Tonight I was very privileged to sit in a room with very educated people. People who grew up in low income families who heard the world tell them they should not aim too high in life, but should merely try to keep their heads above water and try not to get arrested.
I used to think that these were stories of the past that we would share with future generations as we celebrated the fact that all those stereotypes were behind us now. But it is not so.
We are not near where we should be at this day and age. There are people who think that minorities are taking the spaces in colleges and jobs that should be held by whites. That we are being handed these opportunities because of laws and ordinances. This is a belief based in bigotry of the worst kind. It is bigotry because it makes the base assumption that no one of color in education or an occupation is qualified to be there. It is also bigoted because it makes the assumption that the white students are qualified to be there.
The fact of the matter is programs like Affirmative Action came to be because not just qualified, but over-qualified people of color were being turned down for jobs, looked over for promotions and denied entry into schools because those in positions of power chose to believe a stereotype, rather than the truth.
Tonight I listened to men and women who are independent and educated talk about the things they had been told by ignorant people. As high school students, these people had excellent grades, amazing test scores, strong communication and social skills, yet because of the color of their skin or the sound of their last name, these students were ignored by administrators in their educational pursuits.
How many people have we passed over who could have contributed something valuable to society? Did we encourage the woman who wanted to be a doctor to be an english teacher instead? Did we ignore the Hispanic child with a knack for politics, or push the Asian kid with a head full of poetry toward the mathematics department? What do we miss out on when we ignore the individual and based our world on narrowmindedness?
I have the belief that whenever we do something evil to someone else, we destroy that person's destiny to do good in our lives. On the grand scale, when a person kills another, perhaps they kill the one who will pull the killer's child from in front of a speeding car. On a day-to-day basis, I think if we inflict a wound on another person's spirit, we damage our own spirits in response. We can only live in as much joy as we're willing to give. That which we hold close to our chests denies us the pleasure of sharing.
Always choose to lift someone up, rather than bring them down. It is not our job to impose limits on how high others can soar, but to make sure they are prepared for the journey in the best possible way.
08.04.05 (8:19 pm)
Stories from the Battlefield [edit]
posted by: dattaswami (reply)
post date: 08.05.05 (4:15 am)
Matthew – 6 : 19 to 22 (Luke - 12 : 33 to 34)
“Do not Lay up for yourselves, treasures on earth. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also”.
Matthew -7: 21
“Not everyone who say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but He who does the will of My Father in Heaven”.
Hindus, particularly, are sacrificing words through prayers and feelings through expression of love for the sake of God. When the question of wealth or money comes they sacrifice it for the sake of their families only. This is the reason why India suffers with poverty. Swami Vivekananda wept loudly facing the sky asking; “Why India with such high spiritual knowledge is suffering with poverty?” The foreigners are not so well in prayers and expression of love or meditation compared to Indians but they sacrifice their money for the sake of God with full vigor. Therefore God blesses the foreign countries with wealth and prosperity.
Indians sacrifice words and mind only to God. Therefore Indians are blessed with very good pronunciation of language and excellent knowledge, which are connected to the words and mind. Gita says ‘Ye Yatha Mam Prapadyante’ which means that God gives you result in the same way in which you worship Him. If you worship Him with words (prayers) only He will also appreciate you with sweet words. If you love Him with your mind and concentrate with meditation, He will also love you in turn with high concentration of mind. If you sacrifice practically, He will also do everything to you practically. Indians must learn this practical sacrifice from foreigners as they have learnt the science and technology from the West. Even in the olden days, Indians were always doing exercises in theoretical knowledge of God and in composing lot of poems on God. Therefore the same attitude entered even their education of science. They have become theorists even in science.
Today, in the world everybody agrees that the real power is the money only. Money is the fruit of work and Bhagavatgita calls sacrifice of money “Karma Phala Tyaga”. In Bhagavatgita it is said “Dhyanat Karma Phala Tyagah” which means that devotion is greater than Knowledge and sacrifice of the fruit of the work (money) is greater than the devotion. Knowledge consists of intelligence and words. Devotion consists of mind and words. Sacrifice consists of heart and love. The proof of the love is the practical service, which is the practical sacrifice of work or money. For the propagation of the divine knowledge and devotion the money is needed to publish the gospel in the form of books. When you sacrifice your money for the divine work your treasure in the heaven is built up. This means that God will help you after your death and you will enter the kingdom of God.
