PACAMERO-L Archives

From: "Dianne" <>
Subject: Re: [PA-CAMERON] A response to "Remember when:"
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 13:38:24 -0400

Great response Mike! Dianne

----------
> From: Mike <>
> To:
> Subject: Re: [PA-CAMERON] A response to "Remember when:"
> Date: Saturday, October 28, 2000 11:57 PM
>
> Linnea,
>
> If we wanted to focus on the ugly part of being human beings, we would be
> doing it elsewhere and could spend hours recounting atrocities against
each
> other that would make your list pale in comparison. Without much effort,
I
> can add to your list the torturing and imprisonment of my family members
for
> their religious beliefs, the massacre and butchering of whole towns full
of
> people, including 5 family members, for their political beliefs as they
> fought and died to form this Nation, the 8 family members who lost their
> lives along with 600,000 other men who came to the call of their
respective
> countries to settle the definition of America and died. I could add the
> thousands of men who died defending the ideals of Democracy around the
World
> in 3 Wars and several assorted "police actions." I could include my
> Austrian born family members who came to this country seeking political
> freedom, and what they must have endured as German speaking people living
> here during WW I, or my Irish ancestors who came to this country as white
> slaves, who endured as much bigotry and hardship as any other minority
group
> could ever dream of.
>
> At every turn, they picked themselves up and moved on. My ancestors
worked
> and struggled to make this Country a better place for their families who
> followed them...no less than any other group of people. Fortunately for
me,
> my family rose above their struggles and focused on their successes.
Today,
> I don't hate the British for killing my family members, I don't hate
> Southern people for killing my Northern family members, I don't hate
> Northern people for killing my Southern ancestors. As a nation, we don't
> even hate the Germans, Italians, Japanese, or even the Viet Namese. We as
a
> people are beyond that.
>
> What you are talking about Linnea is the ugly part of being Human. Guess
> what, today ain't so hot either. Today around the World there is war,
ethnic
> cleansing, more slaves than there ever were in our Country's past,
children
> and woman abuses that you cannot even comprehend, AIDs and other diseases
> that are wiping out whole countries in Africa and on and on and on. If
you
> want to make a difference focus on that.
>
> By passing on that list of "memories" I was not looking for "universal
> reverence." For you see, we too have different experiences of the good
old
> days. The difference is Linnea, we don't use them as excuses for our lot
in
> life.
>
> And for the focus of this forum, we chose to remember the warm and
fuzzies.
> We can access the other stuff elsewhere. Please go rain on someone
else's
> parade.
>
>
> Mike Wennin
> Come Visit the Cameron County Genealogy Project!
> http://www.rootsweb.com/~pacamero
> Check out the Erie County Genealogy page!
> http://www.rootsweb.com/~paerie
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Scott and Linnea <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2000 12:29 PM
> Subject: [PA-CAMERON] A response to "Remember when:"
>
>
> > This is my standard response to the "Remember When" poem that seems to
> > be a required posting on genealogy lists these days. It is from the
> > perspective of one of those dreaded "Gen Xers", so be forewarned. It
is
> > not only the retired who are tracing their roots!
> >
> > I do not remember all you talk about, but I have listened closely to
my
> > parents and my aunts when they talk about their lives when they were
> > young
> >
> > Among their memories...
> >
> > .getting beat up because their skin was a shade darker than that of
> > their peers. The only way to get ahead was to deny your ethnic
heritage
> > and pass for white
> >
> > . being refused credit, despite a good job, because a woman on her own
> > was deemed unable to handle her own finances.
> >
> > .living in the South and not being able to go a restaurant with your
> > best friend because she just happened to be of a different race
> >
> > .being the one who found your friend, dead in a parked and burnt out
> > car, which she set fire to herself, being pregnant, alone and seeing no
> > other options than to end it all.
> >
> > - being denied your right to vote, attend school, or to be treated
with
> > respect because you didn't have the "right" color skin.
> >
> > .being told that if you were raped or molested, it was your own fault
> > and of course we have to be more concerned about the fate of the man
> > involved because we don't want to ruin HIS life
> >
> > .listening to stories told by your grandmother, of the number of women
> > she knew who died during or soon after childbirth
> >
> > .living in fear of the next epidemic because this means that almost
> > certainly you would lose someone you love.
> >
> > .being denied a better paying job because you were a single woman and a
> > less qualified man with a family needed it more. What were you
supposed
> > to live on, air?
> >
> > .if two military officers got married, the woman was expected to give
up
> > her hard-won commision, even if she outranked her fiance.
> >
> > .stories of bigotry, sanctioned by society, against those whose looks,
> > beliefs or actions deviated from a very rigid set of rules, set by a
> > very small sector of the population.
> >
> > One of the things I have learned doing genealogy and reading history is
> > that the evils we think are modern inventions were always among us.
> > People were people, and just as capable of good and bad as people of
> > today. People still ran away from their spouses, had children out of
> > wedlock, cheated in land deals. Politicians were corrupt. Society was
> > worried about addictive substances. I strongly suspect that much of
the
> > nostalgia for these times is based on the privileges that certain, well
> > defined, groups of people had in those days. Those days when you
didn't
> > have to worry about the consequences of any form of bigotry, because
> > society agreed with you that you were superior. Given my choice, I
> > would much rather live now.
> >
> > I am not denying you your right to remember your youth through that
> > golden haze that time tends to give it. I have my own warm fuzzy
> > memories of when I was young. But please, don't expect your memories
to
> > be universally revered. Some had very different experiences of the
good
> > old days.
> >
> > Blessings,
> > Linnea
> >
> >
> > ==== PACAMERO Mailing List ====
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> ==== PACAMERO Mailing List ====
>
>

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• Re: [PA-CAMERON] A response to "Remember when:" by "Dianne" <>