Down the rabbit hole
I learned what Juneteenth was today. It made sense in my head when I read about it. My husband is very much a...literal?...American about it all. Equal means equal, all lives matter, we are all people and should be treated as such whether your black, yellow, white, red, purple, blue, green, male, female, a transvestite, an executive transvestite, from Earth, from Mars, from Transylvania, from the Moon, it's all about the character and the actions or reactions he perceives from you that matters to him. I would have to agree with him on that point.
However, history and culture don't always react to form in that way. As all those sayings state, the victors write the tales, the loudest cry is always heard first, ect.; it's the voices heard (and usually the loudest money and movement talks) that create society's norms and culture and history. Also to note, while all lives matter, one should not ignore that each life has its own piece of history, culture and societal norms that is important on its own. Yes, slavery of the black community is not the first or even last to be conducted and emancipated (my husband was quick to point out the Jews and the Asian cultures), but it is and was a major part of their individual and everyone's else's global history (especially for the western cultures where it's the loudest outcry) and it IS something to recognize and celebrate.
Juneteenth is what prompted this post, however, the rabbit hole grew deeper. The book by Bobbi Conn from yesterday's post had me thinking and looking into our history in this sort of light. History shows us of cultures and economies fight the fight over "good" vs "evil" when "lawless" lands were tamed. Whether, it's the Irish who had their own set of ways and territories and clan chiefs that the Normans basically conquered and then integrated with, or the corrupt bad guys that fueled the economy (and their pockets) for spurts of time before inevitably getting dead by the crackdown of the law. Yes, it's gruesome and immoral, unethical, and dangerous but it is the backbone of human society, of human nature. Without the bad, we wouldn't have the good, the hope, the wealth, the security, the structures, and rules we enjoy and critique today. As any god and nature entity can tell you, life is a balance and there would be no cycles, no progression, no growth without it.