You are giving your earnings to your family only and so your real love is on your family only. There is no need of any further argument on this point because it is very clear proof. This is the real fire test for your love. You are sacrificing valueless words and valueless mind in leisure, which is valueless time. This cannot prove the real value of God. You must give real value to God. You are finishing your prayers and meditation on God as soon as the time to go to job is nearing. Similarly when some work for the family is approaching, you are immediately leaving the presence of God. Therefore you are not giving any value to God for all practical purpose. But you are telling lies in your prayers that God is everything for you. The money is the final test and it can be the only test also since all the family is associated with you for money only and the family serves you in your old age for your money only. If the money is sacrificed to God your real color of love can be seen.
Holy Jesus says that when you donate the money to God by one hand the other hand should not know about that donation. Since it is stolen money it should be returned secretly. A father purchased some sweets and gave to his child. The father is asking for one sweet from the child just to test the attitude and the love of the child on him. Even if you are not returning back the God’s money to God, you are leaving that money here only and you are quitting this world with vacant hands. That extra money is left in this world only, which is the bank of the God. The devotee who donates the extra money to God for His divine work is also quitting this world alone with vacant hands. The former is going to Hell as a thief but the latter is going to the Kingdom of God because he returned the stolen money of God. When you are returning this extra money, you must be very careful to see that this money reaches God only and not others. God dwells in two places 1) In the body of human incarnation (Son of God) 2) In the heart of a real devotee. When the money is donated to such God man or the real devotee, that money is properly used to uplift the humanity. In such social service the God-man or the real devotee will use lot of discrimination due to their divine knowledge and the money donated by you will be properly spent.
Without the practical sacrifice of money or at least the work, mere prayers, love and meditation are only the side pickles in the plate without the central bread or rice. When God eats the pickles only which you serve, His stomach is burnt with high acidity and God becomes furious. Due to His anger the extra money stored by you goes waste through diseases etc., Your children may loose that money also and they are also not blessed in any way in their lives. This gospel of Holy Jesus should open the eye of knowledge of all the Hindus to learn the practical sacrifice from foreigners. Holy Jesus referred to such people who do not give up their extra money for God’s work saying that they can never reach God even if a camel passes through the eye of a needle. His Gospel refers to such selfish rich people only who are caught up in the net of their limited families.
at the lotus feet of shri datta swami
surya@universal-spirituality.org
http://www.universal-spirituality.org
posted by: newbie (reply)
post date: 08.05.05 (2:03 pm)
I think when people are against affirmative action it's because they aren't considering the big picture, just looking at it from an ego point of view. They're saying to themselves, "What if I or my son or daughter missed out on a job because of AA?" But as you say, in reality, what numbers of qualified people have been turned down because of being African American? Also, I don't care if it was in the past. Only 150 years ago, blacks were still slaves! An incredibly short number of generations ago for a whole people to have suffered something so oppressive. Same with Native Americans. Are they supposed to just "get over it" like that? There are large consequences to enslavement and near extermination, and large, generous actions need to be taken to help remedy the aftershocks.
posted by: Meadow (reply)
post date: 08.06.05 (1:49 pm)
Nice soap box Abbie:) I felt invigorated and I'm a white, housewife with no heights to look forward to:p I believe in people, damn the torpedeos full speed ahead! and by the way, how is your summer going? I just moved and was off line for a month. Have you been up to mischief?
posted by: debbie burns cape cod (reply)
post date: 08.21.05 (8:40 am)
abbie,
what a great mesasge that speaks to my heart, as well as, my mind...i am african-american-portugese...i am attending cape cod community college...and i am treated deiffernetly every day because of thecolor of my skin...but, thru this all, i have a whitefriedn who tells it like it is to the "white folks"...and she doesn't shy away from bigot remarks...for example, when i made three-tenths of a higher score than she did on a national hardware/software computer sciecne exam...when the white male prof pointed this out...my friend, said, i wish debbie had made twenty points higer than i did! ha ha ha! danneburns@hotmail.com
posted by: newbie (reply)
post date: 08.21.05 (8:48 am)
abby,
please accept these typos as a proof-reading of my comments sent today...sunday, august 21, 2005...it is even tense in the computer lab when a person of color enters to do work...i am still a little nervous...please accept these typo corrections in my comments today...
mesasge should read as message
deiffernetly should read as differently
thecolor should read as the color
whitefriedn should read as white friend
sciecne should read as science
higer should read as higher
...thank you! p.s. i was the one that requested that google have a listing for "no more victims" based on my studies about william smiley school in my juvenile justice class...
danneburns@hotmail.com
