This holiday is for you

Alright, here's the post I've been meaning to write for some time. I've been listening to Snoop Dogg for over a month. It's funny how the guy grows on you. Of course, I'll never agree with the code of conduct laid down by the "GZ" and the "Hustlas", nor do I intend to refer to my fellow humans as "niggaz" or "bitches". The Dee Ohh double G and his crew certainly has a way with words, entertaining such phrases as "deep like the mind of Minolta" or "I'm capping shit up like a western flick."

While I beheld their lyrical revelry I couldn't help but think "How does this fit into the dream?" By that I mean the dream Martin Luther King spoke of. He took a bullet so people can sit on any seat in the bus, drink out of any water fountain, go into whatever bathroom, buy a house where ever they could afford, and so on.

Then I remembered the holiday in January and how it's probably looked at as a black holiday. Dr King said "All of God's children", and that we should all be judged by "the content of [our] character, not the color of [our] skin", so doesn't this mean the holiday and the efforts of the civil rights movement are for everyone? Yes it does, and so I think of all the different people living out their lives and how the holiday applies to them as well.

Are you from Mexico? Maybe you were naturalized. Would anyone believe you now? And maybe people will give you the stink eye anyway. But you do have one thing. That day in January. Yes amigo, this holiday is for you.

Are you from Korea? Maybe you're another nine to five Joe. Or maybe another grocery store owner. And maybe you hear someone bitching again saying, "Those foreigners got another store!" And you think, "I'm a citizen of the US." And you are. And you got your store fair and square. Charge them double and claim your day. This holiday is for you.

How about those of Chinese heritage whose family has been here for generations? Maybe they built some of the railroads. Maybe they worked in the mines over in Pendleton, and they had to put up with the sundown laws too (they did here in Oregon, trust me). Don't miss out next time, this holiday is for you.

Let's not forget the Native American. Again. Still on the reservation. Now everyone says, "They have those casinos." Yes, they do. If you're a Native American, and you're part of the casino business, I want you to do one thing. The next time some dumb-dumb who was talking trash about your people is gambling his paycheck away and you're finally getting your piece of the pie, smile and say "God bless America!". God bless you. All the way to the bank. This holiday is for you.

You there! Blue collar worker. I know you. You feel blamed for everything. One group wants this. Another other group wants that. They have their parade. They protest and demand more. I hear you, buddy. None of us can change the past, we can only learn, forgive, and move on. The lesson for you and the others I've mentioned is that we are our character, not our color. This holiday is for you. This holiday is for us all.

Forgive and move on. There's a thought. Let's try to forgive, if only for one day in January. We can forgive Hiroshima, Pearl Harbor, internment camps, the Trail of Tears, the Civil War (that's for the good ol’ boys), the Pentagon Papers, the draft, believing in the Bible, being a Mormon, being a Jehovah's Witness, being a Jew, being an atheist, owning a gun, not owning a gun, Nuclear proliferation, the LA riots, the forty acres and a mule you didn't get, and whatever else sets us at each others throat.

This sounds like a holiday for Americans, but the man said all of God's children. Regardless of whether we believe in God, the message is clear, so...

For the person in Tiananmen Square, Hiroshima, Saigon, Bosnia, Croatia, Rwanda, North Korea, and so on, even the guy in Iran enriching the uranium (for peaceful purposes), this holiday is for you.

Now aren't you looking forward to January? Of course you are.