So speaking of traveling as I did in toward the end of the last post, I remembered another classic travel story that may shock the normal person. Witnessing poverty and inequality is perhaps one of the most important reasons that I travel by myself to places not particularly considered touristy in anyways (kind of like what Che Guevara did in his Motorcycle Diaries). But it is these kinds of situations that really makes trip memorable, beyond any exotic cultures or natural wonders.
Boarding a Greyhound long-distance bus from New Orleans to Atlanta, I was joined by a young white lad who sat next to me in a usual crowded bus. He was quick to open up. A coal miner from rural Wyoming, he told me about the accidents that took away a few of his fingers and shaky relations he has with his family.“Oh, once I caught two black guys trying to steal my truck, so I killed them with a shovel.”
His loud yet nonchalant statement coming out of nowhere instantly sent my eyes wide-open and a chill down my back. “I didn’t get charged because it was self-defense,” he followed it up in a rather matter-of-fact way. Yet, everything stayed normal. The blacks continued their chatters while the young miner continued with other stories with his characteristic smile, not at all seemed to be bothered by what he had just stated.
My fear for violence turned into surprise at the “illogical” outcome. I entirely expected the young miner was supposed to be labeled a “racist” and become a target for attacks from blacks around us. But a second thought on the whole affair exposed the naiveté of my surprise. Looking back at my train of thought, from the moment I stepped onto the bus, there perhaps was only one topic on my mind: race.
Yet as I concentrated on who is black and who is white, I neglected the much greater similarities that tied together passengers of different colors. I neglected to notice that these were the people who were barely scratching out a living in a wealth-dominated society, a group banded together by their firm grip on the harsh economic reality. Making solid progress on moving forward in life is of much greater concerns than empty words, however hostile-sounding from their neighbors.
And it is at that moment that I realized that the isolated microcosm of the moving Greyhound bus was the peaceful and harmonious world that I am always seeking. A world full of complete strangers, yet no one showed any fear in frankly divulging life stories, however horrid, because of their common bonds in suffering life’s difficulties. In a case of a man living in a rural community in an isolated state like Wyoming, the truck is beyond a transportation vehicle.
It is his only method of transportation to work, to shops, his only connection to the far-away human civilization. To him, that truck is his livelihood. Would he have attacked the carjackers, even if they were not black? Of course! The continuity of his life depended on the safe-keeping of that truck. And here was I, just like a large portion of economically well-off America, so caught up in buzzwords like “black” and “kill” in a single sentence that I was judging a man for simply doing what he needed to do to survive, all in the name of “racial harmony” through “political correctness.”
Our role in a peaceful world should be to listen, comprehend, and respond with our opinions in the most honest manner, no matter how repulsive the replies may sound. Peace cannot simply be achieved by yelling out slogans calling for “racial equality” and labeling as “intolerant” anyone whose statements seem to contradict that “harmonious” spirit. For too long have people avoided discussion of the most divisive issues for fear of turning into violence.
As the necessary discussions for their resolutions are delayed for the sake of “harmony,” the issues will only become more problematic and explosive. While the common people are brainwashed with politically correct slogans and remain ignorant about the true natures of the problems, they are at the same time placed in a role of actively suppressing any meaningful discussions on the problems by misusing their emotional symbols of “racial equality” and “social justice.”
Through such forceful suppressions, people have become the very instigators of violence in efforts to “prevent violence” stemming from “racial tensions.” In an issue as explosive as that of racial relations, people need to see beyond the obvious symbols of color and socio-economic status to examine the underlying causes of the seemingly race-based wealth gap that is truly becoming a flash point for violence.
Only through true understanding of the divisive issues can we defuse their underlying tensions. And to gain that true understanding and bring about true peace, we should not be afraid to candidly point out the divisiveness of the divisive issues. Ridding society’s taboos on talking about the divisive issues must be first steps to their resolution. And finally, let us not fear the attacks from those who remain loyal to the emptily idealistic slogans of racial harmony. After all, how can people who are intolerant of the “intolerant” be considered truly tolerant?
Boarding a Greyhound long-distance bus from New Orleans to Atlanta, I was joined by a young white lad who sat next to me in a usual crowded bus. He was quick to open up. A coal miner from rural Wyoming, he told me about the accidents that took away a few of his fingers and shaky relations he has with his family.“Oh, once I caught two black guys trying to steal my truck, so I killed them with a shovel.”
His loud yet nonchalant statement coming out of nowhere instantly sent my eyes wide-open and a chill down my back. “I didn’t get charged because it was self-defense,” he followed it up in a rather matter-of-fact way. Yet, everything stayed normal. The blacks continued their chatters while the young miner continued with other stories with his characteristic smile, not at all seemed to be bothered by what he had just stated.
My fear for violence turned into surprise at the “illogical” outcome. I entirely expected the young miner was supposed to be labeled a “racist” and become a target for attacks from blacks around us. But a second thought on the whole affair exposed the naiveté of my surprise. Looking back at my train of thought, from the moment I stepped onto the bus, there perhaps was only one topic on my mind: race.
Yet as I concentrated on who is black and who is white, I neglected the much greater similarities that tied together passengers of different colors. I neglected to notice that these were the people who were barely scratching out a living in a wealth-dominated society, a group banded together by their firm grip on the harsh economic reality. Making solid progress on moving forward in life is of much greater concerns than empty words, however hostile-sounding from their neighbors.
And it is at that moment that I realized that the isolated microcosm of the moving Greyhound bus was the peaceful and harmonious world that I am always seeking. A world full of complete strangers, yet no one showed any fear in frankly divulging life stories, however horrid, because of their common bonds in suffering life’s difficulties. In a case of a man living in a rural community in an isolated state like Wyoming, the truck is beyond a transportation vehicle.
It is his only method of transportation to work, to shops, his only connection to the far-away human civilization. To him, that truck is his livelihood. Would he have attacked the carjackers, even if they were not black? Of course! The continuity of his life depended on the safe-keeping of that truck. And here was I, just like a large portion of economically well-off America, so caught up in buzzwords like “black” and “kill” in a single sentence that I was judging a man for simply doing what he needed to do to survive, all in the name of “racial harmony” through “political correctness.”
Our role in a peaceful world should be to listen, comprehend, and respond with our opinions in the most honest manner, no matter how repulsive the replies may sound. Peace cannot simply be achieved by yelling out slogans calling for “racial equality” and labeling as “intolerant” anyone whose statements seem to contradict that “harmonious” spirit. For too long have people avoided discussion of the most divisive issues for fear of turning into violence.
As the necessary discussions for their resolutions are delayed for the sake of “harmony,” the issues will only become more problematic and explosive. While the common people are brainwashed with politically correct slogans and remain ignorant about the true natures of the problems, they are at the same time placed in a role of actively suppressing any meaningful discussions on the problems by misusing their emotional symbols of “racial equality” and “social justice.”
Through such forceful suppressions, people have become the very instigators of violence in efforts to “prevent violence” stemming from “racial tensions.” In an issue as explosive as that of racial relations, people need to see beyond the obvious symbols of color and socio-economic status to examine the underlying causes of the seemingly race-based wealth gap that is truly becoming a flash point for violence.
Only through true understanding of the divisive issues can we defuse their underlying tensions. And to gain that true understanding and bring about true peace, we should not be afraid to candidly point out the divisiveness of the divisive issues. Ridding society’s taboos on talking about the divisive issues must be first steps to their resolution. And finally, let us not fear the attacks from those who remain loyal to the emptily idealistic slogans of racial harmony. After all, how can people who are intolerant of the “intolerant” be considered truly tolerant?
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