[Arius]

So, after a moment's reflection it seems much is clearly proven by this thread.

Most of us see the present through the distortion of the past. Because of this, most of us will never see what really is because what really is to them is not real, it is a projection of the past repeating itself. Yet, when they are held up to the same standard, they rebel.

So why would it be odd that those African Americans who lived through the oppressive 20th century would not see white America in the same light? They still see an America who lynches them, who segregates them at the lunch counter, who makes them sit at the back of the bus, and who pays them much less for hard labor than it does white America, so why - or rather how - can we who judge them through what we see in the past fault them for judging or acting as if they are still in it? It seems again we throw stones from glass houses.

And yes, the vision of the past for African Americans is passed down through the generations. Only we can change who the future looks by not giving those who have suffered under the hands of oppression a feeling as if they still are. I am hopeful, as I see a much different racial interaction between my children's generation and my own, that we are not breeding mirrors of ourselves, but thoughtful, understanding, compassionate and PEACEFUL children. This is the hope for America.

It is evident that when YOU (or me) have to use offensive behavior despite the feelings of others, or through action prevent others from being equal to you, that YOU (or me) is coming from a position of inferiority. WE who offend or oppress have one of two conditions it would seem: we either feel inferior and are striving for some semblance of superiority, or we feel inferior because we are having the attachment to what makes us feel superior challenged. It would seem our egoic need to be superior generates all kinds of false realities, and does so through the lens of the past.

There is a spiritual belief that everything you feel now is not new...it is generated by the past. It is also widely held that enlightenment is, in part, feeling as if EVERYTHING is being felt for the very first time. You now longer see now through the past, you see now for now. In this, you no longer cede importance to the past or the future.

It is also widely known that those who live in the past are doomed to repeat it. I, for one, understanding and being a student of history, have no need to relive that misery.