Like the crazed madwoman I am, last night I decided to have a garage sale this morning. So, I got up at 6:30, tossed everything outside on the tables, put out my signs and waited on customers. I love to people watch. If I could go back to school for leisure, I would study the human brain, psychology, sociology and why we do what we do. I find it interesting that you can present a problem to two people and they would come up with completely diverse solutions to that same problem.
Before I start, I would like to say, like I have before, that I am white. If you want to be technical about it, right now I am actually red (from the sun) and purple (bruises received from setting up tables). You are probably wondering why in the world I am making this absurd declaration. Read further and you will understand. I live in a melting pot of a neighborhood. There are a lot of African-American people, a few Asian and a few white. Today, at my garage sale, I met a man who was well dressed, well spoken, classy and very polite. He invited me to the Shriner’s parade and told me all that was going on. Recently, I read that donations for the Shriner’s hospitals have been dwindling, so I perked up when he was speaking and told him what a great cause he supported and I wished him well.
I also met several ladies who were polite, considerate, thoughtful and conversational. Some of them even invited me to church. If I had not already had a church I attended, I might have been compelled to accept their invitation. All of them were African-American.
Some had causes, some had families, some had churches….all of them were the wonderful diverse people I call neighbor. I find it interesting that most of the people I refer to above who had beautiful manners and whom invited me to Shriner’s events were not your typical average joe white person. Nope, they were ALL African-American. To all the backwards racist people who live in Alexandria, I would like you to meet these people. These are the faces of the African-American community. They are not drug dealers, they are not con artists, they are not out to eat you for dinner. These wonderful people march to the same drum of life, as do all of us, just with a different beat. I find it a sad injustice to lump a whole race into a negative category, based on a few bad apples.
Incidentally, I find it nonsensical when reading the recent story the Town Talk did about the car vandalism wherein persons of low intelligence are commenting and using racial slurs and putting all the blame on a certain ethnicity in Alexandria. Rubbish! The persons behind all of the vandalism in Tennyson Oaks and West Point is probably some Momma’s precious little baby who is bored, spoiled rotten and thinks that daddy’s pockets are deep enough to take care of his little messes.
I am so tired of racial profiling and all of the ignorant stuff I hear out of Alexandrian’s mouths. It is time to grow up and stop using daddy’s opinion and get your own educated opinion from firsthand experience! Further, I find it interesting that people have a whole lot to say about things they know nothing about. The people who criticize me for living here go on and on about the crime…have never lived here. What crime? My car was not vandalized. My house has never been broken into. So, does that mean that all the people in Tennyson Oaks need to move because of the crime that happened there? Crime is not a respecter of persons or race, nor is it a predisposition of one race over another. Nor does it only happen in poor areas of town and skip over the well-to-do areas of town. I just find it absolutely ridiculous the things people say to me. I don’t know if it is steeped in ignorance, stupidity or if some people just lack tact. Might be a combination of all.
I find it so funny when the insurance inspector recently visited my house, his reaction, which was not completely different from other tradesmen and other people who visit, was to inform me of how bad an area I live in and how bad the crime is…blah blah blah. What does he expect me to do? Thank him profusely? Sometimes when people start in on their speeches, you know — to “save” me, I want so bad to emphatically shake their hand and pat them on the back and say “Thank you so much for telling me that! You know, I have lived here for three years now, but I needed YOU to tell me how bad it is here…you know what, I am going to go pack my bags now and move…thank you so much for your kindness and for telling me about my neighborhood. Gosh, I just didn’t know!” How absurd. They don’t even live here! It is just as annoying as people who don’t have kids who think it is their job to dole out parenting tips….oxymoron anyone? I respect my neighbors for the different people that they are and respect that they have a different beat to play on their drum than I. Their beat might not always make sense to me, but who am I to judge what is good or what is bad, what is right or what is wrong? It is just different.
Anyway, off my soapbox and in to bed!
Andrea
