Family Trips


I just got back from a trip with the WHOLE family to Orlando, Florida. There were more than fifty of us, and let me tell you it is tiring, but a whole lot of fun. There were so many people, we were forced to form age groups. That way people got to go to the parks they liked best or had never been to. At night was when we were all together, and everyone 55 and older gets to remenise of how things use to be.

Some of the younger ones got to hear stuff for the first time and were shocked to their bones. It is funny how the younger generation doesn't know from the time of infancy how bad things are in Cuba, or how terrible that regime is. I remember I might have not known who the Prime Minister of Canada was when I was in 5th grade, but I sure as hell knew fidel castro was a very bad person. I'm not saying that the younger cousins think he's a good person, but many of them really had no clue of just how bad a person he is or the things the revolution had brought on. I think I was more shocked at their ignorance then they were at the stuff they were hearing.

Some of the 21 & 18 year olds were really dumbstruck to know some of the things that go on overthere. I was glad to see how some of them actually got the older folks' numbers onto their cellulars so they could call them and go visit and hear more stories about Cuba. I think we needed this vacation, and I think we needed it as a family.

Anyway, it was a very good time with el familion. You should all try to catch next year's Food & Wine festival at EPCOT. They had wines from all over the world and I even got to taste mead from Ireland. BTW, that is were the word honeymoon comes from.

I hope everyone of you has or will take a whole family vacation someday. It is a wonderful experience!

This speaks for itself...

Blog For Cuba if that doesn't work cut and paste on your browser the link

http://blogforcuba.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/11/mensajeros_de_e.html

Some People Just Don't Understand or Don't Want To.

I was just having a conversation with a person who is from a South American country that will remain nameless. He flat out told me that Cubans were always griping about the poverty that exists in Cuba. He went on to tell me that Cubans should just stop trying to make the world think their poverty was the worst. He told me that Cubans should stop hating fidel castro because the Cubans are poor.

Rather than telling him where he could go stick his remarks, and or telling him to please educate himself, I decided to make some things clear to him. This goes for anyone who has ever uttered such an idiotic statement.

I asked him the following: If I were to send $50,000 to anyone in your country, could they spend it as they so pleased? Could they use it towards the purchase of a new home? Could they pay off their debts? Could they spend it all in one crazy night in a hotel of their choice? This person's answer was yes to all those questions. If I were to send the same amount of money to a Cuban, that person would not be allowed to purchase a home, or a car, or go spend it at the hotel of their choice. Why is that? Because that person would be Cuban, and Cubans are NOT allowed any of those things. They can't buy and sell property regardless of the cash they have in hand. They can't go to the hotel of their choice to spend it all in one night. It is illegal. They can't go out and buy a computer and connect it to the internet, because that is illegal. They can't open up a business because that is illegal. That is what Cubans gripe about, poverty is the least of the problems.

His answer? "Oh, that's because of the Economic Embargo." Explain to me what has the embargo got to do with your right to sell your home? What has the embargo to with your right to spend the money in any hotel at Varadero? What has the embargo to do with your right to purchase a vehicle from your neighbor?

How far has stupidity reached? Where do you draw the line between ignorance and selective blindness? If you don't know anything about the Cuban ordeal, ask questions, read, educate yourself, but do not make statements that make you look like an ass.

As for the idiot I had the misfortune of speaking with earlier? "Lissy, I need to hear that from and unbiased source, until then I'll hope a strong person like fidel takes my country by the horns and turns things around for my countrymen" My answer? "Dude, I hope God grants you your wish"

Here's a harsh truth, but someone has got to say it.

First of all, let me tell you I'm a black Cuban-American. My grandparents were Batista sympathizers and they fled with their children. My father finished high school here in the States. He then went on to serve in the Army as there was a draft. When he was done with serving the country he became an electrical engineer. To this day he has yet to call himself an African-American. According to him and the rest of us, we're all Cuban-Americans.

We have a very large family of black Cubans and through the years they've married white Cubans, black Cubans and even some black Jamaicans, as some of the family fled to Jamaica.

Now that you know where I'm coming from, let me tell all the black Americans that came out and started the Cuban bashing when the Ralph Arza incident happened, something that has not been brought up. First of all, Ralph Arza speaks for Ralf Arza. Second you cannot compare it to the Herald fiasco, the Cubans didn't go out and verbally attack all white Americans in this country, they attacked the idiot who spoke in a bad way about the Cubans.

There are very little or no black folks that are immigrants in this country that would ever call themselves African-Americans. They're Cuban, Jamaican, Haitians, Dominicans, Bahamians, or Puertoricans. The truth is that anyone from South Africa whose white can call themselves an African-American too. So looking for a politically correct label other than calling a spade a spade has turned out looking stupid.

The reason for that is while the blacks in the U.S. have decided to keep the chip on their shoulders and play the race card at every turn, blacks everywhere else have used the cards they've been dealt to make themselves a better future and haven't griped about racism at every opportunity.

That being said I know that there are plenty of black Americans that are successful. I don't understand why the black American continues to let extremist groups speak for them. Those groups are the true racists. They are the ones who continue to try to make rifts and canyons between the races

The Cubans came only 47 years ago, without a penny to their names, without welfare and without the language and look what they have accomplished. They didn't form a coalition to force people to accept them. They made lemonade out of lemons. They mopped floors and waited on tables, all the while instilling pride and hard work in their children. Teaching them that the only way to get ahead was to get an education and work hard. Who cares what people thought about the loud and rowdy Cubans. Let them point and let them move away, we're different, so what. Now look at all of those who laughed and moved away. They're moving back like nuts trying to get a piece of the pie the Cubans baked in South Florida.

Blacks from other countries don't want to be called "The Successful Black Man" They want be known as the "Successful Man", period. They don't want special treatment. They know that if you've got it, people are going to want it, regardless of your skin color or ethnicity.

I take offense with anyone who tries to treat me with kid gloves because I'm black. I don't want people around me walking on eggshells because they may insult me and start a riot.

Groups that pretend they're there to help the black man have other agendas, and helping is not one of them. Stop being so blind. Stop seeing everything as a black vs. white issue, it is not. The world does not revolve around us. Life is not about "black", "white", "red" or "yellow" skin. It is about proving you're a good human worthy of respect. Respect comes automatically, if you deserve it...