Something to think about…

“The serial number was now my new name. I was dehumanized. I was branded like an animal, but was treated worse. This is what racism can do to people.” ― Christopher Huh, Keeping My HopeChristopher HuhKeeping My Hope “People cannot handle prejudice because they try to deal with the symptom. Prejudice is the symptom, wrong assumptions are the cause. 'Prejudice is the daughter of assumption.” ― Idries Shah, ReflectionsIdries ShahReflections

“For the record, suspicion can kill, and prejudice can destroy. And a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own, for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.” ― Rod SerlingRod Serling “Bigotry dwarfs the soul by shutting out the truth.” ― E.H. ChapinE.H. Chapin

“Our true nationality is mankind.” ― H.G. WellsH.G. Wells “It is nonsense for the Government to allow any loopholes for religious homophobia. Bigotry is bigotry whether it's dressed up in the language of faith or not.” ― Giles FraserGiles Fraser

“People who insist on dividing the world into 'Us' and 'Them' never contemplate that they may be someone else's 'Them'.” ― Ray DavisRay Davis “When will we learn we are Human first, and that all other names are merely changes of clothing?” ― Katharine Eliska KimbrielKatharine Eliska Kimbriel

“Multi-culture is the real culture of the world — the pure race doesn’t exist.” ― Keanu ReevesKeanu Reeves “Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.” ― Kofi AnnanKofi Annan

“Choose your friends and mates, not by the money in their bank account, creed, ethnicity, or color; instead, choose character, actions, heart, and soul. When we bleed, we bleed the same color.” ― Ana MonnarAna Monnar “It is a curiosity to me that society will, without compunction, readily place restrictions on whom a person may love but will turn a blind eye when it comes to whom a person may hate.” ― Lisa Horan

The Cold Within

Six men trapped by happenstance, in bleak and bitter cold Each possessed a stick of wood, or so the story's told. Their dying fire in need of logs, the first man held his back For of the faces round the fire, he noticed one was black.

One man looking cross the way, saw one not of his church And could not bring himself to give the fire his stick of birch. The third one sat in tattered clothes, he gave his coat a hitch Why should his log be put to use to warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought of the wealth he had in store And how to keep what he had earned from the lazy, shiftless poor. The black man's face bespoke revenge as the fire passed from his sight, For all he saw in his stick of wood was a chance to spite the white.

And the last man of this forlorn group did naught except for gain, Giving only to those who gave, was how he played the game The logs held tight, in death's still hands, was proof of human sin They didn't die from the cold without, they died from the cold within.”

The Cold Within James Patrick Kinney Thursday, April 11, 2013