Monday, January 21, 2008

Martin Luther King Day


"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

A few years ago, a co-worker explained the black experience to me: How he felt like a suspect every time he entered a department store. How people became suspicious when he looked at products more than a few seconds. How he was followed by security throughout almost every store.

We see many signs of hope: Obama having a realistic chance to become the next president. A new leadership emerging in the black community.

But there are many troubling signs: Incarceration of black youths are horrendously high, societal changes have not translated into economic equality. We have a long way to go.

"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."
Living in Los Angeles feels like an isolated pod experience: From your home pod to your work pod, back to your home pod and ending at the entertainment pod.
Social networks help us leaving the pod and experiencing other experiences:
Black experience. Hispanic experience. Korean experience.

Social networks are about embracing people. Embracing diversity. Humanity. Let's make sure we stay on this path.
"All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem."

1 comment:

Bill A. said...

Uwe, Thanks for the post