My Uncle Chris and Aunt Barb gave me two books on my 13th birthday, “Boys and Sex” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
I burned through the first book quickly in July of 1979. It was under my pillow and on my nightstand.
The second book laid on a book shelf well into the Winter. Then I got suspended from school and if I wanted to watch the 1980 Winter Olympics I had to read the Harper Lee novel.
So I did what my mom enforced and watched Eric Heiden win five gold medals. I saw the USA hockey team beat the Soviets and I read about Atticus Finch.
Today’s quote is from “Mockingbird.”
As we get older and cynical we tend to loose the innocence that Scout Finch possessed.
My parents raised me to treat people with respect. My Oldman would say, “Color Blind is Bullshit Son…You must be Color Strong!”
His point was nobody is strong enough to NOT see Color or stereotypes.
One time my dad yelled at me out of nowhere.
“Do you know Walter Payton is a black guy? If he wasn’t wearing a Bears uniform you wouldn’t care who he was!”
I was a nineteen year old know it all who took Philosophy 101 and felt ready to debate Don Shepley.
“Well Dad…. There was a white man in a Cub hat and a black man in a Sox hat standing in front of me. God asked me to pick one to save… “that’s easy Poppa God, Save the Sox fan and take the Cub fan!”"
My father had that half ass grin on his face and told me he failed. A true Christian would have told Poppa God to take me and save both the Northsider and the Southsider.
“Easy for you to say Dad! You’re a Saint Louis Browns fan!”
The point I’m trying to get to this morning….
Two millionaires ruined the 2022 Oscars Sunday night. They were both black. They were both famous. They both live in a different world than we do.
If I slapped a guy at work I’d be fired. I would be looking for a lawyer this morning.
I hope my kids read “To Kill a Mockingbird” someday. Someday before it gets banned.
They also should watch Archie Bunker, George Jefferson and Benny Hill.
Instead of worrying about Chris Rock and Will Smith they need to learn about Richard Pryor and Sidney Poitier.
They need to take the black guy in the Sox hat out for a beer and make fun of the white guy in the Cubs hat.
Today is Vietnam Veteran Day… if you know one… say thank you!
