What Do You Think?

I came across this video clip on AOL. Take a few minutes to view it...I have some thoughts I'd like to share afterward.

http://news.aol.com/entertainment/television/article/hasselbeck-cries-over-use-of-the-n-word/88098

I saw the tease on AOL and I was intrigued. I've always liked The View and I really do like Elisabeth Hasselbeck on it and I wondered what had made her cry. I think she's young and refreshing, a little naive yes, but still she's interesting to watch. After watching the exchange between Elisabeth, Whoopi and (I think) Sherri Shepherd, it got me thinking....and thinking....and thinking....of course it was replayed on every entertainment news magazine show last night and that didn't help...but I have to tell you I was somewhat appalled at what I heard from Whoopi and Sherri. They were telling Elisabeth and Barbara (Joy Behar remained uncharacteristically quiet during this exchange) they'd better not ever hear the "n" word coming out of their mouths or any other white person's mouth, but it was OK if they (meaning blacks) use it. They went on to say that the "n" word can be used as a term of endearment, when spoken by another black person. What????? Elisabeth tried making the point, that by ANYONE using the "n" word (I think she said "Pop Culture") it's just bringing back the hateful thoughts and the pain of their history...of our history. She went on to try and dumb it down a little to get clarification on how she might teach her child, but then Whoopi goes off on a little rant about her mother not having been allowed to vote in the country of her birth. Well here's a news flash for you Whoopi, all of our female anscestors coudn't vote at one point in history, but that's another issue.



I get they hate THAT word. I HATE that word. I cringe each and everytime I hear someone say it.... black or white, and I know there is still plenty of racism in this world. I'm not naive nor do I think Elisabeth is naive to the fact there are still people who don't like the black population just because they're black. But come on, I think Elisabeth had a valid point. We do all live in the same world. There are those of us who are trying to change this world for the better. We're trying to teach our children to look at people as people. We don't want to merely tolerate, we want to accept and live as I believe God intended us to live, in peace. We want to embrace people as people, unique in the way God created them, not as man sees them. But, as long as there are people in this world who insist on setting a double standard, we will never be united. We may never see that peace.

My parents taught me and my siblings to "treat others the way you want to be treated". I think those are words of wisdom and everyone should learn to live by them. God, please help me to always do that.

So I leave you with this scripture:

This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 1 John 3:11

God has commanded us to love one another, if we start and end with that, the rest shouldn't even matter.