The voice of the bewildered middle-aged woman's response at Senator McCain's rally--"no?"-- would be funny if it were not so sad. She seemed sincerely shocked as Senator McCain took the microphone from her saying, "No, ma'am, he isn't." We could not see her face, but we saw her full back, stateless frame, blond hair, and red blouse, perhaps indicative of the hate speech she had been taught as a child or the subtle acceptance of hate messages in daily life. (We must be vigilant about such things.) "No, ma'am," responded Senator McCain to those three dirty little words softly spoken. You know the ones.
The profound sadness is that this lady has been hoodwinked, brought to believe a lie by the shameful ads of the McCain campaign in the words of his VP choice, and in other despicable literature. The nameless faceless lady from the rally fought hard to even come up with the appropriate word to describe the lean intelligent beautiful black (well, half black :-)) thoughtful US Senator who could not possibly represent the images and words spoken of him, yet she found them. "He's an um...he's an Arab," she said softly.
She was not as belligerent as some of the others in the crowd, but her softness can be just as deadly. If we harbor hateful thoughts about others, they will most certainly come to the forefront. They will most certainly change how we interact with others. They will most certainly cause us to be weaker and not better. They will most certainly make our lives poorer and not richer.
I would that this little lady was my neighbor. I would gently speak words of assurance and peace to her. The sad thing is that Senator McCain is suppose to be a leader in the Senate who seeks the highest office in the land and he himself employs gutter tactics to deceive Americans. This is not leadership. Deception is a dangerous divisive thing. Be vigilant America! Don't be deceived.
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