One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.

His name was Kyle.

It looked like he was carrying all of his books.

I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.'

I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him.

They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt.

His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him.

He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes

My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.

As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks. '

They really should get lives.

' He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!'

There was a big smile on his face.

It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.

As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before.

He said he had gone to private school before now.

I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.

We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books.

He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.

I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends

He said yes.

We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.

I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!

' He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends..

When we were seniors we began to think about college.

Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke..

I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never
be a problem.

He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class.

I teased him all the time about being a nerd.

He had to prepare a speech for graduation.

I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak.

Graduation day, I saw Kyle.

He looked great.

He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school.

He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.

He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.
Boy, sometimes I was jealous!
Today was one of those days.

I could see that he was nervous about his speech.

So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!'

He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled.

' Thanks,' he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began

'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years.

'Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends...

'I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.

'I am going to tell you a story.'

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met.

He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.

He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.
He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.

'Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.'

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.

I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.

Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions.

With one small gesture you can change a person's life.

For better or for worse.

I recently finished reading White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era by Shelby Steele. It was a magnificent book, long overdue in America. (Why do I always feel the need to say that he's a Black Man? That says something about this culture of fear brought about by the PC Police, doesn't it? The fact is, if this very same book, word for word, was written by a White Man it would have no social merit at all, would it? It probably wouldn't even have been published. That's really sad and sort of says it all, really.) I know that for me it brought out a wonderful sense of validity for the way I have looked at race issues all my life. That is, people should be taken for who they are, individually, not for what they are as a race. A person of good character is not elevated by being of a certain race nor is a person of ill character lowered by being of any particular race; we are who we make ourselves to be.

Anyway, after finishing that book, I think about two weeks ago, and giving it a friend to read, coming across this piece by Mike Adams was like a Cliff Note of that book's main premise. That is, treating a person as 'special' because he is White or Black, is just two ways of acting racist. Affirmative action is a way of saying that Blacks can't make it without special consideration; that's racist. Not calling someone on their bad or antisocial behavior because he's Black (or Red or Yellow, or Brown, or whatever) is just lowering the bar for him and saying that he can't help himself because he's the race that he is; that's racist and heinous!

Dr. Adams says it far better than I can and Shelby Steele goes into it at great length, going back to his days in collage in the 60's through the Civil Rights movement and how he watched racism simply transform itself to allow some White's to be racist while believing otherwise and why they are surprised when their 'compassion' isn't appreciated by the very people they purport to be 'helping'. He also goes on to show how unscrupulous Blacks have made a living off of this phenomenon at the cost of keeping Blacks in an entitlement frame of mind, living off the government, content with their exploitation by the likes of Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, and their ilk.

If you can, read the following; and, if you think you can take any more, read White Guilt. It may change your life.

Homie-phobia

By Mike S. Adams

Monday, June 18, 2007

The other day, a guy at work was telling me about another university employee who has been siphoning gas from one of the university vehicles. It's understandable that he'd want to steal gas. In the wake of this Republican "war for oil" gas prices have never been higher.

But the funny thing is that the university appears unwilling to do anything about what seems to be an obvious case of larceny. And, oh yes, I forgot to mention that the employee just happens to be a black male. It's understandable that people would want to avoid a rush to judgment against a black male because it could be misinterpreted as racism. But isn't holding black males to a lower standard of behavior itself an example of racism?

A teacher once told me about a student who walks around campus with a comb in his afro, a jam box on his shoulder, and a pair of jeans falling off his butt leaving six inches of his boxers exposed to the public. Unsurprisingly, the teacher thinks his appearance is working to his detriment. No one would hire someone unless his position in the boxers versus briefs controversy was a well-kept secret throughout the entire interview process.

But the teacher never said anything to the young man. And, yes, the jam box-toting fellow is a young black male and the teacher is white. It's understandable that the teacher fears being labeled a racist the second he says something to the youngster. But, by holding his tongue, isn't he holding the student to a lower standard of behavior and, hence, contributing to racism? Not to mention the fact that he's allowing a young black male to exacerbate harmful stereotypes of other young black males.

