$3.00 and change

That's how much I paid to go watch the 10 o'clock showing of The Help tonight. Personally I think that that movie is easily worth 10 times that much.
I had seen a preview and thought "I'd like to see that sometimes. Maybe I should rent it." But now I feel like kicking myself for not going to see it sooner.
I laughed, I cried and I said "Oh my God". I didn't mean it in a blasphemous way so don't freak out. But believe me, it had to be said. There were no other words.
As much as I love the other movies I've seen come out in recent years this by far surpasses them all. And honestly, I highly recommend you see it for yourself. You don't have to, so relax. But I'm putting it out there as a suggestion. Consider it, is all I'm saying.

Set in the 1960's during the Civil Rights movement a young woman decides to write a book about the African American maid's point of view on the white families that they're working for and the things they have to deal with on a daily basis.
So this book was considered to be extremely controversial and was technically illegal to even write. Let alone publish. So these women had to hide who they were by changing their names. And it took a horrible occurrence for these maids to step forward and tell their stories.
For a lot of the women portrayed in both the book (which I am now dying to read) and in the movie survival was their only goal. Not just for themselves but for their own families. These women had to cook, clean, wash, shop and raise the children for these white families. And the slightest discretion could see them out the door in two shakes.

What really got me was that this was how it was for years. Decades! And none of these people could do anything about it. Not without later being hung, shot or worse. For generations these people were slaves. And when owning a slave was no longer sanctioned these people were given wages. So now they weren't slaves, they were employees. But how does that make it any better when these people were still treated as something less than people?
"Yes ma'am. No ma'am."
It kind of scares me a little and makes me feel a little sick knowing that for so long that that was just how it was. That it was okay. That this could go on and everyone simply looked the other way.
Black people were not allowed to use the same washrooms as white people, some weren't allowed in certain stores. There were restaurants that were divided so that the whites and blacks were separate. People believed that simply because they had a different skin colour that they carried horrible diseases.
All the while these women cared for their children. Raised them. And the worst thing is that the majority of those children turned out just like their parents.

Even today there is so much discrimination. People causing others pain--physically or emotionally--just because they're of a different ethnic background. It scares me, not going to lie.
People claim that they aren't racist. But don't lie to others like you do yourself. I'm sorry if that offends anyone but be honest.
White people take extreme care to not be racist. It's ridiculous. It really is. How did Russell Peters put it? Something along the lines of giving a simple description and not saying whether or not the person was of a different ethnicity or skin colour. Good grief.
I'm not saying that you should run around shouting things like "Oh my gosh, you're black! Did you know that you're Asian?"
At this point I'm ranting, I know, and I apologize if I'm not making sense anymore.

What I can't believe is that we basically came from that. That all actually happened. And I know we have our special day for Martin Luther to remember what he did for a nation, but does anyone take it to heart? After this movie and having it hit me where it hurts I doubt I'll ever be able to forget what happened all those years ago and what we still often struggle with today.

So thank you Lord for the country I live in and the family I have. And thank You everything You've ever done for me.

I sincerely hope that I didn't offend anyone too seriously with this blog. But I felt the need to say what I did. And again, I'm sorry if it doesn't make a lot of sense by the end. But there you have it.
The Help will be a movie I will watch again and again and again... Now I just need to get my hands on a copy of the book!

Y'all be grateful for what you have and don't you forget that: "You are kind. You are smart. You are important."