James' World 2

View of the Grand Canyon from Cape Royal, Arizona Missed News 047A

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1. fgsjr2015
   Dec 17, 2022 @ 23:04:26

   Perhaps also smile much of it away. … This may sound smug/self-righteous/sanctimonious (and maybe even a bit off on a tangent), but in present-day social climates of heated emotions and violent intolerance, it may not be enough to just not think/act hateful; we also need to display kindness, perhaps through a sincere smile.

   As one notable example, following the killings in London, Ontario, last year of four members of a family for being Muslim, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested to Canadians that “the next time you see a woman in a hijab or a [Muslim] family out for a stroll, give them a smile.”

   Due to seemingly plentiful incidents of hate-motivated crimes, his thoughtful request can be applicable to a wide array of such inexcusable attacks. I feel that offering a sincere smile can be a healthy and powerful, yet relatively effortless, potential response by caring individuals to acts of hate targeted at other identifiable-group members of society. (One might also wear anti-hate symbolism, e.g. a colored ribbon or shirt.)

   I decided to do this as my own rebellious response to the (as anticipated) acts of racial/religious intolerance that soon followed Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory. Anti-Trump demonstrators’ catchy slogan was “Love Trumps Hate”. Not much for the non-family ‘love’ part, I would do the next best thing by offering a sincere smile.

   But when offering a smile, one should do so promptly. In my first attempt, with a passing woman wearing a Muslim head scarf, I hesitated long enough (likely for fear of possibly offending her modesty) for her to catch my blank stare and quickly look away. Bitterly ironic, the opposite of my intended friendly gesture was therefor likely perceived by her.

   I made sure to not repeat the mistake, however, as I passed a middle-aged Black woman along the sidewalk. To me, she had a lined expression of one who’d endured a hard life. I gave her a smile, and her seemingly tired face lit up with her own smile, as though mine was the last thing she’d expected to receive. We always greet one another, since then, and converse when awaiting the bus.

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   • Mohenjo
     Dec 18, 2022 @ 03:20:19

     Worth a try!

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     • fgsjr2015
       Dec 18, 2022 @ 21:26:20

       And of course there’s child-rearing it away. Racist sentiment is typically handed down generation to generation. If it’s deliberate, it’s something I strongly feel amounts to a form of child abuse: to rear one’s impressionably very young children in an environment of overt bigotry — especially against other ethnicities and races.

       Not only does it fail to prepare children for the practical reality of an increasingly diverse and populous society and workplace, it also makes it so much less likely those children will be emotionally content or (preferably) harmonious with their multicultural and multi-ethnic/-racial surroundings.

       Children reared into their adolescence and, eventually, young adulthood this way can often be angry yet not fully realize at precisely what. Then they may feel left with little choice but to move to another part of the land, where their own ethnicity/race predominates, preferably overwhelmingly so.

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View of the Grand Canyon from Cape Royal, Arizona Missed News 047A