I SUPPOSE IN SOME WAYS I AM A NEANDERTHAL

I got an email today from Lindy P****. (As promised, I will not identify who you are unless you specifically ask to be identified, even if you are a complete idiot.) Ms. P says she found my website “by accident,” gave it a quick “look over,” and became “enraged” by my “lack of compassion” for those “less fortunate” than I. She called me a few choice words and ended by explaining –rather colorfully-- that I am still caught in a “neanderthal(ic)” thought pattern. Apparently Ms. P was quite upset because she was unable to relay any specific, detailed information. The best she left me with to comment on was her (un)insightful observation of my cold-heartedness towards those who have less than I do. She did not identify anything specific in my writings giving her that idea, leaving me the luxury of assumption.
I believe her rant about my lack of compassion comes from her belief I am a card carrying member of the Republican Party and all of “them” are cold blooded, stingy, self-absorbed rich people who are unable to see or feel the pangs of poverty; a pretty common view of the Left regarding anyone who is to the right of their beliefs (most people believe they are the moderate one and anyone to their left is liberal and anyone to their right is conservative). –

Dear Ms. P,
I thank you for your concern, and for a look inside your heart. I am glad there are people who find the time to take up the cross for others and are not afraid to speak up. When you calm down I would appreciate a more detailed response from you, identifying some specifics that brought you to such a passionate conclusion regarding who and what I am.
If I may, allow me to surmise a few points from your email: I presume you believe I am financially wealthy relative to many other Americans; I presume you believe I am a Republican; and I am pretty sure you believe I have no concern for the so-called poor, which also must include you believe I am perched upon some sort of family inheritance.
In short- you are mistaken on all points: I am a blue collar worker, and I look forward to my weekly pay hoping it is enough to pay the bills; I am a registered, card-carrying member of the Constitution Party (although Alan Keyes has been my primary choice for President for the last 10+ years); and I came from very modest means Ms. P. I come from a broken home, spent the majority of my teen years in various institutions, or on the streets as a vagrant drug abuser, completely separated from any family involvement. Other than a few short months, I was in prison from 17 to 24 years of age.
Ms. P. I was a poor lost kid for many years; I know what dirt poor is. I slept on concrete walls in parks (to keep above any possible robbers and snakes), under bridges, and in unlocked parked cars during the winter. I’ve rummaged through trash bins for clothes and food and whatever else I might find. For a few months, at about 16 years old, I even stooped to stealing cars for a living in Atlanta, Ga. At one point I ran numbers for a betting/gambling racket in San Diego, Ca. when I was about 14, all mostly to support a drug habit.
I was not only financially poor, but also struck with poverty of mind Ms. P., a lost and broken child with no working ethical rudder. The “system” did give me a chance a few times, but I was unable to absorbed those conditions as opportunities (my Dad was a sheriff’s deputy for a short time when I was 3 and 4 years old and that one thing I believe set my concept of cops as being the bad guys, so naturally I was attracted to the “other” side. As a vagrant, snot-nosed kid only other druggies and low-lifes were “safe,” because they weren’t likely to report me to the cops. My only motivation at the time was to not allow anyone to take me back to my Dad. My late teens and early 20’s found me obsessed with getting big enough and bad enough to be able to go back home and physically beat up the Ole’ man, my papa.
But I grew up, finally, and that is sincerely what I believe you need to do also. Stop seeing others as your inferior, Ms. P; stop seeing those of color as your creation or responsibility (yes, I am assuming you are a spoiled child of a white yuppie divorced-but-friends ex-couple who might still someday get back together). Stop babying those who cry out in emotional pain. The human spirit is much stronger than you can imagine; yours isn’t there yet because you have been too pampered. You’ve been filled with liberal, socialist views of political correctness that belittle the toughness of the human spirit.
I for one choose to not be pampered and left in the dark; I eat reality for breakfast and like it. When you get to that point you will understand. The very best “One” thing we can actually do to upgrade our country is support the family unit, Ms. P. An involved, caring, mother AND father, who understand and withstand the trials of life. “Marriage till death do we part” was a concept filled with experience, wisdom, and compassion. Unfortunately, political correctness is tearing us apart, and now we are looking to Big Brother to supply us with what folks use to get from inside the family nucleus.
I hope you take this response with the greatest of liberal restraint and see it as a passionate, honest response. Yes, I do believe I feel your pain Ms. P, and I am willing to help you grow above it and be a better person for it. Put some real thoughts together and give me another ring. The Neanderthal in me makes me want to protect even you.

Your Friend, bruceH



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