Are You Color Blind?

Above is a test that they give you to see if you are color blind. The image on the left has the number 45 in it and people whoa re not color blond can see that, but the image on the right is what people who are color blind will see. Color blindness is a hereditary problem. I have known a few people who were color blind and you have to feel kind of bad for them, because they can sometimes wear some pretty wild color combinations. This month is Black History Month and so we as a nation take time to recognize and celebrate some of the great things that African Americans have done for our nation. It is really cool to look at some of the things that they have contributed and/or invented. Here in Detroit our local news station does a really good job of giving us little factoids. But what I consider to be one of the best things to be contributed is the now famous "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. An interesting fact about this speech, it was first delivered here in Detroit a few months before it was delivered in our nations capital. I find great hope and inspiration in his speech. Here are some excerpts..... I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.... I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."..... I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that.... one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together...... This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.".... And when this happens, When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" I have the same dream and I believe that we are seeing much of that dream coming true today. I know that for me personally, I was raised color blind. My parent's had friends from all different kinds of backgrounds and races. I can even remember getting in a fist fight with my best friend because he made a racist comment. I never understood that mindset. The youth pastor I had growing up adopted to African-American girls and they call me Uncle Todd and I fully consider them my niece's. I hardly even notice that they are a different race from me. My brother-in-law is looking into adopting two African-American children and also a Puerto Rican boy. And if their adoption goes through they too will be part of our family and I will not notice that they "look different" from me, because all I know is that they are my niece and nephews. I have several friends that are African-American as well. I don't say all of this so that you can read this and say, "Wow! Todd is really a diverse person." Because quote honestly I do not see it as me being diverse. I just see it as me living. What bothers me is when I here people make stupid comments and have to throw race into it. As exampled in this article, "McNabb says Owens' criticism amounts to 'black-on-black crime'". What the heck did Terrell Owens say that would cause Donovan to say this? I'll show you. In November, responding to a question from Michael Irvin during an ESPN interview, Owens said Philadelphia would likely be in a better situation if Brett Favre was the quarterback instead of the banged-up McNabb. And Donovan said.... "It was like, it's unreal," McNabb said. "That's like me going out and saying, 'Hey, if we had Steve Largent. If we had Joe Jurevicius. It was definitely a slap in the face to me. It was a slap in the face because, as deep as people want to go into it, it was black-on-black crime." Somehow I never saw or even got out of T.O.'s comments that he was saying that the Philadelphia Eagles would have been better off with a white quarterback over the black one they currently had. What I saw was that T.O. said that Brett Favre (the human being) was a better quarterback then Donovan McNabb (the human being). It was not a race issue, but Donovan made it one. How the heck did it get to that? I have no idea, but I have said several times before that I believe that a lot of racism exists in this country not because of white people, but because of black people finding it where it was not meant to be. Why is it that the NFL has a rule that teams must interview a black coach? Do they honestly believe that every team in the league looks at the coaching candidates and says that they won't hire that guy because of the color of his skin? I don't think so. NFL teams want to win games and so they will take the best candidate available. Don't get me wrong, I know that there are still white people who do see color and it influences them. But I honestly believe that one a whole we don't. But instead we have affirmative action in our nation, because it is believed that it will create equality. Does it? I don't think so. I think it flies in the face of what Martin Luther King, Jr. said. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Does affirmative action programs judge people on the content of their character or on the color of their skin? And that is why I have a problem with it and why I have a problem with things like what Donovan McNabb said. I believe Donovan set back race relations with his totally idiotic statement. So I end this where I began, "Are YOU color blind?" I am and I hope you are or will attempt to be.