Chatty way OT reply Re: Fiji in space but back on earth, oy ve?!?!?

On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 21:45:43 +1000 "Alan and Carmel Brain"
> <aebrain@webone.com.au> writes:
<snip>
> I don't know whether to break down and cry over the stupidity of the

Both at various times and sometimes at the same time.

> or to feel optimistic that things have indeed gotten better over the

Well, with some reservations (no pun intended) I think they have gotten
better in most cases.  I have a coworker (An Arkansas Republican - one
of
several generations - who went to work at DIA in D.C. and the only
people who would socialize with him were the African Americans, so go figure.

> Was exact genetic mix *really* that important in the US?

Yes. And no, depending on where you were and who you dealing with. IN
my grandmother's words (Cherokee side) - "It gives some people two
reasons to be stupid in how they treat you."

For that
> matter,

Until I adopted two girls from India I would have said no but I have found a
small minority (no pun intended there either) of whites, South Asians, and
even a black or two) who have made me wonder at intervals. Again to quote my
grandmother, "White eyes only see one color sometimes.

Same for some red, brown and yellow ones too."

'I spose that
> depends...

In the words of Richard Pryor, a black comedian, "Take the Irish; a
nation with no Jews, no blacks, no Hispanics - what do they do?  They
improvise." LOL! It's a human thing, usually based on either real life bad
experiences or a lack of good experiences.

> Australia was going through a "cutting of apron strings" phase then,
I guess we see the lines we want to see? I know I struggle with a few going to
college the first time in the era of the Iran Hostage crisis. I work on that
but sometimes my own unguarded thoughts make me blush.

> Now the UK is.. almost irrelevant to us. Of no more importance than,

I think it's the same here.

I must admit to using my paternal Grandmother's heritage recently though.
There was this really nice lady who was waiting at the hair salon (I get my
hair cut there since my wife and kids use them.) We got to talking (I had been
talking Woody as he cut my hair about my mother growing up in a
30% Hispanic/30% black/30% white/10% Asian part of L.A. and how that
part of Los Angeles had changed to almost 100% Hispanic) and she said how much
she wished we would stop letting all these "foreigners" into our country and
taking our jobs (I know the jobs they take, most of my current neighbors would
not work them unless it was the last job on earth) so I just dropped the
little comment, "My father is Cherokee (truth but why confuse her with
percentages) and I know some relatives who feel the Whites were the first
illegal aliens; but you guys seem to have worked out to be good contributing
citizens."

I had to leave shortly after that but she seemed to be thinking out the
implications of that comment maybe for the first time. At least we parted
amicably.

Enough rambling on my part.

Gracias,