I don't venture out much.
If I had a way, I probably would have stayed in my home and never come out.
When I was little, this time of year used to be the best of time.
According to my then religious affiliation, this is Christmas the time our savior was born.
It is the best of time.
The celebration was grandiose, marvelous decorations, happy moods, nice gatherings, sharing of gifts, and children running around as if it was really the best of time.
My mother made sure to buy gifts for me and my two little brothers not only for our own usage but to share with other people.
I always could not wait for the next Christmas - 'Noel' we called it.
Today, particularly in the United States, I don't think Christmas is much about religion.
It is more economical in this whole western hemisphere; big country, big system, big money is being made.
Children still do believe in Santa of course.
And me too, I still have my wish.
I wish I could stay in my home and never come out.
It is not anything new that our inner cities are literally war zones.
It is not only in the United States.
It is all over the world.
The ghettoes, the slums are full of bandits who are ready to pull a trigger.
In fact, in places such as Africa and the Middle East, people are always at war.
In those places, it is not simply young men battle for turf; it is war among people and nations.
The difference in the United States is that it is a matter of concentration.
The war is generally in the middle of the mass being discriminated upon.
They term it, "Black on Black crime.
" The young black men are killing each other.
This country is wealthy.
There is enough here for the whole population to have a fair share.
It does not happen.
The people in the inner cities are left to rot under the grips of poverty.
The slums are like concentration camps.
The people are literally in cages.
So the young men are always enraged and killing their ways to survive the poverty.
I was associated with a funeral home for a couple of months this year.
It terrified me that so many young men were getting murdered in Miami.
Chicago and Detroit did not do better.
What bothers me is that the concentration is where the poor black people are living.
And, they say the poor kids are bad! What do you expect? In this country with so much wealth and you are locking up a certain group to expire in misery, don't you think that those young men with their hot blood would rise up and spread terror? Those people in these ghettos are trapped.
No job, no education, no guidance, nobody cares for them, and the police are there with their guns aimed to shoot.
They have no hope and no future.
They could only see others with the better of life via the media.
The discrimination here is extreme.
If young black men are killing other black people, it is only because they are locked up together.
I don't think that is whom they would wish to kill.
They know their oppressors.
I wish I could stay in my home and never come out.
You are thinking wrong if you think my wish is based on the fear of the crimes in the ghettoes.
No, not all! I fear the crime of discrimination.
I fear this system that has locked a certain group of people in those concentration camps and left them to rot because of the color of the skin.
I wish Santa was real.
He could have granted my wish.