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March 03, 2007
A Mother's Love
A Mothers Love
____________
A Mother's Love,
Curves around the skin of a child,
Tangles in their hair,
Holds their hand when they leave your side,
Prayers sent up for protection,
What do you do when your child is gone?
What would you do when your child is gone?
Would you have the strength to stand up?
Bruised and battered,
A wake up call,
To a nation tangled in fear and hate,
I cry for the mother who must bury her child.
The mother who must bury her child,
Feels grief like a knife,
Cradles it like a newborn baby,
Wears it like a threadbare dress,
Carries it on her bowed shoulders,
Uses it as lamplight on a nation under seige.
A light on the seige that enveloped a nation,
An ugliness that still stains,
The cast of characters ever shifting,
We rage against a nameless enemy,
All we are looking for,
Is a mother's love.
Hatred can come in all shapes and sizes, from a snide comment to an act of incredible violence, like what is described in "A Wreath for Emmett Till". Have you ever witnessed an act of injustice or hatred? What did you do or would have liked to have done? There are many instances of discrimination that still exist in our world today. What can we do to help right these wrongs?
Posted by Sara Hagen at March 3, 2007 10:38 AM | A Wreath for Emmett Till
Comments
I can remember a time back in elementary school when I was playing a game of tag and one of my peers wanted to play and everyone kept ignoring her because they didn't want her to play. At the time I think I just told her I couldn’t let her play because then the other kids wouldn't let me play. I would like to say that I stood up the other kids and told her that she could play or that I would have quit and went to play with her. When I think about what I actually did it makes me very disappointed in myself. We must have made that little girl feel so awful. To stop the injustices today we have to stand up for those who are treated unfairly, letting others no that it’s not okay to treat them that way.
Posted by: at April 17, 2007 10:03 AM
I remember I was waiting for a hair appointment, and an older lady came in for her appointment. The receptionist behind the desk told her that she would be cutting her hair that day, and the older lady said she refused to has someone like "her" touch her. The receptionist was Native American, and she looked so humiliated and hurt, because this was spoked in front of everybody that was sitting in the wait room. Before anybody that was sitting in the waiting room with me could say anything, the manager asked the older woman to leave if she talked to one of her employees in that manner. I'm really glad that the manager stood up for her employee rather then take the sale and satisfy someone who thinks the way the older woman did. I hope if I ever get confronted with a situation like that I'm able to stand up for what I believe is right.
Posted by: Kaylee Mitchell at April 25, 2007 04:55 PM
I can't think of any big act of violence or hatred that I have ever seen but I remember being out in phy-ed in high school when some boys behind me were saying racial jokes that made me feel uncomfortable. They are not bad people and I don't think they meant it but now I wish I would have said something to them. Just make them aware that what they were saying was not right even if they were joking around. The biggest thing you can do is stand up for injustice. Just voicing your opinion can make a difference even if it means making a few people mad.
Posted by: Jessica Tewalt at May 1, 2007 02:49 PM
I think they only thing we can really do to right the wrongs of injustice is be a witness to others and educate people. If enough people know about the unjustice and stand up to it, we can crush it. I can't think of any specific acts of violence I have personally witnessed, but I know (or at least I would like to think I would) I would feel very uncomfortable and stand up to it. Its hard to say what you would actually do in a situation (especially as scary as this). However, I would like to think I would make the right decision. Even just letting someone know of the unjustice (like a teacher or police) would be standing up to it.
Posted by: Amanda Green at May 2, 2007 07:07 PM
When I was a Senior in High school there was a 10th grade boy that was new to our mostly white school. He was of aribic dissent, although he was born in the US. For the most part he got along with everyone (especially the girls) but he began getting hatemail in his locker. Then the boys bathroom was vandalized and he was the subject of the hateful words in the bathroom. I was on the school newspaper and as a group we decided to have a rally. We called it SUSO for Step Up, Speak Out. It was a great turn out, and we had several differnt people speak: a jewish woman, a gay man, and a white woman who has an adopted black brother. All of our speakers were students at the school. It was an amazing and empowering event, and I am so glad to have been a part of it.
Posted by: Heather Sirois at May 3, 2007 06:33 PM
I have seen and heard many acts of injustice, stemming from hatred. Some were blatant and others were subtle. The problem with the subtle hatred is that oftentimes, people don't take it seriously or don't even know what to do. How do you confront somebody or something when you're not even sure where to begin? That used to be my biggest question, but as I've seen how hatred can grow, I've made up my mind to practice confronting things that seem small or may be hard to talk about. Some of those small things are just the beginning of a bigger hatred. If we can nip that in the bud, I think we would be better off in the future.
Posted by: Sarah Stewart at May 5, 2007 02:09 PM
After attending college, I have witnessed several acts of injustice due to racial segregation. One instance I recall happened at a party that I went to where a Native American student was being picked on while the perpetrator accused him of having too much money handed to him because of his ethnicity. Once at a party, I witnessed a young African American man being picked on for "being different" and even being physically punched to the point where both men were in an unnecessary bloody brawl with one another. When instances like these happen they tend to catch me completely off guard, leaving me feel like I am too late for intervention. However, I know that working to stop injustice and violence must start somewhere and educating the youth of the nation on these topics is the best place to start!
Posted by: Megan Anderson at May 6, 2007 10:11 PM