“Bridges connect people” and other Yooper Bloopers.
Warning, this rant may not be politically correct but I gotta do it.
The blooper in the title is from a conversation The Commander had a teachers’ meeting downstate. That’s below the Macky-Nack Bridge, folks, but maybe y’all knew that. Another teacher was trying to be charitable (or something) to her northern counterpart. And then there was the time that some supposedly edumicated woman from Coldwater or someplace asked The Commander why the heck she would ever want her kids to go to college anywhere but in Da Yoop. Well, what is the answer to *that* question? There is no answer. And, fer Kee-reist. The Commander grew up in the Dee-troit area and worked at the now-demolished Downtown Hudsons back in its heyday. So, um, who y’all callin’ a Yooper???
Fast forward. We are now in the 21st century. Year 2009. Aren’t we? Sigh… I recently heard a report that a citizen of a northern Great Lakes State town believes that there are no Jewish folk left on earth. I don’t know the person and neither do you and the person was from a different town from The Soo. But. SAY WHAT!!!??? It is true that the Great White North does not have a huge Jewish population but Jewish folks do live here (not to mention all over the earth!) and they are just as positive contributors to the society of the Great White North as anyone else who lives here. When I was a little kid, a Jewish family lived across the alley from our house and I don’t ever remember thinking that they were any different than we were except that they lit candles on Friday night and didn’t go to church and Sunday School. So what! And I wasn’t always all that crazy about Sunday School for my own very personal 3-year-old reasons, i.e., it was tolerable if I could manage to snag the red chair.
Ah well. I might be able to write a book about all of this but I won’t for now. Wherever we live or whatever our ethnic/religious background, can’t we just all get along together?
February 15th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Or can’t we accept(and embrace) that we are all different, with unique beliefs–all worthy of respect?? Well, except certain cultish people who are very wacky.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:13 am
What Margaret said! I’m fine with everyone’s differences, because that gives me an opportunity to learn what makes them unique! The different histories and cultures of different religions and countries, etc., etc.
And “what Margaret said” re the cultish wack-jobs – I’ve been in a couple of situations where a cult-ish type has attempted to do an “instantaneous conversion” or “save my soul” and it is not a pleasant realization to discover what I’d innocently walked into (I might blog about the time my landlord blocked my way into where I was living one summer so he could “save my soul”….then again, maybe I won’t)…. and very difficult to extract oneself because they tend to stick like Chef Boy-Ar-Dee pizza dough…
February 15th, 2009 at 8:59 am
I do agree about the cult folks. My mantra is “live and let live” and I expect others to return the favor.