Re: The country I was raised in
- From: "Sandi" <sanditypes@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2005 17:15:46 -0500
"Gisele" <Gisele.1zw2l4@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Gisele.1zw2l4@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> It was about 1965 when my husband was in the fourth grade. He came from
> an Air Force family that had lived all around the world before the ended
> up settling in a small Southern Illinois, mostly farm community outside
> of an Air Force base. His was a nonobserving Jew, his mother a lapsed
> Episcopalian. This couple had talked it over and decided to bring up
> their children in NO particular religion; when they became adults, they
> all could decide what, if anything, they wanted to do about that. So,
> my husband grew up attending no church, though he had plenty of friends
> who did attend, and he occasionally went to these churches as their
> guest and to enjoy social activities. Nothing he ever saw there struck
> a chord with him, and he is agnostic to this day.
>
> Well, imagine his feelings as a 10-year-old when in school, his
> fourth-grade teacher began quizzing all the children about which church
> they attended. One boy said the Presbyterian church, one girl said the
> Baptist. There were even a couple of Catholics. If there was a Jewish
> community resident there, you would have needed an microscope to find
> it. Finally, my husband, then little Michael, was asked where HE
> attended church. The eyes of the entire class were upon him. He
> realized that it would not be acceptable to say, "no church, my parents
> don't believe." So he mumbled something about going to a church in
> another town. He was relieved when the teacher finally moved onto
> another topic and the spotlight was off of him.
>
> I'm glad we don't live in that particular country anymore. Today, the
> teacher would probably not be allowed to ask such a question, and even
> if she did, all the PC crap that is forced on people in this country
> MIGHT have just made her aware of the fact that not everyone is raised
> in a faith, or they follow a faith that does not recognize Jesus as
> their saviour. She doesn't like to have to think about such things. It
> makes her uncomfortable. She wants to turn back the clock to a simpler
> time when she could make a boy pretend that he was a Christian just so
> that he would not stick out of the crowd too much. I think the promise
> of our great country is fullfilled whent majority must acknowledge that
> their way is not the only way.
>
> People in the MTDesk is down thread often said that something they
> didn't agree with had to be "PC." I think is a knee-jerk kind of
> reaction. When you are tempted to invoke the term PC, step back a
> minute, see if you cannot acknowledge that the opposing side MIGHT,
> just might, have a legitimate beef with the way things have always been
> and with the country that we were born in. I think the country we are
> living in NOW is the best possible on earth, and it means that we all
> have to find a way to live with each other. It means that some things
> will have to change, and that's not all bad.
>
> Gisele
>
It's a lovely story, but I know you are referring specifically to me, and I
don't use the term PC in a knee-jerk fashion. I use it with great gravity
and thought. I didn't grow up in the 50s like Eliyahu, and I didn't grow up
in the 60s like you. I was raised in the 1970s, and that's when I think
folks had it just about right. Not because I was raised then, but because
of the following:
The Civil Rights movement had ushered in many changes, and people were being
given the rights and recognition that they deserved, but had previously not
been receiving because of sex, or race, or religion. The pendulum had swung
from the blatant, institutionalized racism and sexism of the past to a new
openness which recognized that people of multiple races and religions
existed, and were people to be respected and not deprived of their dignity.
At the same time, people still felt free to acknowledge that differences do,
in fact exist between various races, various religions, and the two genders.
Those differences were not to be embarrassed about or something we had to
pretend didn't exist in order to be non-offensive. Rather, differences were
something to be recognized and celebrated.
Women had begun to gain power in the workplace and my mother served as a
wonderful role model as a strong working woman who advanced through the
ranks of her company, but still maintained her dignity as a woman. She
could kick a man's ass in the boardroom and still not get "offended" if
someone held a door open for her. People could go to work and enjoy the
environment and not have to be afraid they would lose their jobs if they
told a person he or she looked nice today. People hadn't yet caught on to
the fact that they could go to work and be completely useless if they had
certain criteria, and still expect to advance or not be fired for their
misconduct.
As for religion, it was just another one of those differences nobody got
very torn up about. I went all the way through school with a girl who was a
Jehovah's witness and no one shunned her or made her feel left out because
she didn't give out Valentines or make Christmas trees out of yarn and
construction paper, and she didn't give us any crap because we did.
Was it perfect? No. But it was a hell of a lot better than it is today,
when the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. Now we have
to somehow manage to pretend that differences don't exist while at the same
time pretending that we understand other people's culture. Now how much
sense does that make? The twenty-somethings that I go to school with get
completely riled up when anyone recognizes that they are female in any way,
shape or form, while at the same time spending thousands of dollars on
4-inch heels and designer purses. They are the most confused, insecure
women, because they are getting messages so mixed they don't know what to
accept and what to reject. Religion is a dirty word, and no one wants to
say what they believe or don't believe - those who do wear their religion on
their sleeve pay for it daily. Their answers are questioned and
requestioned by professors who accept the more PC (not used lightly) answers
without questioning at all. And patriotism? I won't even start on that.
The whole flag-in-the-carrel incident I described earlier in the year
sickens me.
Yeah, things weren't so great in the 50s and early 60s. But when the
pendulum swung, it swung into complete and utter ridiculousness. Perhaps it
will eventually swing back to common sense, but it's hard to expect that
just now.
Sandi
.
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