Race and prejudice

I was really looking forward to Sunday. Working out, church, some time relaxing in downtown Norfolk, then ice skating at the Scope, followed by a holiday party with the crew from Tucano's at a bowling alley.

So I ran my 5 miles, and I made a pineapple cucumber lime protein smoothie which was really great. I go out to my car and the door is cracked open. And my day pretty much shattered at that point. Someone broke into my car and stole $100 worth of gift cards. Most of those had come from my mother. There was still $30 to Target, $25 to a movie theater, $20 to Outback, and about $30 left for Kojl's. All gone. Because a couple of low life thiefs.  At the end of the day, I'm lucky that other things in the car were not stolen such as my winter hat and gloves, or any charging cords. I know a $100 is not the biggest deal in the world, but it reinforces my opinion of how self serving most people are by nature.

But here's what scared me. My instinct was the thieves were thuggish black people who live in a nearby building. I had no proof. I had no evidence. It was just my first thought.

I had to face an ugly truth. I have prejudice in me.  And I'm facing that reality on Martin Luther King weekend. Now I have no issue with people of other races as long as they act with respect and dignity. But I'm not going to automatically dislike somebody because they're of a different skin color or nationality. Where I live, it's much more racially mixed then other places I have lived. And I like being around people of different races, it opened my eyes up to different perspectives on the world and on life. But I just don't have any time or interest in associating with people who say things and do things that are disrespectful, harmful, and ignorant. More specifically, people who use specific slurs. In my eyes, respect is not assumed. Rather, you earn respect in how you treat others and how you treat yourself. And when I hear the N word flying in the workplace, to me it's just immature and ignorant. I don't want be around people who do that.

So what do I do going forward? I think one truth that I have to face is that I'm not going to click with everybody I meet and that's OK. Some will have different ways of speaking different ways of living and different kinds of communicating that I may just not be compatible in terms of being their friend. But I can look deeper than the way they speak or dress and maybe find out who they are on a little bit deeper level. If I want to be better at connecting with different kinds of people, I need to make the 1st move and show them that I am intrested in their story and who they are and how they think and feel. So maybe I can make a better effort at that.

Come to think of it, we have that work party tonight, and a lot of people who work at Tucanos are very different than me. Maybe tonight is an opportunity; of course, the AFC championship game is tonight, so if the Chiefs win, then I will be much more likely to be able to do that.I don't know if I'm strong enough to overcome Satan winning another AFC title.