Well, it’s another beautiful day at casa de Kyrston. Sun shining, birds singing, nice cool breeze… and there’s a man here about some poop.

Today’s the day that the septic system at our house gets emptied. I went outside to dead head the flowers (pick the dead blooms off so that more will grow) and water them, then a nice man in a huge truck backed his shit up to suck our shit out with a big tube. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) I imagine it will be kind of cool to watch. The dog, of course, it going ballistic.

As I was outside watering the flowers I was thinking about what to blog about today. I really wanted to write something but I’ve gotten out of the habit of doing it. It used to come so easily… I would be driving somewhere or doing something and I would realize… “I have got to write this all down when I get home.” Now it’s not so easy, trying to balance the need to write with some kind of censor. 

Ha. Me. A censor. Funny.

Anyway, this is what I keep circling back to and even though I feel like I’ve talked about it until my face turns blue. Since my opinion hasn’t changed in all these years I’m willing to bet its safe to write about. It’s not really that great, but it will get the ball rolling on future blogging.

So, where I live is pretty red. When I say that what I mean is that a large portion of the people I encounter can be somewhat narrow-minded, racist, homophobic, and just plain old Republican. I’m pretty near the Bible belt.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Okay, really there is, but I learned a long time ago that if you can’t surround yourself with people who share your ideals then you better play nice with the ones that don’t.

Sorry, had to go flush the toilet for the septic guy. Man, the dog went nuts barking at the door and his hair stood up. Good boy, Duke.

Back to what I was saying.

There’s a phrase that many people around me use. I don’t use the N word so prepare yourself for its nastiness on your screen.

“There’s a difference between a black person and a nigger.”

Ugh. Even typing that word, thinking it in my head, makes me a little queasy.

See, if you ask people around here what it means, they will tell you that a Nigger is an ignorant person and the type of black person that gives all black people a bad name. That they like black people fine enough it’s just the shady ones that they can’t stand.

And I, in my infinite brilliance, present this argument. Usually they are left with nothing more than mumbles in response. Win.

Firstly, I don’t care what the textbook definition of that word is. It has a social connotation, which you are aware, and you must take responsibility for that. You can’t walk around expecting people to think you meant the dictionary definition and not the extremely ugly racist slang. By the look on your face I can guess you already know this and you understand that it was a weak part of your initial argument.

Secondly, why bring race into it at all? You sound like a racist. I’m not a racist, I like black people just fine. No, you’re not hearing me, why do you have to specify the color of that person’s skin? When I see the world, I do not see color. No black, no white, no yellow or tan or purple or green. I see human beings. They have hearts that beat and blood which courses and feelings and their tongues are all pink like mine. The color of their skin is completely irrelevant – something they were born with and can’t help – just like the color of my eyes. It has NOTHING to do with their behavior.

I am extremely judgmental, and I only feel a little bad about this, because I judge on behavior. If a person, black or white or whatever, rapes a woman… they are just bad. I’m not surprised if I find out it was a black person, white people are capable of the same crimes.

You wouldn’t have to tell me the story and include the race. As a matter of fact, how often is race included in the news?

Cue newsperson’s voice:

Today a black man sexually assaulted a white woman in an alley in…

Wow I can’t even pretend to finish that. When are we – the 1950’s??

Rant interrupted again… had to flush a few more times for the guy.

So, anyway, it irks me to no end. Leave someone’s skin out of it. Because once you open the door to that mentality, it’s just a matter of time before you become more and more close minded. It is for this reason that the word Nigger is not allowed to be spoken in our house. You walk through the door, you leave that word outside.

Most everyone is comfortable with that. In the beginning I let it slide but then I just said ENOUGH. And when I explained it to people all they were left to say is OK, Missus, we won’t say it. And when a new person comes along and says it, the others make sure to explain the rules. And when they ask me why… I have to start all over again.

It surprises me that in this day and age we still have so much racism in the country. It just doesn’t make sense at all. The whole idea that someone could just DECIDE blacks are less than whites AND EVERYONE WENT ALONG WITH IT… it’s just ludicrous. I mean do people not have their own minds?

But, then again, I was raised in an extremely open-minded home will parents that accept the world around them. In our house it simply just didn’t come up until someone from the outside world exposed it to us and we came home asking questions. I can’t imagine a world where that lesson was part of my upbringing.

To me, trash is trash. It doesn’t really matter what color skin you have or where you live or whether you like boys or girls or trees. Weakness of character is just that… and that kind of thing is relayed through behavior, not skin color.