"Can you write a blog about discrimination?" –Siwe Monsanto

“Can you write a blog about discrimination?” –Siwe Monsanto

At dinner tonight, my teenage daughter asked me this question. What can I say? I thought. 

It exists.

Well that is only 2 words. I should have more to say than that. 

It shouldn’t exist. 

Well that is really not much better. Sigh. She and her brother went off in their own world. My youngest is the SLOWEST at the dinner table. I had some deliverables anyhow and my brain was deep in thought on her query, so I stepped away from the dinner table. She kept him company at the table while he finished. That has often become our tradition. Ah, but I digress. Avoidance maybe?

Discrimination. I know this topic has come up because of all of the media (suicide, bullying and discrimination toward gays). We don’t do current events at dinner but we often discuss what is going on in the world, our world and how these things impact us, collectively and individually. These recent cases impact my daughter greatly. She is a beautiful, sensitive, fragile, Pisces, and as I term her, the “psychic sponge of the universe.” We cannot watch or listen to the news as she is too deeply affected by it. She, to my knowledge, is NOT sexually active but is approached often by both males and females. We talk about this. She is deciding who she is and who she will love and it is tough. 

This younger part of this generation is metro-sexual. They are open to love, sensuality and sex in many forms. As open as the millennials seem, there is also a lot of repression, a lot of judgment and definitely a lot of mental, physical, and verbal violence. It is the ANYthing goes generation. “No holds barred.”  They joke about rape, theft, drugs… it is the 70s reversed. They are so “open” but so deeply unhappy. 

As for my younger two, both of them have been bullied on the school bus, in school, in class, on the train, et cetera. We talk, they cry, they get angry. I dissuade their plots for revenge and strengthen their souls. In general we have participated in many walks:  against domestic violence, for premature babies, for a cure for aids, for suicide prevention. All of the walks raise funds and awareness. I enjoy making them aware of the needs of the world and hope that it makes them more tolerant of differences.

Discrimination. Per Merriam-Webster's online dictionary is:

1: a : the act of discriminating

     b : the process by which two stimuli differing in some aspect are responded to differently

2: the quality or power of finely distinguishing

3: a : the act, practice, or an instance of discriminating categorically rather than individually

     b : prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment <racial discrimination>

 

Discrimination.

I will have to say, HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE and IGNORANCE BEGETS IGONORANCE. Folks make statements, assumptions and then actions based on their hurt and ignorance. SMH.

Heal yourself. Educate yourself. Love yourself. And honor others as you honor yourself and maybe no one will have to blog about this in the future.

May joy be your weapon.

INjoy,

dionne