Wow.

Double wow.

Several years ago, during the Bill Clinton administration, I believe, there was a period where apologies were being handed out left and right. This was done by the government on behalf of the entire United States for things that had taken place years, if not generations ago.

One of those apologies being demanded was to the blacks for slavery, for segregation--pretty much any major wrong that had fallen upon the blacks over the course of the last 200-plus years.

At one point, it seems, the apology was not accepted in full because it did not include some kind of renumeration.

Does anyone else remember this? Please, correct if the details of this are wrong. It was a while ago.

What I do remember completely is my reaction to it. How could anyone in their right mind expect that those of us living today, who had nothing to do with what took place way back when (in fact, none of us were alive when slavery took place, and a lot of us who are adults now weren't even born yet during the times of segregation) would hand over money to the descendants of those who did receive the injury, when they themselves did not?

Perhaps I harbored some resentment. I am not a believer in original sin. I don't believe I am to be held accountable for the sins of my fathers, or anyone else. Only mine.

I live in a predominantly white community. There are some Hispanics, a couple blacks, some folks from Asian countries,but that's about it. I don't think about racial tensions on a regular basis. Perhaps it is because I don't live in a community with a greater diversity. Maybe it's because I don't harbor any hatred towards others--be it based on their ethnicity, the color of their skin or otherwise.

Have I ever hated anyone? Probably. Did it last for very long? No, because inevitably those feelings hurt me, not the one I hated.

With the surfacing of the video of the sermons of Reverend Wright, and Barack Obama's denied and then admitted knowledge of them, I've come to realize that the America in which I've been living is not the America that others are living in.

When I turn on the TV and see the vast majority of athletes in virtually all of the professional and collegiate sports are black, I guess I don't think of race suppression. When I see a preponderance of blacks in the music and entertainment businesses, I don't think, whitey still keeping them down. When I realize that these folks are making more money in a year than I will make in a lifetime, I don't think I should write them a check.

Now, I'm not naive enough to think that every black person in America is as well off as a millionaire athlete or hip-hop artist. I know there are plenty of middle class blacks just as I know there are the poor. Still, when I turn on the TV, I do see many of their more successful people. I'm also smart enough to do the math. If blacks are about 13% of this country, but 75% of the industries I mention above, I don't think, "There is no equality in this country."

Yet, there are still those who will harbor resentment over things that took place 40 years ago. Some of it may have happened to them personally. Other of it may have happened to their parents, or their grandparents or their extended family, or their neighbors--but because it happened because of race, they too are victims.

I think we live in a pretty blessed time in this country. I think many of us have opportunities that our forefathers never had, or would have dreamed of having. Americans of all hues have laid down their lives, or lived lives of decency, to bring us such an America.

So, excuse me, if I don't feel sorry for the millionaires, regardless of the color of their skin. Forgive me if I don't feel a tinge of guilt for what my great great great great great great grandfather may have thought about blacks. And you'll just have to accept the fact that I find any kind of racist rhetoric, black or white, to be repugnant, and not a part of the America where I live in.

I can't make the past go away. I can't atone for the sins of my predecessors. I can't make right what was for so long wrong. I can live my life in such a way that I don't perpetuate it. I can teach my children that all men are created equal, regardless of what that may have meant to some of the Founders. I can make it mean what it says, by treating everyone the same.

In my mind, that means opportunities for education and employment and success, not a handout or a guarantee that any of that will turn into something great.

I refuse to be beaten down and made to feel guilty for those who do not find themselves in good economic conditions. I may help them, extend some kind of hand or service, but I will not be compelled to do so. I will not be made to bow down before anyone for any perceived failing. The only one who has any authority over me to do so is He Who Created All.

We don't just forgive those we love. We forgive our enemies. I don't say people who still hurt because of racism should not feel that way, nor that their feelings are not valid. I don't say they should forgive. But Christ does. Christ says we all should forgive, even the worst of offenses. I think we should never go back down those paths, and I think we should remind ourselves that hatred or racism of any kind is unjust. We are all sons and daughters of God, made in His image. Color and race, that scheme, is incidental.

I can be sympathetic. I can know how it feels to be different and alone. I can know how it feels to be persecuted for who I am--something I cannot change. I don't have to be black to understand that.

I just have to be human.