Tomorrow, or all weekend rather, we celebrate Independence Day! Our forefathers worked hard to establish rights for themselves. Consider this: it took 144 years for the privilege of the vote to be extended to women. Today, the women suffragists who effected that change are but footnotes in History books, even though they dedicated their lives to the Cause.

There always has been a discrepancy in treatment among classes, races, and the empowered who hold most of the money of society. There is a decided pecking order. For those who refuse to grovel, there is always a high price to pay, whether it is from the lash or from a lashing of the tongue.

I was just reading a first hand account written in 1898 by a former mill girl. It is a retrospective on her life, when working at the Lowell mills. Long hours, poor working conditions, and work for children that would be considered abusive by today’s standards, prevailed. Yet, the girls themselves were thankful for the work, the small sums of their own that they could bank or put in the collection bucket at church, or use to buy a new dress. In many cases, money was sent to support brothers in college. At the time, (1840) few colleges admitted women.

There is no equality between men and women and there never will be. Those who think so are only fooling themselves. Most often, women are victims. They are pushed around by drunks and ne’er do wells who would like to think they should control all of the household money. Not much has changed, truly, since the early 1800s, when women began trying to advocate for their own legal rights.

For all of our big “talk” about equality of the races, there is an innate dislike of anyone who looks different than us. That includes “older” people and “heavy” people, as well as people who are of a different faith or political persuasion. It is as though we have to be homogeneous and fit a certain standard, in order to be acceptable to our fellow human beings.

We should have written these words – “All men are created equal, except when they are not.”

The concept of “Freedom” becomes an illusion. Who is truly free, and how was their freedom attained?

Today, I have more questions than answers. I continue to be baffled by people who feel entitled to pass judgment on others. The only conclusion I can arrive at is this: The Human Race is Nuts!

Patricia Cummings
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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 at 3:19 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.