Our family is like "every other",in that we are loved unconditionally by our Abba Daddy and blessed to have been chosen by Him to form our family.
We are special for many reasons, one of which is the fact that like most everyone our family tree began in various corners of the world.
What sets us apart from some is the fact that we embrace and yes, celebrate those things which make each of us unique. We search for the strengths and weakness of our family tree and strive to celebrate and learn from them.
When we look at our family picture, we see so many things, among a few of them we see a variety of color: black, white, brown, blond, blue, red.
We see some very tall people, some not so tall people and some who are in the process of growing before our very eyes!
We hail from Jamaica, North America, South America, Scotland, Ethiopia and Israel. You are welcome to join us this year as we look even more closely at some of the special things that make us THE PALMERS!
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."MLK
Will you choose 10?
Our family has made a list of 10 things that we can do to make the world a better place. Here are a few of them-
-Love yourself
-Pick up your trash
-Pray for all the people involved whenever you hear sirens.
-When you say to someone, "Hello, how are you?" Listen to their answer. And when asked the same question, answer honestly. ie. "Tired but well - thanks."
A Good Read:
The Crayon Box that Talked
by Shane DeRolf
The crayons in this box just can't seem to get along. Yellow doesn't like Red and no one likes Orange. It was a bad situations because they all had to live in the same box. But things begin to change when a little girl brings the crayons home and starts coloring with them. The crayons see that together they can make beautiful pictures. All the colors are important to the big picture. You can see more about this book at Amazon.com
Principles In Practice.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2008
Posted by ARI Media at 8:30 AM
Irvine, CA—“Martin Luther King Jr. Day offers Americans an opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to eradicating racism in all its forms,” said Thomas Bowden, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute.
Ayn Rand once wrote: “Racism is a doctrine of, by and for brutes. It is a barnyard or stock-farm version of collectivism, appropriate to a mentality that differentiates between various breeds of animals, but not between animals and men.” The essence of racism, she explained, is “the notion that a man’s intellectual and characterological traits are produced by his internal body chemistry, which means, in practice, that a man is to be judged, not by his own character and actions but by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors.”
“Achievement of a truly color-blind society will require not only that private individuals reject racism but that government policies and programs cease to favor some citizens over others on the basis of skin color,” Bowden said. “The solution to racism in government does not lie in further race-conscious, affirmative action programs that generate de facto quotas, nor in multicultural education that locates personal identity in one’s ethnic group. Because such policies are themselves racist, they are part of the problem.
“A model of good government policy is President Truman’s executive order ending segregation in America’s military services. Issued 60 years ago, Executive Order 9981 declared ‘that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.’
“This official policy exemplifies a government’s proper attitude toward its citizens,” Bowden said. “Every law-abiding adult has an equal right to serve in government, provided he or she can satisfy the position’s objective requirements. In setting standards, government agencies must be forbidden by law from making irrational distinctions among citizens, as by favoring some soldiers over others on the irrelevant basis of skin color.
“In a famous speech, Martin Luther King Jr. eloquently envisioned a world without racism: ‘I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’ Americans should be proud of their nation’s historical achievements in ending slavery, Jim Crow laws, segregated schools, and many other forms of institutionalized racism. On this holiday, we should embrace the challenge contained in King’s eloquent remarks and recommit ourselves to the task of fully eradicating racism from this nation’s public policies.”
Copyright © 2008 ARI.
