Finding Inner Peace

There is a comfort in hanging out with family in an area that's been your home for 200 years.  Maybe it's just context.  Being down here helps me to understand the various forces that went into the shaping of my character and values. 

Comments

[brenda]

Welcome home to the South Houston! Has it changed too awfully much?

[marallyn]

shalom houston...you wanna see old? come visit...i'll show you old...i mean talking to God in Jerusalem is a local call...loved your post...being home is always delicious

[Cyndie]

The Screen Door Unlocked

There was a time when the screen door was always unlocked.

My father remembers sitting in the family living room while on leave from the US Marine Corps, talking to Grandma and Grandpa. The door swung wide open and a group of young hellions would race through the living room. Grandpa would grin at the youthful energy and Daddy asked, "Who are those young-uns?"

"Haven't any idee," Grandpa would say, but no one was going to chase them off. The door was always open.

After experiencing centuries of ostracism from mainstream society, my family learned something -- a fundamental truth which is still part of the fabric of their descendents. We need each other. That door is always open.

That is why I was shocked to the core when I read an outburst laced with profanity, "we don't need them." Where did this come from? That has not been our family way --this is NOT the legacy bequeathed to us from those who walked the green valleys with hearts as big as the moon and smiles as bright as the sun.

Despite the troubled past, our families never shut each other out. I can't remember my grandparents shutting even a stranger out. It wasn't our way.

I once asked one of my grandmothers why our people were so despised and she told me not to use that word, for hatred is not our way. I will repeat her words as often as I can as a gentle reminder.

What has happened to us?