While I was walking at 6 am, I saw Yvette’s car pull out of the driveway. Huh? She texted me a few minutes later. She was taking B. to the ER. She thought B. was having an asthma attack. As it wound up, it was acid reflux. He has had a few episodes. He is under a lot of stress. His dad is very ill and can’t be too long for this world. He has multiple health problems. Yoga was canceled.
I spent the day cleaning the house. I was expecting Sandor. As Mike used to say, “Where is a guest when you need it most?” It was a guest that triggered a massive house cleaning. Sandor hadn’t arrived by early evening. I texted him not to worry. He texted back that he had fallen asleep. He and Meali’inani are in the process of buying a house. They were exhausted. He also told me that he was heading to Costco; did I want anything? Yes, lemons and blueberries. They dropped off my items and picked up the mask Dorothy had made for him.
I spent some of the day pulling out books from a previously untouched bay. I am always amazed by how many I can pull from each area.
I watched a depressing movie before going to bed, Mud. A bunch of unhappy people who don’t have a clue about how to improve their lives. They live from one escapist moment to the next.
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Musings:
The other day, a friend said something about Jews being of a different race. I told her that it was considered a prejudicial statement. She was surprised. She certainly didn’t mean it that way.
I checked with Dorothy, who converted to Judaism when she married her husband, she agreed it is used to set Jews apart. I thought categorizing people by race is generally a prejudicial act. I checked the origin of the term on Wiki. (I do love Wiki).
The term race was initially used as a synonym for tribe or clan; both terms described family relationships and not personal characteristics. Using race to describe personal characteristics was introduced in the 17t century and is a direct result of colonialism. The European whites conquered America, Asia, and Africa and treated them like total crap. Obviously, they had to justify their actions, so they came out smelling like roses.
What better way to justify such abuse than calling upon the Bible? Ah, there is the story of Noah with his three sons. Here we have the roots of the three races in Noah’s son: Ham, Seth, and Japheth. The three races were the Semitic (Jews and, as I read in one account, Asians), Hamitic (black), and Japhetic (Eurasia: which must include European whites and some Asians). These distinctions were only ‘realized’ as God’s plan during the colonial period. Ironic, no?
Those who were not like the Europeans were naturally inferior. God’s plan was so convenient; it favored the Europeans. How did that happen? Could there be another explanation other than God favored Europeans?
It sounds like we will not be rid of institutional racism until we do away with racial categories. Except for some orthodox religious sects, most people acknowledge that these categories are arbitrary. One drop of black blood makes someone black. But one drop of white blood doesn’t make someone white. How come? Arguments in differences in deep characteristics like intelligence and moral character fall apart too.
Once, we must have made distinctions between tribes with blonde hair versus those with dark hair. Now we don’t recognize these distinctions anymore. Of course, those distinctions were dissolved before the printing press made it possible for these concepts to be calcified in print disseminated throughout the world into every home. Don’t we all like points of view that elevate us above others? Don’t we all want to think of ourselves as morally superior?
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