Let me tell you a story
Being afraid of Black People (now African Americans) was normal for a sheltered girl in the 1960″s who never even saw one. Especially if her Dad worked at Firestone and complained about them, a lot. If Dad didn’t like them I sure didn’t want to meet any of them.
Well, in 1962 my Mother took me on my first plane ride to the Jewish National Home for Asthmatic Children. JNHAC in Denver, Colorado. I was 10 years old. My Dad stayed home with my Sister.
We got to the Home at night and it was snowing. Someone picked us up at the airport and I sat on my mom’s lap for the ride. No seatbelts way back then!
We went to a building that housed about 30 girls from my age to 18 years old. Two girls to a room. Bunk beds with a Jack and Jill bathroom adjoining a room like it on the other side.
My roommate was about my age and Black! I was scared to death. As the girls were opening my suitcases and hanging up my clothes, I was crying and screaming “put those back! I’m not staying here!!”. Sometime in all this chaos, my Mother went to her hotel room. I learned later that it was one of the three times that my mother cussed my father out. She said she was bringing me home and he said she was not! I was there over a year and a half.
I am getting to my point!!!
i don’t remember more of that night or how or when my mother left me. She had to leave me because if she took me back to Ohio the doctors said I would die.
The Home was big and housed hundreds of kids. Boys buildings and girls buildings with a huge dining hall where we all ate at large noisy tables. We all had chores and we walked 6 blocks to school and back. I was one of the few that never had asthma there even once. My lungs had time to heal.
We had to write letters home once a week and mine usually said:
Dear Mom and Dad,
I hate this place! Come and take me home.
Love, Kathy
My poor Mom and Dad.
It turned out that I learned a lot about “Blacks” there. My roommate was black and her name was Sharon. My best friend was Janice and she was black. My first crush, that I never told my Dad about, was black and he was an older man!!! An activity director for the Home. I took piano lessons because of him. I was not good at it.
I learned that no matter what color we all were, we are all alike. We were all there at that time to learn about asthma and how to live with it. I was never really sure about why we were really there, because there were kids there even from Colorado and every state in the country. Sometimes I went home with them for the weekend, even once to New Mexico. We chased Horny Toads!!! I still don’t understand the whole process, but I was a kid then and it was what we had to do. It did make me fall in love with Colorado! I even found out what purple mountains Majesty means.
My Point!!!!
I came home no longer afraid of Blacks and I knew we were all alike with some good and some bad. We laughed and cried and played together and the whole process with the Home and the people made me a part of the life I was given and had to live.
ALL LIVES MATTER!!!!
If you have PTSD or are suicidal, etc. You Matter!!! You have a chemical Imbalance that is part of your life. Ok. Now learn to deal with it. Is that fun? No. Neither was the Home, but it was something I had to deal with. Horrible things happen to everyone in the world. You need to cope and get through it the best you can. You are a strong loved person. You Matter!!! Even to me and I don’t even know you. I think we could still be friends. We have a lot in common. Stay strong. Get out of your head and into the world. Never Give Up!!!!!! If you need help, get it!! That does not make you weak, it makes you a better person, someone that knows how to take care of themselves. Be stronger than your greatest fear. Live for you. Only you can do it.
