that. It takes all of the good juju away from you that you’ve gained by doing that.

 

The final straw for me was another person in a prominent position in church saying that the gift he received from his 3 year old was “ridiculous” and he’d “tolerate it because it made her smile.”

Umm..I’m sorry, how many people out there  would give their left arm to get a gift from their child? How many people wish for children that they can love on, laugh with and get silly things from?  And here this person is, mocking a sweet, thoughtful gift from his child.

 

 

I just don’t understand how in this day and age, people can feel so free to post isms in a public forum and totally think its ok. I sit here shaking my head and wondering  where these people get off.

 

 

My tolerance level for these things has always been low, but now, since Blogalicious, I’m at an all time low tolerance level for these types of things. I can’t even begin to think about the implications of these statements for our world and even for our children.  it just makes me too angry. So angry that I seethe and cry and just draft pretty snide comments to say to these people…but I know it is truly of no use.

I’ve worked consciously to make Isaac look INSIDE people, and that their color, looks and clothes don’t matter. It’s what is inside their hearts and minds that matters more and more.

 

I’m trying hard to raise an Ism free kid. It truly isn’t easy. But, I’ll be damned if any child of mine spouts off anything like I saw on facebook over those days.