Growing up in the 60's and early 70's!

     ^{The 60's were my formative years I believe to this day!The years that my parents taught me right from wrong. The years that my dad specifically sat me down and went over every racial slur, every ethnic slur, and many other words that could be hurtful to others based on religion and the like.}  

     ^{I can recall an incident that a few older "kids" said to me "Call him "chocolate baby" he likes that"!  Well needless to say when I did that as an 8 or 9 year old and got wacked in the face by a 12 year old for saying it I learned a valuable lesson that day.  "Words do hurt".  That was the day that my father(Gerald, "Jerry") went through all of the things I should never say to an individual. It was a valuable lesson.  I will not expand on the words he used at this point in time but may in a future writing.}

    ^{Needless to say that memory lives on each time I hear a person young and old use one of those "slurs" and "unkind" statements, sentences, or individual words that will hurt a person's feelings.  Too often you hear "I don't really mean that, I'm just being funny".  I don't believe that. If you say words that are hurtful even in jest it's still "hurtful".}  

    ^{How can we change that?  How can we prevent hurtful words from spewing out of the mouths of "babes" so to speak?  Are they learned?  Surely they are and surely they will continue to exist until we educate and make the necessary changes.}   

     ^{The 60's were my years of middle school and beginning high school where I lived through and witnessed horrific historical events; John and Robert Kennedy assassinations, Martin Luther King's assassination, and of course the nightly viewing of deaths of countless Americans in Vietnam.  I was in third grade when I heard the voice of our Principal say "children the President of the United States has been assassinated please go home and see your mom and dad for comfort".  I can recall my mom "crying" and saying "kids what a terrible thing".  It's those days that I think have formulated my belief that we needed and continue to need to change the way the world was and is today.}

    ^{I believe it's those years in a nutshell that have always kept me believing that I'm here to make a difference. I've always thought that someday I'm going to do something like this to get the word out to do my part to make society better. It's a daunting task to take on but I'm going to keep plugging along to get it done.}

     ^{If what I write here reaches one individual at a time and gets them to be positive and makes changes that will make a difference in the lives of others I'll be pleased. Thanks for reading.  Please spread the word that together we can make this happen.  After all, "EVERYONE'S SHADOW IS THE SAME COLOR".}