I'm in Nashville

I'm in Nashville. It's really hot and it's really humid. I'm here on a convention and here's something that I have noticed.

In 1954, segregation was supposedly done away with. But, what I have observed is that segregation is still very much alive down here. Sure, there is no separate facilities for Black folk and White folk. And, sure they walk around freely with each other down here. But, they do not hang out with each other. Everywhere I walked I saw groups of White people and groups of Black people but I did not see groups of Black and White intermingling and hanging out with each other. I don't get this.

I suppose you can make laws to change physical action but you sure can't make laws to change a person's belief.

This is another reason that makes me appreciate being a Canadian. We are all culturally unique and in Canada there is so much more harmonious interactions among the cultures. We can hang out with each other. We can celebrate each other's diversity and be friends with one another.

I blame Stephen Harper

This new Canadian gov't is really ticking me off. Perhaps, it's just my dislike of the way Stephen Harper is dealing with things that I just want to blame him with all that goes wrong. It really troubles me that the stance that Peter McCabe and Harper have taken on this Israel - Hezbollah aggression is so in line with the US stance, "It's all Hezbollah's fault, Israel is only defending itself." While that may be true what about the flip side to that, it's all Israel's fault and Hezbollah is only defending itself. Harper and his gov't had no right to pick a side in this matter. Their role was to unbiased and neutral.

Enough with that...I just read an article on CBC.ca about a Pakistani family (Shia muslim) seeking assylum in a United church in Winnipeg. The Canadian gov't is rejecting their refugee claim and deporting them back to Pakistan. It seems that since this Harper gov't has been in power I have heard more stories about families being deported. I can accept that this conservative gov't wants to control and crackdown on those that misuse our immigration laws...but why deport families that contribute to our society? If they want to deport people why not deport those who will not contribute to our society, why not deport those who committ violent acts of crime. Personally, I don't think we should deport anyone.

There is a reason that people escape to this country. Canada is truly a free country. People want freedom. It is in our very nature to want it. Just consider this family seeking assylum. (It's interesting on two fronts really, 1., a muslim family seeking assylum within the confines of a Christian church, 2., a productive hard working family being deported.) Canada has a rich history of saving people and granting freedom. Why then would we break our own history and send people who are escaping tyranny and bondage only to send them back to it. Is that fair? Is that compassionate? Consider the American slaves, they escaped slavery from the deep south, the Underground Railroad led them to Canada. Canada was their haven. At one point the northern states would have been enough, but the US congress passed a bill allowing slave owners to chase down their slaves in any part of the country and bring them back. Therefore leaving them only Canada as their only option. This is where they found their freedom. What would history have said about us if we would have sent these slaves back to their "masters" in the deep south of the US? If Canada would have sent those slaves back to the US to their "masters", this country would have been no better than those American states in which slavery was lawful.

Canada is an open and tolerant country, it is a just country. In these matters of deportation are we being just to these people?

Why am I so lucky?

I don't understand my world. At one time I thought I did, but I know now that it is more complex than ever I thought imaginable. (Perhaps it is more complex because we make it that way.)

Presently my thoughts and prayers go out to the many innocent people caught in the crossfire of a war that is not their own. I speak of the current Israel-Hezbollah conflict and the Israel-Palestine conflict. What have these innocent people done to deserve such a torment? Who have they sympathized with to deserve having their families killed, homes destroyed, country in despair? What grave injustice have they done to Israel? What grave injustice have they done to Islam?

This sickens me knowing that far too many innocent people have to suffer. This current mid-east conflict is nothing new to the region, I understand this. This current conflict is nothing new to the history of this world, I understand this as well. I also understand that this is not the only conflict in this world. My heart aches for the millions suffering in the Sudan, for the countless children left orphaned in many countries in Africa because of HIV/AIDS, for the thousands left in despair because of natural disasters, for the many homeless people in the "civilized" cities of this world, for the thousands of children that will die today because of poverty, or war, or famine. I understand all this.

What I do not understand is why am I so lucky? What is it about me that spares me from suffering of many in this world? Don't get me wrong, I am very and eternally grateful that it is not me that has to endure such hardships. But, why am I so lucky?