Talia and Aaren

Two blogs in one day. I think this might be a first for me but I just had to do it. I know I promised no political blogs for the rest of this month and I'm going to try to keep that promise but there may be some kind of political slant in this blurb. So, I was went for a jog this morning after I wrote my first blog and I kept thinking about my niece and Danielle's little brother Aaren (I'm not sure how he spells his name actually), anyways I was thinking about these two wonderful children and the country they are going to grow up in and become a part of. After I finished my job I went to the gym and was listening to a podcast of This American Life. It was talking about the McCain and Obama campaigns inside Pennsylvania.

There was one section of the podcast when I young Obama supporter approached a bunch of men outside a football game to register them to vote. Some young man who had obviously been drinking asked the lady who she was supporting and she told him Obama. He got out his cell phone and told her he had something to show her. It was described to the listening that on this mans cells phone was a picture of Barack that slowly changed into a picture of a monkey. He told the lady, "That's what we think of Barack Obama around here now go the fuck away!"

There was so much in that hate filled statement. The rest of the podcast is actually pretty interesting and I would encourage people to listen to it if they have time. I started thinking about Talia and Aarens lives. I thought about Talia and how she must see the world. She is the product of a union between a black man and white woman. She looks at this as normal and why shouldn't she. It is normal. Two people met, liked each other and decided to create a family. It shouldn't matter to people what these two people look like. It shouldn't matter to people if they are the same race or not, if they have the same ethnic backgrounds or not, if they share the same religious beliefs or not and it shouldn't matter if they are the same sex or not. I know some of you raised an eyebrow to that last one. I don't wanna go off here but you eyebrow raisers really need to get over your homophobia. It makes you appear...what are the right words? Oh I know, like a bigoted asshole. But I'm not going to go into that right now.

Kids are not born with the prejudices we all develop over time. That's why I don't talk down to young kids. They are so much better than us in so many different ways. Aaren, who is a few years older than Talia, never even blinked at the difference between my skin and his. He was also more interested in Power-Rangers and later on discussing the movie Happy Feet. If a little white boy growing up in Montana can have several conversations with his sisters black boyfriend and never even blink then there is hope for all of us.

When I listen to stories and watch the news lately I start to worry about the Talia's and the Aaren's out there. They are like sponges and they soak up all the information being put out there. Sometimes they are paying attention when we don't realize it. It's like the little kid who repeats a swear word because they heard their parents say it. We learn by observation and experience. There is so much hatred and fear circulating in the atmosphere that kids being exposed to it can't help but breath it in.

Voting for McCain does not mean you are a racist. Everyone who is voting for Barack is not doing so because he's a Black man. "Arabs", peoples from the Middle East and all other caramel colored peoples are not evil. Muslims, who come in all different skin tones, are just as human as Christian folk.

I guess most elections are like this but the amount of fear being pumped out by both sides is disheartening. Each generation should be better than the previous one. I get the feeling a lot of the older generations are struggling to let go of their grasp on power and influence. I'm not saying tradition and history are not important but life has to move forward. When I think about Talia and Aaren I have faith that if they can hold on to even a tenth of who they are now we will all benefit.

So when I hear that there are digital pictures of Barack turning into a monkey or that Governor Palins image is being photo shopped onto the naked body of another woman or that someone can't be trusted because they are a Muslim or that a movement to have a constitutional amendment banning "same sex" marriage is still being proposed I just think how much better Aaren and Talia's generation already is than the rest of us. I just hope we can all start living up to the high standards they deserve to grow up in.