This morning I woke up to a barrage of texts on my phone. One was from a co-worker (& fellow Union & Negotiation Committee Member) asking me if I knew there was a Committee Meeting going on AT THAT VERY MOMENT. That message came in at 9am & I received it at 11am... so I guess I was not aware of that meeting :)
Two more came in from out-of-state friends that were informing me of various, rather unimportant things... and the last message was from an old "friend" with whom I went to college with. His is the text that incited me to write this entry.
I'm sure that if he read this he would know immediately who I was talking about, but with no intentions to hurt any one's feelings, I will be vague about the details of our exchange & keep most of my disappointment with it to a minimum.
In fact, my disappointment isn't really even about him personally. He had already disappointed me in the past & I'm sure that he is aware of that. But I had hoped that, when I saw his text come in, there would be a reconciliation, some apologies from both sides & our reunion would be a joyful one. If that were the case you would not be reading this entry right now.
I guess the pleasant reunion went awry when he asked, "What have you been up to lately?". Seems like a harmless question, right? I thought so, too, until I answered his question, in part, by mentioning that I had been looking into joining an Obama 2012 Campaign Team that's near my home. His response to that caught me off guard. You see, he & I once attempted to start a Non-Profit Organization that aimed to assist young Sudanese men & women that had fled Africa and came to settle here in Pittsburgh. The idea was a beautiful one, but when it came to people dedicating the time & efforts they had promised, the idea had remained just that, an idea.
I guess there's more to it than that... this "friend" (who I will refer to as "Fox" from here on out... Not to be confused with my ADORABLE nephew Fox David Larkin, or the never "fair & balanced" Fox News, or the X-Files' spooky star, Fox Mulder) & I were Executives in this group, a group which consisted of: a Professor, several fellow students native to PGH & a few Sudanese gentlemen that now lived in PGH & were taking classes at the same college as the rest of us. It was a great mix of intelligent, caring & seemingly dedicated individuals & we all had high hopes for our organization. We enlisted the help of some very generous Duquesne Law School students to assist us in filing our Federal forms (that would grant us the NPO status needed to undertake our mission) & help with other important issues & consultations. We had a brilliant & progressive Professor on our side. Our Sudanese members were the perfect, living, breathing example of who we intended on helping through our mission. And I, as President & Co-Founder had constructed detailed Bylaws (voted through by our Board, unanimously) by which we would be governed & aid us in successfully carrying out our mission. Everything seemed to be right on track. Key word here: SEEMED.
Like I mentioned above, I was the President & Co-Founder. Fox was Treasurer & Co-Founder. At that time we had not elected a Vice President nor a Secretary, so I served as interim Secretary, taking Minutes of our meetings, leading correspondences w/other organizations & basically keeping records of all NPO-related necessities. Fox served as Treasurer & interim VP. We were pretty good friends at that time, considering the majority of the responsibilities were squarely placed on our shoulders. The success or failure of our organization would depend upon us; upon our dedication, our love for the cause, our ability to handle our elected responsibilities. To make a very long story short, our organization never got off of the ground. We had built the foundation & had even begun to built the road that we would soon travel on. But the dedication, the love & the responsibility of some didn't last. The loss of those things is why I am presently disappointed in Fox.
But let's get back to this mornings texts & the disappointing exchange I had with Fox...
Obviously, I had been disappointed with the way things had turned out with our NPO attempt & I obviously placed some of that blame on Fox & his actions (or lack of), which is why I hadn't talked to him for so long. The text I got from him today was the first communication we had had in a couple years. Don't get me wrong, he was a nice guy. He was even a descent friend & colleague at the time. But in the end he revealed his true colors. Today, after all these years, he revealed them even further.
