![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chomijiI think one of the most common reasons why well-meaning people might not try to take action against an issue as big as racism is a simple feeling of being defeated before we start. There's a tendency to think, "The forces of prejudice are so massive and have such inertia that nothing I can do will make any sort of difference."
But I think that in this, as in so many other things, small steps should not be discounted or dismissed.
You might want to ask yourself, "To how many people do I need to make a difference before I can count it as worth while?"
Is "one" really too small a number?
Maybe not for a start.
I am talking to myself here as much as to anyone else. Once upon a time, perhaps more than 20 years ago, I made the day for one young man at a science fiction convention simply by making it clear that there were people of color among the pre-made player characters I had prepared for a roleplaying game I was running in Open Gaming. I don't know exactly what was going through his head when he grinned widely and exclaimed "He's black! This dude is black!" but it was something pleasant.
But now I think, wouldn't it be even better if a young person of color wasn't astonished to find him- or herself among the characters or a game - or a book - or a comic, because it was the norm?
I need to do more. I need to do my part so that the day I've just described will arrive.
one is where it all starts :)
Date: 2007-08-06 09:06 pm (UTC)The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the boy continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.
As he came up to the boy he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The boy looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"
Re: one is where it all starts :)
Date: 2007-08-06 10:01 pm (UTC)We have such twin brains ... I was thinking of citing that story (although as is the way of folklore, I had heard it with a little girl as the protagonist), but chickened out. Part of my decision was because I checked online, trying to find the history of it, and I found that some people have been making it more didactic by adding a new ending, where the child inspires others to go help with all the starfish and they are all saved - ta-da, happy ending, the end. Without the new ending, it's thought-provoking little squib - with the new ending, it's a morality fable. Why did someone have to wreck it ...??
Thanks for the affirmation. I often wonder what happened to that particular starfish. He probably has kids of his own by now. I hope he is still reading SF&F.
Re: one is where it all starts :)
Date: 2007-08-08 02:29 am (UTC)that particular starfish is probably best friends with happy shellfish :p
no subject
Date: 2007-08-06 10:11 pm (UTC)And for the icon! :)
no subject
Date: 2007-08-06 10:26 pm (UTC)Thanks for joining in, Resa-ji!
no subject
Date: 2007-08-06 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-09 01:24 pm (UTC)(BTW, I have been posting your IBARW links to the daily link collection pages in the IBARW site, but I will be leaving for vacation tomorrow morning, so you will need to do this yourself if you want them to show up on the big link pages they're building on del.icio.us.)
no subject
Date: 2007-08-07 08:54 am (UTC)Just letting you know,
--Asicho
no subject
Date: 2007-08-07 05:29 pm (UTC)Hello, Asicho-ji! Thanks for joining in!
(I have been on a manga-reading kick, so I have been doing most of my online talking through the LJ, rather than on Shejidan, that's all.)
no subject
Date: 2007-08-07 09:08 pm (UTC)шкаф купе на заказ
Date: 2011-05-05 04:27 pm (UTC)