hello
On Thu, 19 Feb 1998 AJDIBELLA@aol.com wrote:
> Because in general white males are the only group stupid enough (or
> immoral enough?) to value power, hierarchy, and the accumulation of
> things(toys?) over personal, collegial relationships, and the
> accumulation of affection.
>
> un abbraccio d'un maschio bianco,
OUCH!..
I woke up one morning, and there I was. (having just been born). After a
while I found out, I was male, and then that the place I lived was called
america. My skin was white, my eyes were blue my hair is brown...
Was there ever a choice about these things?
Soon I'm beginning to understand words, and the loudest message I hear are
things that I'm required to do and required to be, and that I'm bad,
because I'm not fulfilling some expectation put upon me by my parents, or
their incomprehensible culture and socioty.
"Be a Man", they say, "Don't cry, Be on time, sit up straight, tuck in
your shirt, GET A HAIRCUT, Be responsible, don't let girls boss you around
(huh?), real americans take charge and can FIX IT!"
The white male has a lot of things demanded of him-and a lot of us take
years to figure out we have been lied to. Some never figure it out. We
are not stupid, but as any other person on the earth, we are molded by the
expectations put upon us by our culture, parents, role models and the
like. Not having a comunity that cares about the needs of the whole,
except for a few renegades and wackos, we can only make decisions based on
what we've seen heard and lived, and IF we can stretch a little beyond the
realm of our experience, we might have a few original thoughts and make a
few original discoveries-some that might say we need to change...
Just like you.
As most white males, I have a choice... to believe what I'm told, and try
to uphold those things I'm being told, or I can repudiate everything, run
away, and try to create a world of my own liking. Regardless of what ever
culture you are from, you've inherited a lot of "stuff" about morals and
values and beliefs that you do not question-at least not at first. I
won't claim any great wisdom that I am above my white male heritage-except
to say that I have learned through very difficult experience, to question.
You are a product of your culture. You have some good things in your
culture. You also have bad things in it-just as we all do.
History is loaded with oppression and indignity that we are all required
to overcome and step beyond. The white male is no different. While the
black slavery experience, or the american indian slaughters, or the
oppression of the oriental person in the past 200 years are substantial,
regretable and wrong, The Dark ages of medieval europe that held our white
forbearers in utter slavery for 1000 years was no less brutal. When the
king owned your body and the church owned your soul, and you were a serf
bound to the land, where your daughter could be taken by the local
landlord at any time for his own uses, and you're lot was to work the
land... and your children and their children....
You see we were all slaves, and oppressed and we all are required to get
past it. Even the white american is a survivor of epic struggles for
freedom, that is how our families came to this place. I know the white
western male represents the last bastian of much of this medieval thought.
Do we wallow in it, or grow beyond?
Those of Victorian England thought they were the most civilized people in
history, but the "roaring 20's" in america was a cultural revolution that
was in many ways a reaction to victorian control and structure. The world
war II generation, having survived their parents and the great depression
were famous for their permissive handling of their children, since many of
them were violently beaten by their parents in the name of good christian
discipline, My generation, faced the vietnam war, and discovered that
moral conciousness was more than just working hard and being a good
citizen.
Each generation loosens the grip a little more, and wonders what their
children will blame them for... But there is always something.
I'm stuck with my gender, skin color and cultural heritage. I was not
given a choice-and neither were you. All I can do is my best to figure
out what to do with what I know and what I am now, just as you do.
Do we grow together? Or do we label each other and continue the futile
(though historic) struggle for dominance?
I'm done fighting. I'll work with you if you allow it. I'll learn from
you, and offer you opportunities to learn from me. I've made the choice
and drawn a line in the sand determined that I will no longer let the
middle ages influence my life, or my son's life (He also is a white
male...)
Will you?
sincerely
One stupid, immoral white male.
--"Michael N. Erickson" <sysengr@bcstec.ca.boeing.com>
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