Trying to Understand

I try to keep things fairly light hearted on the blog, but something has come to my attention which I felt I had to post on here. Last night in the mail I received a very upsetting and disturbing item. Somebody had sent to my home, a pamphlet which was very racist and harassing. I don't want to get into the details of it, due to many reasons, but, I am having a very hard time understand the train of though of this person. The pamphlet was hand addressed to myself, with my address on there, which is not fully listed. I have lived in America a very long time and am a proud citizen of the USA, along with the rest of my family. The ignorance amazes me and the thoughtlessness hurts me. I have unfortunately been at the end of many racist comments/situations and it is very sad.

I have always accepted and respected all other religions and races. Some think that if you are not the same you shouldn't be included in their religious/cultural celebrations, you don't belong or care. The sad part is, I feel that it is honor when somebody invites me to a celebration of their religion/culture. I feel that involving others in those occasions means more than anything else. It shows a level of respect and closeness. I have always been more than happy to share my religious and cultural beliefs with others. It makes you more attuned to your surroundings and is a learning experience when you learn about others. I never push my beliefs on anybody, but feel that is important, in order to co-exist in this world, to understand others and not to judge their beliefs, but accept and respect them.

I hope that in the future when we have children, they will not have to face these obstacles. I know most of my family has been at the end of racism and hate and it is an unfortunate part of our society. I never have or never will judge or exclude people for their beliefs, and hope that by doing that I will be able to overcome the actions of those who do.