Remember how I told you he ask what I had been up to lately & I had told him I was intending to join the Obama campaign? Well, I expected him to be like, "Oh wow man! That's cool! Good to see that your still fighting for those in need, those less fortunate. Even after all these years you are still sticking true to what your heart tells you is the right thing to do! I'm glad to hear that!" ...or something of that nature. That was not the case. Actually, that was nearly the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what he had said in reply to my answer. Instead he said something along the line of, "You won't find me in the Obama camp", which in one sense didn't surprise me knowing that as much as he talked about being for "a cause", he never really followed through with any actions, i.e., our NPO attempt. And in another sense it DID surprise me because, despite all of his inaction's & lack of dedication, he still seemed to have a soft-spot in him somewhere that felt for people in need, which in my opinion would entice a person to join the "Hope & Change" campaign that Obama has & is running on.
I dug deeper into his statement, asking, "What do you mean by that? Aren't you a Democrat?". "I am very much a conservative, but not really a Republican", he replied. "...the choices (of Republican candidates) aren't too good in my eyes. But I like Herman Cain! Do you know him?", he concluded. Do I know Herman Cain? Do I know the joke of a candidate that is referred to as HERMAN CAIN??? Does the Pope shit in the woods??? Anyone who follows politics, and I mean FOLLOWS politics, LEGITIMATELY, knows who Herman Cain is & what a total bigoted, know-nothing, pizza-tossing ASS Herman Cain is! He is the same guy that said he would NEVER, under any circumstance (except the denouncing of their Islamic faith), allow any of the 1.5 billion Muslims, worldwide, to ever serve in his administration in any respect, period, point-blank. I believe that is considered "Islamophobia", or more simply put, small-minded, ignorant & EXTREMELY BIGOTED!
He is also the man that claims: “The objective of the liberals is to destroy this country. The objective of the liberals is to make America mediocre." That sounds to me, as journalist Jay Bookman put it, like "it is not the rhetoric of a man capable of becoming president. It is the rhetoric of a talk-radio host, armed with the one-liners, pat answers and applause lines honed by sitting night after night at the microphone." Even hate-monger Rush Limbaugh said after the South Carolina GOP 'debate': "Herman Cain made me think I was listening to me in every answer.” On this very rarest of occurrences I will have to agree with The Pill Man... Cain DOES sound a lot like him!
He thinks communities have the right to ban the construction of places of worship on the basis of religion... just like Rush does. Um, hello... 1st Amendment... ever hear of it?? Freedom of religion FOR ALL AMERICANS, Herman... not just those who worship like YOU do! He even went as far as saying the Willard Mitt Romney could never be elected President because of his Mormon religion. Talk about idiocy, self-righteousness & embarrassing ignorance of the Constitution! Jesus, Herman... is there a religion that you DON'T hate or feel the need to bash?
He also sided briefly, until proven WRONG, with the bat-shit crazy Birthers... just like Rush did & surely will continue to do despite the facts.
So, do I know Herman Cain...?? You bet I do!! And I also know that bigots can come in ALL COLORS, Herman!
That was just the beginning of my continued disappointment with Fox that I woke up to today.
Like I said before, I won't go into all the details of the exchange Fox & I had, I think I have made a point: Even when you think you know someone but deep inside your heart/mind is telling you that something is "off" about them, that they are not fully honest or true to themselves, or when they even go as far as proving to you that they are not really who they claim to be... you should probably believe it. You are probably right. and there should be no doubt after they PROVE it to you!
I knew after the fallout with Fox that he was not really the devoted, bleeding-heart hero of the less fortunate that he claimed to be. His view on Herman Cain supports that. So does the rest of the currently undisclosed conversation we had this morning. Its sad but what can one do?
Not everyone you meet in life is honest with you (& themselves) & have the best intentions in mind. It is difficult to find someone that cares about others as passionately as they do about themselves. If you encounter a person who DOES... value them! If you encounter a person who DOESN'T... politely pass on them and move on.
It is my opinion, based on experience, that life is too short, too precious & too valuable to waste on people who are greedy, selfish, disingenuous & unempathetic.
Thanks for reading!! --Jer--
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