"So Much Hate in the World"

Keith Olbermann has hit the chord that needs to be hit again, and again, and again, endlessly - how do you continue to support hate and discrimination while you claim to follow a religious leader that said, "Do to others what you would have them do to you."? How do you claim to follow one who welcomed all who came to him, and deny those who would come? How do you claim to follow one who called for love to be the over-riding foundation of your life, and spread hatred, prejudice and malice?

Do I have some grounding to understand this statement I share? I believe I do! You see I grew up in a family where my grandmother hated blacks and "she would cross that street rather than walk on the sidewalk with a black person." I grew up in a family where Mexicans were reviled, even though they were better neighbors that the whites next door. I grew up in an atmosphere that was rife with the same attitude stated in the first paragraph of this post. I found, through experience that Blacks, Mexicans, Asians, gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender persons are all just that - persons!!!!!

It is time, past time, more than time that we stop the same religious sham used to stop Blacks from having freedom, that took land and freedom away from the native populations of this continent, that kept women from voting, that even refused to recognize that two persons whose skin was a darker shade than the "dominant" race could marry, that is more concerned that persons from a bordering country might come in and take jobs our own citizens WON'T do. Again, I'll claim personal experience - and I'll share that our prejudices lead those "others" to extend the same treatment right back at us - out of that same personal experience. But I've also experienced those hated, shunned others being the ones who gave mercy, compassion, and acted the very love Christians claim as the foundation of their lives - BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT JESUS WOULD DO!!!!! What would Jesus do? Certainly not what we ARE doing!

Think about it, really think! Peace!