I grew up in the 1950's and 60's. Back then racism and hatred towards black people was rampant in the south. I remember when the first black students were admitted to our school. To be honest, I didn't want them in my school only because neither did a lot of people.
In the Navy, I worked and lived along side of several black guys. I met my first Mexican Americans, Asians, Arab and guys who were born in Canada and England and white guys from all walks of life from all around the country. I had many friends in the Navy from all over the place and every color, I would like to say they were life long friends but I have always had a problem holding on to long distance relationships.
At some point, I became interested in history and that interest grew as I learned more about the history that was not taught in school or maybe I just wasn't listening in class that day. When you get older some things start to come together, for instance, all wars are started because of religion, hatred or power. Wealth keeps them going when the men in power realize how much money can be made in war, territorial expansion is a consequence of war. Historians will state several reasons for a war being started but if you probe deep enough you will find that religion, hatred and power will be a major contributing factor and hatred of the enemy was paramount to winning the war.
One thing I have come to realize is that hatred plays the biggest role in war, it plays the biggest part in racism and bigotry and right now it is tearing at the very threads of society. Although a lot has happened to improve the quality of life for the African American race since the 1960's, racism still divides the country.
In the world of politics there should not be room for hatred, politics is a game of give and take working for the betterment of the country and it's people but there are times when hatred for one person's beliefs will endanger the society it's pledged to serve. In 2016 this country elected a president that had never held public office, he was a businessman worth billions and he gathered enough people to put him in office based on his promise to "drain the swamp" of Washington. Whether he will go down as a good, bad or indifferent president will be written in history long after I'm gone but the hatred that has been shown to this man by the Democrat party has created the worse divide I have seen in my lifetime. He served only one term and is now running for a second time and the Democrats are continuing their efforts to keep him out of office, many believe their hatred is his driving force. The next couple of years will be interesting to say the least regardless of how the election turns out.
A few weeks ago, a terrorist group of Palestinians called Hamas attacked Israel, without warning, killing over 1400 men, women and children in just a few hours and taking hostage hundreds more. Many of the hostages have been summarily executed by various means. Hatred has again reared it's ugly head of war. The war between the Jews of the world and Islam has been going on for a long time, it is difficult to say this is a war of religion or a war of hatred but at the moment it is a war that is spreading it's hatred in many countries. I don't know what the outcome will be but I do know the hatred will continue.
The truth is that hatred is not something a person is born with, it is a learned trait passed down from generation to generation, the most fervent have been taught to hate since the day they learned to walk. My father-in-law was a racist and bigot, his hate for people different from him was boundless, the list of groups of people was long and I often wondered if he really knew why he hated them other than his father and grandfather probably hated them also.
I learned a long time ago that there are good and bad people in all walks of life. Linda and I made a decision that our kids would not look at people and make their decision about liking someone based on their race, color or beliefs. I used to think, or maybe it was hope, that after just a couple more generations had passed racism and hatred would become obsolete words spoken only in the terms of teaching history, reality is telling me it is going to take more time than I had hoped. However long it will take, I can say with pride that my sons and their children will be in the forefront of the endeavor.
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