I fight back the tears...

 

I fight back the tears as I look at and take pictures of the people at Roland Moore Park today.  They are beautiful, both young and old. I was born in the mid-20^th Century.  

I was lucky enough to be one of the women who was entitled to vote because of the women in the 19^th and early 20^th Century who put their lives on the line to march for the right to vote.  They were badly treated, vilified by many but kept on marching, chaining themselves to buildings and lampposts to get their message heard. 

 I was alive during the Civil Rights Marches and saw the story on the news when Martin Luther King made his “I have a Dream” speech.  I was in my college dorm the day that Kent State sent college students rioting all over these United States.  I cried then and I cry today because we somehow have not made the progress that I thought we were achieving in this country. 

 So many people are hurting because they don’t have jobs, they are afraid and the promises of a secure future have faded away like snow in the hot sun.  We lash out at those who are different because we don’t know who else to blame.  It’s easier to make it the “other’s” fault that steel mills have shut down, that companies have moved services abroad and that the “American Dream” is not a guarantee.  It never was.  It was a shiny beacon that led many to these shores, but they worked hard and gave up their ties to families and the familiar world they came from.  They hoped that their children would have a better life.  That is also the hope that many slaves had for their children. Why would we deny them that?

 

 I on the other hand have always had ‘enough’ not a lot, just enough.  Yes, I would like to have the bright shiny new car and the beautiful home and all the material things we see on TV, the Internet, and movies, but I am realistic enough to know that not everyone can have that.  I think the disease of this country is that we never do have “enough.”  There is always something more that we want.  It is all right to want these things but not at the expense of others.  Not when we feel entitled.  Yes, LIFE IS NOT FAIR!  I remember saying “it’s not fair!” as a child and I hear it from children even now.  However, we don’t have to blame or hate or deny others so that we can GET OUR SHARE.  We need to work together and work out our differences.  No one likes everyone, but at least we can try to find it in our hearts to respect everyone’s right to be. 



 

 One final thought --Why do we believe that someone  who is a Billionaire and doesn't share his taxes with the public would have any true understanding of what the average American worker has to deal with on a day to day basis?

365 Photo Practice

This year I have joined an Amateur Photograph Meet up and decided to do the take a photo a day practice.  Yesterday I started by going to Riverbend Ponds to see what photos I might get that I would want to post. The one I decided to post to 365 project was this.

I took these in the late afternoon facing East with the sun behind me.  Somehow I couldn't not share these even if no one else sees this blog.  I am hoping that my photography skills improve over the course of this year, so there will probably be more photos to share as I go on this journey of exploration.