At the risk of being "preachy"...

After yesterday's tirade(s), this "Magazine" article from today's New York Times seems appropriate. It clearly shows that the conditions that laid the foundation for the "Cairo race riots" in the 1960's and 1970's are "alive and well"...throughout the good ol' US of A. In the aftermath, as the dust settles, and Cairo crumbles...

Is there any silver lining to such battles? Is there any hope to be taken from the destruction of a once proud and defiant city at the Confluence of America...where the motto was "Where Southern Hospitality Meets Northern Enterprise"...and ended up with neither?

Truthfully, I've had my doubts...convinced that the whole experience was a useless tragedy.

However, this weekend I have reason to be optimistic...that if one steps back and views the aftermath in the broad view, maybe there is reason to have hope.

Before I get to the reason for my optimism, let me inject what I feel are my "creds" to make such observations...

• I'm at the perfect age. Born in 1945, I didn't really experience Cairo in its prime...the decline had started. BUT...Cairo was STILL the "big city" in the 1950's, with a population of approximately 11,000. Folks from the tri-state area came to Cairo to shop...folks from Paducah...and, yes, even from Cape Girardeau! I have watched the steady decline through the arsons of the "race riots" of the late '60s and early '70s to the current burning of long-vacated buildings. A current population of maybe 3,000 continues to dwindle...

• I'm the "right" race...white...steeped in the prevailing prejudices of the times, a member of the group that fought to "preserve their way of life".

• I married the "wrong" race...black (past Negro and colored, before African American)...not exactly what was "expected"...especially in 1973. Guess the only "redeeminq" quality was that, at least, I married a girl from a "good colored family". (Okay, I let a little sarcasm slip into my commentary. Trust me...there was nothing "redeeming" in the eyes of the white beholder!)

• I spent 51 years in the Cairo school system...spanning a time when the schools were officially segregated, during a time when there was token integration, and finally (after 1968) when there was complete integration. I attended a CHS that was well over 90% white and retired from teaching in a CHS that was over 90% African American. In fact, I got my job teaching in Cairo as a replacement for one of the many white teachers that fled the Cairo Public School system because of the turmoil associated with integration. (Not saying that the teachers were racists...they just didn't "need" the uncertainty and conflict.)

Was it worth it?

Would education have been better served if Cairo had continued to operate two school systems...seperate, but "equal"? A moot question. The United States Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional...and Cairo, eventually and reluctantly and not without a fight...finally accepted the decision.

So, again...was it worth it?

What is education all about? Readin', writin', and 'rithmetic? Certainly!

But...is that all? Is it even the most important thing?

I'd probably by kicked out of the Fraternal Order of School Teachers (Is there such a thing?!) if I said that "book learnin' " was NOT important...and it would be a flat out untruth. As they say..."Education is the Key".

But...stop for a second...think back to your years of education. What do you remember most? Was it reading Moby Dick or Canterbury Tales? Was it diagramming sentences? Was it solving quadratic equations?

Or was it the people?

Teachers who bugged the hell out of you...trying to pound the aforementioned knowledge into your head because YOU didn't think it was nearly as important to "life" as they did? Your classmates and friends...who gave you aid and comfort (and maybe homework help or a few test answers along the way) when times got tough?

Hopefully your education gave you the tools to forge out a successful life...that IS what it's supposed to do.

However, during those "formative years", you were forced into contact with new people...strangers, many of whom remained strangers, but many who probably became fond acquaintances. And, yes, some of those "strangers" may well have became life-long friends. Look what you would have missed if you had been allowed to remain in your comfort zone. How much narrower would your life have been? How much less interesting?

Yes, education not only pays...it provides fringe benefits!

This brings me back to my original theme...that this weekend I have optimism about the trials and tribulations experienced by Cairoites over my half century (okay, okay...half century PLUS!)

I am a former member of Pilot Light 2000...a CHS alumni Web site. The Web site was founded with good intent...a place for people who attended Cairo High School in the 1960s to reunite...to relive the "good ol' days" and chat about their present lives. It serves its purpose well. My "former membership" results from a clash of my current views based upon my total life experiences with past views based upon growing up in Cairo in the 1950s and 1960s. Most of the people on Pilot Light 2000 were welcoming. I know several of the people on the site...they are friends of mine. I know they don't have a racially prejudiced bone in their bodies.

BUT, there were the others...

A few members were obviously "stuck in the '60s"...and the racial prejudices that prevailed. From comments, it was clear that the wounds were still fresh and they were still "fighting the battle"...50 years later! It was like I had opened a door and stepped back into the past...a past I did NOT want to relive.

Having the impersonality of the computer keyboard - notice how people will say things on the telephone or in an e-mail that they would NEVER say face-to-face - well, having that impersonality, I responded to the comments for "general viewing" as opposed to privately. One thing led to another...it got ugly...and there was "collateral damage". Most folks on the Web site (rightfully) didn't expect or appreciate the "fireworks". After a few weeks (and supportive and opposing comments from "innocent bystanders"), I took a deep breath and decided they were right. Since I have always been a "loner", I decided that it was time for me to "vacate the premises". I wasn't really getting anything out of the site and definitely wasn't "winning friends and influencing enemies". I departed amicably and have never looked back.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend informed me of yet another CHS alumni Web site. I read the notice, briefly checked out the home page, and thought "I don't think so...once was enough."

Well, last week, another friend told me about the site...said that many of my former students were making comments about me. Well, that piqued my curiosity. So, on Friday night, I had some free time and decided to pay a visit. The requirement that a person fill out an "application" in order to join had chased me off the previous time, but, as I said...curiosity! Filled out the application, submitted it, and shortly after midnight I was accepted.

BAM...30 e-mails hit my in-box! When do these people sleep? (Had to throw that in...an "inside joke"!)

Former students were welcoming me aboard...and that was nice. The comments that I read on the "former teachers" link were nice...both about me and about the teachers that I worked with. No "flaming"...just words of appreciation. It does your ego good to read that former students do remember...and appreciate...especially as I stagger off into my "Golden Years".

BUT...that's not what makes me optimistic.

My optimism results from reading comments made by former students to former students...old acquaintances and old or current friends. So many comments...that cross all racial boundaries...with NO MENTION OF RACE! And, why should there be? They were people you met in school, they went through the same experiences that you did, they bonded with you because...well, because YOU WERE THERE!

Both groups...the 1960s CHS attendees and the newer group made up mostly of post-1960s CHS attendees did not consciously set out to choose their friends...did you? Acquaintances and friendships just naturally developed in the course of day-to-day experiences. Likewise, a person is NOT born a racist or a bigot...it just develops naturally in the course of day-to-day experiences, facilitated by the exclusion of contact with "those people". (By the way, having walked on both sides of the fence, I well know that "those people" can be any race, creed, or color.)

Today, Cairoites live in all parts of the world...even in Nairobi, Kenya! (Another lame, inside joke!) They are economically successful because of the education they received in the Cairo school system. They are interacting with people of every race, creed, and color during an age when the world is rapidly shrinking. They are raising families whose outlook is broader and inclusive, rather than exclusive.

So, the events of the past in Cairo...events that arguably "killed" Cairo. Were they worth it? Did any good come of it?

This weekend I have hope...