Bird Droppings April 25, 2024
I think it is funny that unwoke folks used “pronouns” first.

One of those days yesterday, and a word caught my attention as I was listening to a friend talk. The word was them. I never realized the extent of prejudice till a pronoun was used. Such words as they, them, or those people never were a term used to delineate who they were, but it was apparent within moments. It was about then that they took over in that area or verbiage to that extent. This morning, I wrote a whimsical tale of observation to a friend about watching a leave floating along a stream. My premise: do we allow the leave to pass, or do we interfere with lifting the floating leave from its journey to observe or interact?

I recall I had lunch with a dear friend a few years back, someone who reflected on many topics with me. This person does not use they or them unless referring to political parties or politicians. I recall my oldest son came along as he was helping me at school move and such to my new abode on C hall many years back. This was over seventeen years ago. We talked about education at lunch, why so many teachers have difficulty, why some parents have a hard time, and why some children end up the way they do. We discussed scholars and philosophers and talked of my son’s journey in graduate school, which he finished, and he, too, went into teaching.

We reflected on my own life’s journey and directions and that of several mutual friends and their paths. We compared our observations, made notes, and reflected on new directions and pathways ahead. I raised the question as I heard the word them earlier in the day, and we talked about them. Is there a difference between teaching them and us? Is there a difference in attitudes between them and us? It is so funny when two people, three, actually my son, was there talking about life and attitudes, and all were very positive; it is hard to use pronouns of them and us. It changed to we continually. We should do this or this, not us and or them.

“There is a destiny that makes us brothers; No one goes his way alone; All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own.” Edwin Markham

As I talk with people and email, I find I am no longer simply an observer; I am now interacting, altering that moment of destiny and the future with my words. My choice to use or not use a word or even discuss a subject and respond positively or negatively affects the journey for myself and that other person.

“When you are right, you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We sometimes need to take a stand and try to alter our destiny. It isn’t destiny till it happens anyway. We can change the direction of the leaf floating by, a slight movement of a word, and perhaps light can permeate even the darkest of corners and a person who sees only in black and white may be allowed to see color and realize in an instant what has been missing in their journey. A professor and I were discussing the butterfly effect. The flap of a butterfly’s wing in the Andes of Peru could create enough turbulence to alter the path of a hurricane. As I thought deeper, never let a leaf float by if you know a waterfall is only a few feet away. Please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and your hearts, pull a few leaves from the current when you get a chance, as I will, and always give thanks, namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,
Mitakuye Oyasin
(We are all related)
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