I Love Thursday’s

My post this week will be a reflection on the crazy times we are living in and concerns for what this world will be like when my grandchildren and great grandchildren are all grown. I had thought that this “once in a lifetime” pandemic was one of the most topsy turvy roller coaster rides of emotions that we could ever experience. Little did I know what was coming.

I loved seeing how the quilters and sewers in our world pulled together in spite of the stress and anxiety and made thousands upon thousands of masks, sharing patterns and tips, making a monotonous job easier. Remember the times you were laughed at and teased for the stash you had hoarded? Wasn’t it wonderful that you had the abundance of fabric to pull from?

I’m sitting here after a week and a half of death, violence, chaos, turmoil, protests and sheer craziness not just in America, but around the world like so many of you. The tears have fallen, the anger rising to the forefront of my emotions. How is it that more young people are being murdered, beaten and abused by police and nothing has yet changed? Canada is famous worldwide for our politeness and friendliness. Little known is the deep bond we share with America of racial discrimination. Long have our native brothers and sisters been raped, murdered, beaten and put down. We have a history of discriminating against the freed slaves that came north to be free and settle in a land of opportunity. Racial discrimination towards the Chinese has long been a part of our history. They came here to work in our goldfields and on our railways and ended up being abused. So many Canadians ignore or are not aware of this part of our history which has become an ingrained part of our society. Black, brown, yellow, red. The colours we love to use in our quilts. How many of us understand what being part of a society that is comprised of people of all these different colours, race and religions can actually mean. Ask any person who has been carded, beaten or verbally abused by any person; be they civilian or military.

During these months of lockdown, social distancing and anxiety I have had a few experiences that had me facing and exploring my thought and feelings about discrimination and how I react to it. I like the fact that I can stand up to an obnoxious young woman in a long grocery line who swore at me when I let an older gentleman go in front of me with his two items since there was no express line. I am proud of myself that when I heard a young clerk, who is a Syrian refugee being berated by a rude customer, I stepped in to remind the customer that we live in a country where we all have forefathers who were immigrants. I broke down and cried when the young lady thanked my and suggested that I shouldn’t speak up and risk any repercussions. She said she was USED TO IT.

How sad is that? No person should have to be used to being abused; not verbally, not physically.

In spite of all the pain, death, suffering and abuse, I like seeing the moments when people speak up. I like seeing the thousands of people marching and chanting peacefully.

In a time where we are going to be remaking our world to recover from the effects of Covid I do have a glimmer of hope that we as a society just might start learning that we are all equal and no police officer should walk free after committing murder, or (possibly) throwing a young woman over a balcony to her death, or deliberately running down a person with a Police Vehicle, or punching out a person, or taser them until they die. I know many members of the RCMP. Most of them are people who joined the force because they care about people and honestly wanted to help. I have only ever met one member who talked about being able to pull his gun and shoot people. He was young and luckily fell in love with and married a wonderful woman who was able to change the way he looked at people. He has now been a member for over 20 years, has never pulled his gun, or even used undue force during an arrest. When I first met him, I feared for the people he came in contact with. Now I can honestly say that I like him and I really like that he is a member of the organization that is here to serve and protect our society.

I am not going to repost any of the thousands of pictures of violent clashes, destruction, looters or crying relatives. Instead I will post a quote from Martin Luther King:

“We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” MLK

I like seeing the peaceful protests and hope that Presidents Obama’s words will ring true: “make them uncomfortable and then make a change”. We can only hope that these words do come true. Voting is our greatest weapon. I hope that in your next election you will listen to the words of your candidates, watch their faces while they are talking. If you really watch and listen you will know if they speak from their heart. You can tell a lot by watching their eyes.

This rings so true. You can make a difference by speaking up when you see an inequity. There are times when we can no longer be silent. We do not have a choice. If our grandchildren and great grandchildren are to have a good life, we need to make the change. We can chose to set a better example and not have the shuttered vision of the past.

We can put our heads down and keep sewing to bring more beauty in to our world. We can keep giving our love and understanding in the charity quilts we make. We can make a difference. We can teach our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren that they are equal; not better, not more important, not different.

I do like glancing at the screen while DH watches tv. He was watching a show and I saw, hanging on the wall, a quilt that grabbed my attention. I had to stop quilting to watch the show with my phone in hand to get a picture. I just might have had some inspiration hit me!

Thank you for stopping by and managing to read my post to the end. I apologize for the length of the post but not my words. They come from my heart. 🤯 Carol

I’m linking with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Colour. Several people share their likes through her blog post.