the slave trade was just wrong

i am in mobile alabama. for several days when i go to “warm-up” the coach, the temperature has been 120-127 inside. it takes a long time for a vehicle that size to cool down.

it has been a wild 6 days here. the riverfront plaza has been the most inhospitable hotel i have ever stayed in. to spend over $200 per night here i would have expected more accommodating service. buses are obviously not wanted here. only mercedes suv’s and other luxury vehicles get the “star” treatment here. however the views of mobile bay and the river are spectacular. seeing the big freighters up close is really cool.

recently I read where london has acknowledged their part in the slave trade. while a good step in the right direction it was wrong to begin with. i have been thinking about how hot it is here. it has been consistently over 100 everyday. as i watched a ship pulling out, i saw it’s registry was singapore. i don’t know how long it takes to get there from here. i could google it and find out. if i had wireless internet but i don’t. crappy hotel.

anyway with the news from london, i began to wonder how long it would take a slave ship from london to get here in the 1700’s or 1800’s. keep in mind they were not air-conditioned. some accounts i read said it often took months to make the crossing. these people were chained and stacked like cord wood. to some it was just another commodity. these were real, live human beings who felt pain and emotions just like you and i. their lives were to make the lives of the owners better and more profitable. if they “bred” and had children then it was good. if they died, too bad. Next ship was coming soon with fresh “commodities”.

so, here we are in 2007. we pushed it under the rug and have tried to make the problem go away but it won’t. i hope that one day when we enter the pearly gates we not only come face to face with our creator, but that those who participated in the slave trade will have the chance to see all the lives and families ruined by their actions and greed. i believe in the power of forgiveness. i hope to witness some of this reparation.

this black eye on civilization will never heal. however, we must move on in order to be stronger. words escape me as i try to close this and sort thru my own views. forgive me if my closing is brief but what more can i say?

until next time…