A Contrast in Society

At work I subscribe to a service that searches the Internet for key words on news sites and blogs. I get emails daily that contain brief descriptions and links. I use the service to make sure that I don't miss a good story. It is really like searching for a needle in a hay stack, but I'm confident some day it will pay off.

Today I was sent a link that shocked me.

The link appeared to be a news site, but the title to what was a local news story was clearly racially offensive. I clicked on the link and found a site that evidently was dedicated to gathering news stories about minorities and other target groups. I didn't stay at the site for long but the news stories appeared to be plucked from reputable news sites and supplied with new, racially charged or hate-filled headlines. It looked like there were stories from all over the nation. And the bottom of the site contained lots of racially charged propaganda.

Later in the afternoon I witnessed a stunning contrast.

I was walking through a parking lot and watched as an elderly white man approached a black man in military uniform. As the soldier stood near a car with what looked like his wife and small child, the elderly man said, "thank you for the service you perform in behalf of our country, I really appreciate it."

And then he walked away.

I couldn't tell if he noticed that the small child was wearing a Michael Vick jersey, but, then again, I doubt he would have cared.