elag wrote:
>
> I know there's Paki-bashing and all of that... ignorance, bred in fear,
> can be found everywhere. Hatred based on people's actions can't be
> avoided... if only people could be made to see that it is Pre-Judging
> people based on superficialities of color or accent which increases
> hostility on both sides.
>
> I'm not beyond feeling some apprehension based on people's appearance,
> at times. After all, it is in part a defense mechanism, but I can
> suspend judgement until I see who they really are. To me the plethora
> of different cultures is what makes life more interesting... I don't
> like the youth gangs any more than anyone else, but I've met some crazy
> looking characters that turned out to be quite interesting... at times I
> could even be accused of being a suspicious looking character (according
> to the coppers).
>
> --
> replace "NINE" with "9" to reply
I've been, in my times, on just about every side of the law, I've been in gangs, I've been violent (through stupidity and drink) I've
had black friends, indian friends and racist friends (the latter only lasted as long as I didn't know he was racist)
I know what it's like to be feared and to fear. I recall doing everything I could not to hurt people while at the same time getting a
reputation as being a troublemaker.
An eye opener for me was a half indian half english lad I met at work. When working night duties we would sit sit and discuss the
world at large etc and he told me about his childhood, how he was treat like dirt here because he was half indian and how his mother,
in desperation, agreed to move to India to get away from this, only for them to find that racism was as bad there, if not more so as
the boy was actually abused by adults aswell as young people. I found his story heartbreaking, but was forced to think that here were
we, sitting in a building with responsibility for 20 or so disabled children while our own youth had been savage and disturbed and
both of us had been outcasts at one time or another. Somewhere down the line we had both made a decision that we cared more for others
than others cared for us, and both were lucky to find an employer who ignored our pasts and gave us an opportunity to do what we
really wanted to do.
--
Paul.
--------------------------------------------------------------
to look at
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/
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