I happened to check a little used e-mail address of mine, and found a lovely essey by my grandfather.
I have decided to share it here, even though it has nothing to do with crafts because I think it is important to hear what he was saying. This goes a long way towards explaining how my own mother came into her mentality that "you hate no one unless they give you a reason".
I have done my best to raise my children, in a world that seems to still find any and every reason to hate, with the understanding that everyone is indeed human and that something as simple as skin color or heritage are not sufficient reasons to judge someone.
I see now where I get it from and I am very proud to be part of the family I am in because of it.
Enjoy!
Lizzy
****TRANSITION****
Tomorrow, January 20, 2009, we are all about to witness an epic event in the history of our country. The inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African American to be our President
I recently mentioned to my wife, Betty, and daughter Peg that this so called transition period from the November election to the swearing in ceremony in a few days seems rather short compared to my own transition experience of 87 years.
For instance, in 1933, at age 12, as a 6th grade student filled with the knowledge that I would become the best left forward in the history of Evanston soccer players and also a star first baseman on our softball team, I was beaten out for those positions by one of my good friends, Elbie Watts.
The following year Elbie and I walked the ten blocks to the junior high school daily, as he lived only three blocks further than I and passed right by the apartment building my mother managed.
About two weeks after school started in the fall, my mother sat me down when I got home one day and asked that I not walk to school with Elbie any more, as a few tenants in the apartment building were complaining that I was seen with a “Negro.” She was, frankly, worried about losing her job if anyone complained to the owners of the building.
The next day, I left early and waited for Elbie several blocks away and told him about the situation and that I had no idea his being a “Negro” was a problem. His response was that he wondered how long it would take before someone complained.
We solved it by going in a different direction and meeting two blocks away from the apartments every day.
By the way, he beat me out of the soccer and baseball positions in junior high also.
It was sometime in those years that the family took a trip to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to ride in a cruise boat around the lakes.
I got curious about the signs in front of virtually every rental home or apartment that said “Gentiles only.” It was explained to me that we were “Gentiles” and Jews were not. That seemed to be the nice way to say, “No Jews allowed.”
Later, when one of our tenants married a Jewess, my mother worried for weeks about how she would tell him that he couldn’t renew the lease because of his Jewish wife, (apartment owner rule), he solved it by telling her they needed a larger place when the lease expired.
As a freshman in high school, I found that girls were actually likeable. The first true love was Jane Evans. She came into the drugstore I was working every night to get the evening edition of the Chicago Tribune as she was on her way home from the restaurant where she was hostess. I got up enough courage to ask if could walk her home after work as she was usually getting there at closing time. It was all of two blocks. The drug store owner and my mother both thought Jane was a wonderful girl, but did I realize she was Catholic?
We later found other interests so being Catholic didn’t become a problem between our two families.
Jane and I did go some eight blocks away one weekend to join a group of Northwestern students who were boycotting a local hamburger joint. The reason for the boycott? The star halfback of Northwestern , I believe his name was Bernie Jefferson, was told he would not be served because he was not white.
At age 20, I was in the Army, stationed at a radar training base in West Palm Beach Florida. The entire company was called to formation one afternoon to be told that each housing unit would be getting “one” Negro assigned to it the next week and we were to treat each one with respect or face possible court martial.
Our particular unit got a really smart and likeable bunk-mate by the name of Jim. We thought enough of him that the following weekend, when we were going into town, we refused the bus drivers order to have him sit in the back of the bus. The MP’s at the gate backed us up and threatened to take the bus driver out of the bus unless he treated Jim as a soldier and not as a Negro.
As recently as 1980, I experienced an interesting moment. I was traveling around the Ozarks with the thought of getting some property in which to retire. I stopped in a realtors office in Eastern Arkansas and explained what I was looking for. About his third sentence was “ this is the only county in the state that doesn’t have a black person.” I don’t know what his reaction was when I left without saying anything.
So, my experiences in transition has taken longer than this past election and inauguration. At this moment, I am glad I had the opportunity to do it the long way. I’m also very glad it turned out the way it has.
So, “YES WE CAN”
Robert Horn