Recently, I heard Bill O'Reilly call Al Sharpton a "smart guy." I could see why Bill would refrain from calling him a "dumb guy" on his show. After all, Bill would never be rude to one of his guests. (Set sarcasm detector to "on").

But when I think about the time Al took advantage of a deranged girl (and helped her advance an obviously contrived story that she had been raped and sodomized) I realize that Al is a very dumb guy. After all, the fake story got him sued for defamation. It's understandable that people would want to avoid calling him "dumb" because he might accuse them of racism (or maybe even rape, sodomy, or nappy-headed-ness). But isn't holding Al Sharpton to such a low standard of behavior an example of racism?

I'm thinking, too, of a professor who has a bit of a problem keeping his affections for female students in check while in the classroom. The problem gets a lot worse when he sucks down a few drinks. In fact, he can be seen slobbering all over coeds in public on any given weekend.

But, aside from a few anonymous comments on www.RateMyProfessors.com, no one ever says anything to the professor. And, oh yes, I forgot to mention that he's black. It's understandable that no one wants to file one of those "hostile environment sex harassment" charges against him. It could result in a counter-charge of racial harassment. But isn't it racist to hold black men to a lower standard of conduct, here, too? Doesn't it send the wrong message; namely that "they" can't control their sexual impulses?

Finally, I've been thinking a lot about the concept of affirmative action, lately. Our efforts to lower standards for black people greatly exceed our efforts to raise blacks to higher standards in areas such as placement test stores and high school graduation rates. Of course, one can understand how this is merely an effort to be "inclusive."

But everyone interested in "inclusion" seems to gloss over the fact that black/white differences are not all about race. This is obvious because black women outperform black men on many important dimensions of educational attainment. I know that we don't want to criticize black men for fear of inflaming the emotions of certain black men (I will not mention any names like Al, or Jesse, or Louis). But isn't it racist to just accept the poor performance of black men without addressing the intervening factor of gender? Doesn't that cause some people to focus on genes when they should be focused on culture?

We've all heard of the concept of "homophobia," which I argue contributes to stereotypes of gays as hypersensitive and emotionally unstable. Maybe it's time to talk about a thing I call "homie-phobia" and how it hurts our perceptions of black males in the age of "tolerance" and "diversity."

----------------------------------------

Mike Adams is a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and author of Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor.

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Copyright © 2006 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved

From the Onion (www.onion.com)

Brother Jake sends me these stories all the time but this one just had to be forwarded in order to put last weeks event into its proper perspective.

This story has a certain blast of truth to it as well…

From: Jake P]
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 9:00 PM
To: Y'all
Subject: N. Korea Detonates 40 Years Of GDP

 ..

--
If Faith is my Blessing, Bless me with no doubt....

If there is one ingredient 
which adds warmth and love 
to our lives... 
it is Friendship. 

If there is one relationship to 
help us through all the others... 
it is Friendship. 

Friends surround us with 
the beauty of their caring. 
With friends we can share 
what we see, what we feel 
and what we love. 

Friends help us with our problems 
because they listen. 
And as they listen 
we begin to hear the language of 
our own hearts. 

With friends we can 
walk along the remembered 
paths of our lives and 
completely share our experiences. 

With friends we can work 
the soil of forgotten dreams 
that needed to be tended and 
nurtured once again. 

With friends we can 
plant the seed 
of our hearts 
new dreams. 

We can always return to a friend 
like going back to a special place... 
and find the same warm feeling 
unchanged by time or distance. 

Life gives us friends 
so we can share the precious times 
and memorable moments of 
being children, and teenagers, 
and adults, and parents, 
and grandparents. 

Life gives us friends 
so we can share 
the growing up... 
and growing down 
and old. 

With friends we have a place to go 
to be accepted and understood. 
Together we can laugh. 
Together we can cry. 
Our thoughts are heard, 
our feelings are held 
in the heart of a friend. 

With friends our lives are made 
more full, more rich, more open, 
beautiful and blessed !