Traveling

I've been traveling for the last few days hence no post yesterday. When I travel to various parts of America or even to other countries I try to talk to people whose sense of place is different from mine. Some people open up immediately and some will politely or abruptly dismiss my conversational inquiry.

In general, Americans either have a myopic worldview or one of absolutely no understanding that there are others in the world who have needs and rights in their daily struggles and just because their dress and color or beliefs are different it does not make them lesser or inferior.

I've concluded that most Americans have an innate prejudice that they are unwilling to admit and I include our political and business leaders in that statement. In my world travels I've observed inbred prejudices in every country and culture that I've visited, so it is not just an American trait. Prejudice, dispassion, fear and greed are pandemic and the cause of so much pain. Fear, I think is the worst one for it nourishes prejudice, encourages dispassion and falsely creates the belief that life's comfort is having more.

Having been away and a little out of touch and catching up with the headlines of the day, I was shocked, once again, at the blatent prejudice of Donald Trump. This man is antithetical to everything sacred in our constitution. His stump statements have offended just about every race and culture and his recent diatribe about banning Muslims from entering the country is nothing other than the promulgation of fear and the pandering to people's prejudice in order to win the GOP nomination.

He is a demagogue and if you need to embrace fear, that's where it should be directed.