Yesterday as I was driving along in the car, I composed a whole message. I was taking two paintings up to the annual spring show at the Community College in Fergus Falls. Before this time they called themselves The Fergus Falls Community College. Straight-forward and information-giving name. Now their name is Minnesota State Community and Technical College. I never know who is sending me the message until I open the envelope and realize what it is. Like calling a housewife a domestic engineer. Or all the other politically correct changes. I wonder if all the community colleges now have the same name and you have to look at their mailing address to figure out who it is? Probably.
Well, that was not the message I composed. But then I got detoured by my disgust with all the pc business. My daughter-in-law kept correcting me when I said someone was oriental with the information I should say asian. etc., etc. I doubt if I will be able to keep up with all of the changes in vocabulary, but I'm game to try.
Now, back to the message I composed in my head on the way to Fergus... and back. One of the things that was said in the books I read in California was that the US was the first country EVER to be founded on the idea that every man was created with equal rights. (At the time they didn't include black men or women, but we are attempting to correct that.) The European nations had royalty and other entitled types that were born in a higher position that others and automatically were able to boss the rest. And one person (I think it was John Adams) said that the south was attempting to go ahead in the European mode with some people just being born above others. He predicted that if there ever were a civil war it would be fought over that issue. He felt the south just wanted to be another country under some king, preferably the English king, with the plantation owners being the nobility. Interesting to think about.
We are the first country to be founded on equal rights. We have, through the years, taken this fantastic idea forward and are attempting to continue with it. It is difficult because we have sort of faltered on the features necessary to stay independent. Our citizenry has become lazy and filled with feelings of entitlement rather than feelings of responsibility. I am filled with apprehension about the next years. We have made it for more than 200 years, can we continue? It will take the dedication of our citizens to education and an abandonment of self indulgent life styles. Hmmmmmmmmmm. A large order. vicki
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2 comments:
Heavy Mom, heavy. And I think it was your daughter, not your daughter-in-law that was correcting your non pc terms! Anywho...Teach in my school for a while and you'll see the long reaching after effects of the unequal and cruel practice of slavery and racism. We have A LOT of work to do as a nation, as a people, as humans in general.
Well, then, it was both of you! The practices have a long way to go. The thing is we have this ideal to strive for. First time. I think it was based on the Christian ideal. Now, under the law as ideally practiced, we have recourse if we are unequally treated. The big question, of course, is the ideally part. We must all strive toward that.
What if people were entitled to tell you that you couldn't move to another city because that was reserved for the noble class. Or only if you had a parent of a certain class could you teach. That was all commonplace at the time of the founding of our country. Now there are other countries with equal rights as a goal as well... but then, not.
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