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A beautiful Girl
#1
He was a big man, his skin was as black as ice on the highway and it glistened the same way in the sun….his nickname was Mandingo and he wore that name with pride. He fell in love when he was in his teens and married a woman of European heritage. Her skin although not white would pale next to his even when she had a tan. Twenty years later they were still happily in love even through all the strife that all interracial couples suffered through the 70’s and 80’s. They had three children the two eldest were daughters, the youngest a son who look much like his daddy. I met this family when I was in my teens…I was the same age as the second daughter and we became good friends in no time. On our way to becoming best friends we shared many stories and personal hardships with each other. Her eldest sister looked much like her mom, long straight brown hair and an olive complexion. My friend processed a combination of both her parents’ features. Her frame was small like her mothers and her skin was light …she teased that it was ‘pecan tan’ but her hair and her facial features left no doubt that Mandingo was her father. I never thought much about it until one day when I found her in tears. She told me she didn’t feel like she belonged and that she was tired of not being “white” like her sister. I know her sister didn’t mean to hurt her so badly…sisters pick on each other that is part of growing up in a family…but the things she said hurt my friend deeply…she teased about her ‘flat nose’ and about her ‘nappy hair’. It was hard enough going to school where even though she was a pretty girl and very ‘cool’, she couldn’t seem to find a boyfriend.. black guys thought she was too white and white guys thought she was too black. The things people would say under their breaths just loud enough for her to hear finally took their toll…..a person can only take so much ‘teasing’ before it destroys them.

Ok I was going to make this a story but I am not very good at creative writing and it hurts to bring it all back up…so let me just say…
I have known 3 people in my life that have committed suicide…..and while you may say they were unstable and should have received help….and I will agree with you to a point…2 of these people decided that they didn’t deserve to live only after habitual harassment from ‘friends’, family and peers. The other one was a wonderful, bright extremely gifted man who was openly ###### in the early 80s…it may not be easy now but it was harder back then. We lived in a small town where most people were not very forgiving of people with ‘different’ lifestyles. I miss these people and wish I could have done something to help them realize their value before others destroyed their souls.
Think about what you say to people…you never know just how much your words hurt others…or where they are in their lives and how your insensitivity may affect them. Point made I hope. I am always open to 'suggestions' for the language filter but some things I will not change.
peace
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#2
I was half tempted to take your post and create something out of it that represented something creative... but out of respect I thought I'd see whether you'd consider that objectionable...

Therefore, unless you say otherwise, I'll leave my fingers to type in more code/replies ;-) One thing I will say is, the feelings that it generates with it being so close, can be utilised to help put more depth into a new creation were others might just gloss over with facts...

Fortunately, I am very good at being empathic, and so I can see the hurt, pain, the daily struggles, the internal family issues. In fact, there's a whole peice of fiction trying to play out in my head right now just from reading what was above...

... consider parrallel's and opposites, scales and scenary...

Oh, and btw, I think I suck as a writer, because I'm FAR too logical/logic-based being a computer engineer/designer/programmer/techie/g33k
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