It's 43 degrees in Sautee, Georgia this morning. I'm just glad that there hasn't been a need for artificial climate control for several weeks. Keep that power bill low! Got to offset the expense of keeping the tv on 24/7, because I do. I don't really WATCH that much tv, mostly it watches me. I have to have background noise.
I'm feeling really flu-ey today... running a little fever, sneezing, drained... which is crazy considering I've done pretty much nothing for the past few days. I mean... there was the major grocery run yesterday... and I've done a load or two of laundry and I've loaded the dishwasher but for the most part... nothing. Every joint in my body hurts, though, a nasty, unwelcome reminder of the fibromyalgia umbrella that all of my aches and pains fall under.
It probably didn't help that I had two cats sleeping at my feet last night (to keep warm because the windows were open and it got right chilly in here!) and I couldn't really stretch out. At least they weren't fighting. And maybe I should have left the windows open but... I didn't realize it was going to get this chilly.
Have you seen the movie, "The Help"? It's one of those movies that really makes you think. Without giving away too much from the plot (because you need to see it) I was curious as to how much of what was portrayed was factual and what was dramatic license. (you know, exaggeration). I was born near the end of the Civil Rights movement and I don't really remember much in the way of discrimination in my lifetime... however, I'm also lily white so the most I've dealt with in the way of discrimination is to witness it from a distance. I have heard stories about places in the town where I grew up... places that if you were not white, you just didn't go. I didn't realize it at the time of course. No more than I realized there was a colored bathroom at my great-grandmother's house, my first home.
Well... not really a "colored" bathroom, so much as a maid's bathroom. Although she died when I was 7 and my memories of my great-grandmother are more anecdotal than actual memories, I am convinced that she was a lovely person and in no way racist. I think having a maid's bathroom was less about Jim Crow and more about controlling traffic. A lot of people lived there... there were (depending on the decade) children, step-children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, random sisters-in-law, country cousins, old-maid relatives, nurses, maids, Mormon missionaries, the neighbors' sheep (outdoors)... I'm convinced that, if the house had been built sixty years earlier, that General Sherman himself would have been welcomed there. At least in the room over the garage.
At any rate... The Help was a good movie and I have no doubt that it was rooted in truth. I wish we could look back over our history and not find any imperfections, any hate, any discrimination... but it's there...if not in my family tree, probably in our neighbors or friends or associates. We can't change the past but we can purpose our lives in such a way that we don't allow discrimination to continue. My kids were brought up to know that friends- and relatives - come in all colors.
Plans for today are.... none. The sun is shining and it's warmed to a "balmy" 50 degrees but I could very easily just crawl back under the covers today. Hope you have an awesome Saturday!
2 comments:
I loved "THE HELP". I agree with your post and your sentiments. I agree people have been treated horribly in the past. I was not one of them though and don't want to be treated as if I were. I also think that EVERYONE needs to MOVE on with it too. I never even knew what discrimination was til someone reminded me, reminded me again, reminded me again, accused me falsely of it, treated me like I had done something to them when I hadn't and so on. Seems every day someone is reminding me of it, but yet wanting things in our nation to improve. Well I say "quit bringing it up and reminding people of it" unless there is REALLY an issue. It breeds discrimination when you accuse people of it falsly and try to make others feel like you have done something wrong when you haven't. It's gone too far in our society. We are trying to get over it but EVERYONE has to get over it if you know what I mean. How many times has someone been written up at work b/c someone broke the rules, but the person wouldn't accept they did anything wrong, it must be that someone must discriminating against them. WHAT? Now that makes me MAD! I accept responsibility for how I treat others and my responsibility for how I WORK and I expect EVERYONE to do the same. No one gets a break just b/c of their color, from the rules. I guess I must have needed to purge this information. lol It's been a long few years in HR! lol And I feel I HAVE been discriminated against and harassed myself for several years over a problem that is not even mine. But I kept my mouth shut until now!
I read the book, but have not seen the movie. I learned one thing from the book that answered a question I had.
We bought a house about 7 years ago. It has an addition on one side of the garage which we were told was the "maid's quarters". I was confused, because it consisted of a bathroom (complete with shower, toilet and sink. The other room was very small (as in about 7 ft. X 9 ft.) with two exterior doors, a bathroom door and 2 windows. The only wall, not having doors or windows, has floor to ceiling shelves and closet. There is absolutely no place to put a bed or anything else of significance. I could never figure out how it could be "quarters" for anybody.
According to the book, the maid's quarters are usually built away from the house. It is used for changing into the maid's uniform and having a bathroom so the maid didn't have to use the bathroom in the house. That fits exactly the only possible use for this place.
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