Ten years ago, I sat on a couch, watching television. My mother's frail hand in mine. Tears streaming down her face. Her pride unaffected by her disease, but her inability to travel devastated her. Two hundred miles away, a skinny, naive young man walked with others toward their future. Caps flew and celebrations began. The pain of missing this event hit her hard, but it was this very event that kept her going. Cancer would kill her, but it would not win. She spoke often about thus day, but never imagined it would be spent so far away. "Six months," the emotionless doctor said. "Six months, my ass," she replied. Four years later, as my brother flipped his tassel and his cap flew in the air, she cried. The pain of cancer and of despair could not compete with her pride. Much like O'Henry's Last Leaf, this ceremony extended her life and just like that tossed cap, starting it's decent, she to started to tumble. Her goal had been achieved and a giant middle finger was directed at this disease. Ten years later, I feel sorrow for that day she missed, but even greater for the son who couldn't fathom how proud his mother was. So proud, she cheated death for so long. Just for him.
This was a post I wrote on Facebook after surprisingly not seeing any moaning about the Documentary by Jose Antonio Vargas, titled White People Dayyum! I just scrolled my timeline and not a single white person got their feelings hurt by White People. I unfortunately haven't seen it, but the number of fake accounts that popped up on twitter, tells me it was a damn good show. Here's the thing. If someone of color aka non-white says "White Privilege," are you offended? If you said yes, then you are exhibiting white privilege. It has nothing to do with how hard you work or study, how you stayed out of trouble, because here's the thing, that is entirely the point. Somewhere out there, there are 100 Black, Spanish, Native American, Arab, Asian, who worked and studied as hard as you and never got in trouble, but they don't have what you "earned" or achieved. Stop looking at the one person you know who isn't white that achieved as your benchmark. Loo...
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