A New Day in America...

Racism is just one of the many human foibles that has never made any sense to me. It defies logic, which I guess is one of the reasons you can't stamp it out. I mean, read a newspaper for one week, and you have concrete evidence in black and white (no pun intended) that no one race has cornered the market on cruelty, stupidity, savagery, greed, atrocity...it's everywhere, the human condition. On the other hand, in the very same newspaper, you can see fine examples of bravery, kindness, intelligence, humanity, compassion in people across the globe. This, mercifully, is also the human condition.

One of my neighbors is from Oklahoma. The only thing I ever really knew about Oklahoma was several songs from the musical, and the name of the capital city I had to memorize from the list in 4th grade (Oklahoma City...among the easy ones). However, one thing I learned about my neighbor is that he does not appear to have the courage of his convictions. During the campaign season, I noticed that his large white SUV took to sporting any number of highly provocative bumper stickers, from a straightforward "Obama Sucks" to a couple of more flagrantly racially insulting ones, topped off by a small confederate flag. Given that OK didn't become a state until about 40 years after the Civil War, I could only assume that his attachment to the flag was not heritage-related, as so many Southerners lay claim.
As the campaign drew to a close, and it became quite evident which way the winds were blowing, the stickers started to disappear one by one. The day before the election, only flag and "Obama Sucks" were still hanging on. The day after the election, the SUV was once again pristine...not a sticker in sight.

So, I admit, I'm curious. Is this an indication that my neighbor has seen racism for the nonsense it is, and got it off of his car and his soul at the same time? Or simply that he decided that flaunting his views was unwise at the moment, and is keeping his unchanged opinions to himself? I don't know.

For me, I continue to return the polite wave he gives me if we pass each other around the grounds. Polite works. I think on a global scale polite is a good place to start.