Words to remember

My recent letter was printed by my local newspaper this morning. It is a theme I have used many times before. The editor for the letter section minimized the lyrics for brevity. Here it is:

Those who’ve seen the play or movie “South Pacific” by Rodgers and Hammerstein may recognize the pivotal song in the story — “You’ve got to be carefully taught.” The play involves a woman who falls in love, then realizes the man’s children are half islanders. She has a hard time coming to grips with her bigotry, as we are not born hating; hatred has to be carefully taught.

A sample lyric: “You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear, You’ve got to be taught from year to year, It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear — You’ve got to be carefully taught.”

These words still seem to be needed today.

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PS – Rodgers and Hammerstein were brilliant in sneaking a much needed social message into a Broadway play and eventually a movie. Their work is based on James Michener's novel by the same name.

I have seen both the play in a local community college performance and the movie. The play is more powerful as you see the actor up close and her attitude surprises you. I think the bigotry speaks more loudly as it comes from a female as most of the ugliness I have witnessed has been led by men.

Growing up in the south, witnessing racism or bigotry up close is nauseating. Of course, those impacted would say, see what we are taking about.