I believe there is more right than wrong about us.
We are barely a few weeks down the road from the not guilty verdict of the George Zimmerman trial, which quickly reheated the discussion of racial inequality in America. It's a discussion that is not over, nor should it be, like any family squabble, everybody should have a turn saying what it feels like for them. It's difficult, but in the end, if we are lucky, there is understanding. We can still feel upset and frustrated but it's important to be heard.
But that's not what I wanted to talk about really. I wanted to talk about starting out in one place and ending up in another. The suburbs of Anaheim where I grew up were mostly white. There was one black family in our neighborhood and a few Hispanic families. My parents did not select our home because the neighborhood was primarily white, they selected it because it was something they could afford. If my parents were racist, I didn't know it, at least I never saw any overt indications. When my oldest sister dated a black man briefly there was only one question, from my youngest sister, maybe 5 years old at the time... "Are you made of chocolate?"
I moved away as a young man, got married and began raising my own family. But when I returned to Orange County some twenty years later. It had changed. The business signs were as likely to be in Korean, Vietnamese, Arabic, Farsi or Indian as English. I worked for a few years in an office with every nationality and race imaginable. It was both fascinating and fun, to hear stories, to have potlucks, to talk about world views, to see things the way others see them. And as much as we were different, we were equally alike, everyone grumbled about work, everybody has a bad day now and then, we ALL like to eat!
In Long Beach, diversity is even more present. It makes me feel happy to walk along the beach on the Fourth of July and see everyone, every race and nationality, enjoying the warm sun and cool sea breezes. Families playing at the water's edge, children screaming with delight, running in and out of the water, splashing and playing, parents relaxing in chairs beneath broad colorful umbrellas or walking arm in arm or playing with their kids. The sounds of laughter and joy seem magnified and rise, like an offering, to a supremely satisfied God. For a day, we lay down our squabbles, and enjoy each others company.
Of course, it's not lost on me that some of our founding father's held slaves and that Independence Day did not free ALL of us from tyranny. But looking at us now, on a sunny Summer day, I like to think there is more right than wrong about us.
Tim Bulone is an ardent observer of life on the swirling blue marble. He creates fine art and canvas prints which he likes to sell from time to time at http://www.MyFamilyArt.com He is an early morning pedestrian in Belmont Shore, where he resides with his wife and a variety of jolly and stalwart pets.