Invulnerable Fragility

I LOVE this country.  I truly believe it is the best place on earth and am proud to be an American.  Even with all that goes on here that I do not agree with, even when we have leaders whom I find hard to follow, even when we may not do exactly what is best for others, I STILL love this country.  The American Flag is a symbol for who we are as a nation.  That symbol has a different meaning, I am finding out, for everyone.  For me, the flag symbolizes our united hearts toward freedom and our history of struggle.  It symbolizes a nation that tries to do what is best for its people even though it may get it wrong some.  It symbolizes a general safety net put in place by our constitution that is able to be changed when we the people see fit through our democracy.  To me it reminds us that this country is not an entitlement.  Rather, we have had to fight many battles to keep it ours and continue to fight today to hold onto it.  This flag stan...

 Yesterday was Labor Day and we were blessed to have been able to spend it with my husband's dad and stepmom and another friend of ours.  They all came over to our home for dinner- we had fried fish, shrimp, corn on the cob, green bean casserole, and pumpkin dream cake.  It was a wonderful way to welcome fall and enjoy a long weekend but what was even more wonderful was the conversation and friendship.   Whenever we get together with Nayte's dad and stepmom we typically have long conversations about current events and it often involves politics and race- let's face it, those ARE the current events of our day.  Yesterday was no different.   I have been a part of these conversations for some time.  Conversations where I have been the only white person at the table and I get a front row seat to REAL feelings, emotions, and experiences.  I get to see highly educated black people talk about their past experiences, their present emotions, and ...

The basis of this blog comes in part from the book "White Fragility" written by Robin DiAngelo in 2018.  I had never heard of this book until recently when I suggested to friends on Facebook that we make a list of resources to learn about race relations and Black history and a friend mentioned she was reading this book.  The book gives a basic understanding of terms we use today when talking about race: Racism, discrimination, white privilege, and white supremacy to name a few.  DiAngelo goes through ways in which white people may say and do things that are racist due to white supremacy being so far ingrained in our society that we don't even realize we are living in it.  When I started reading it I felt myself nodding and saying "that's true" throughout most of the book.  I have had almost every conversation she mentions in the book-verbatim.  I have spoken to friends of color and they have discussed that these things indeed DO bring them frustration and c...

 "Invulnerable Fragility" is an oxymoron, I know.  When I tried to name this blog I went through several names.  The first was "Get a Clue; Have a Heart" and I debated about making it a Facebook page rather than a blog and involving my husband.  As I thought it about, though, it didn't quite feel right.  So I went back to the drawing board and asked myself a series of questions.  Why am I doing this? What is the reason that I want to blog in the first place? Who is my audience? Answering these questions helped me to find a more defined path.  Several months ago, maybe even last year, my supervisor at work asked me and a co-worker to watch Brene Brown's Ted Talk on Vulnerability .  He said it had changed his life and felt we would benefit and he wanted us to discuss.  I started watching it casually from the link in the text he sent me and very quickly realized it was deeper than I thought it would be.  I needed to watch it more intently a...