update-leaving-america-saved-my-life

Well, CPT Jack Durish, in my world travels, while there were some interesting foreign words which equate to the English “N-Word,” I also found people who were in some cases curious, in other cases attracted, and in a few cases drunk enough to get to know me. I still laugh about the drunken Australian who put an arm around my shoulder and slurred, “I’m buying you a drink (because) I never bought a drink for a Ni##er before!” Hey, a free drink is a free drink!

Capt Dwayne Conyers - Interestingly, many Australians refer to the Aboriginal people (whom were treated as badly as Africans when they were enslaved in America, often worse) using the same word (forgive me but I had using N-word and other substitutes)

Hate has many seeds. And just like weeds, they grow as soon as you stop caring for the garden.

Well, MAJ Ken Landgren, the Fortune 50 company I worked for in the DC area were upset at my moving to California to marry my childhood sweetheart and has blocked me from employment (with them and any other company) since 2014. That kind of screwed up our marriage plans, to say the least…

What did they have a beef about, your moving or you getting married?

They wanted me working in the DC area and NOT in Los Angeles...

You got that right, SGT Kevin Hughes. Like the author of the story, I have been there, done that, and worn the tee shirt. I may have to return overseas for the final chapters of my journey.

Capt Dwayne Conyers - I have learned a lot in my travels, mostly because I made mistakes out of ignorance. I am like an onion, when I peel back the things I was taught, or believed about places or people, I found another layer that needed to be peeled away. I am a long long way from telling a woman what it was like to have a child (Yes, I did that) and a long long way from telling African American Service Men and women that I understand what it is like to be Black in America. (Yes, I did that too) Heck, I was forty years old before I realized that Shampoo for Normal Hair, meant white hair. Or flesh colored crayons came only in my shade. Prejudice built in the system, and I was totally unaware.
Travel both in the Service and out- taught me that humans everywhere can find a way to hate- if they so desire. But we can also find a way love, or at least be courteous and treat others as guests. For once we strip the onion (which I am still doing) we all really just want to have something meaningful to do, someone with meaning in our lives, and that we were a better person at the end of our lives, than at the beginning.
Sorry for the long answer...but I have had a long life- and it shows. Just throw something on the floor and tell me to "pick that up." Then, sit back and enjoy the show! LOL