Xandra
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Xandra • upvoted 4 items 1 day ago
Reformed-Racists-Reveal-What-Forced-Them-To-Change-Views
The Army forced me to live with black people. Turns out I didn't hate anyone, I was just afraid of what I didn't understand and had some very stupid notions passed on to me from my dad and his dipsh*t friends. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to understand a greater sample of people than my tiny home town afforded me.Reformed-Racists-Reveal-What-Forced-Them-To-Change-Views
The Army forced me to live with black people. Turns out I didn't hate anyone, I was just afraid of what I didn't understand and had some very stupid notions passed on to me from my dad and his dipsh*t friends. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to understand a greater sample of people than my tiny home town afforded me.
Reformed-Racists-Reveal-What-Forced-Them-To-Change-Views
Brother was racist. We both love science fiction. One time he was talking about all the cool races in the 'Star Wars' and 'Star Trek' and 'Mass Effect' universes. How creative Lucas and Roddenberry were. He talked about how great it would be to be among those races as a human and acquaint yourself with alien cultures and people and mythology. I said, 'You can't even mingle with the other races on your home planet.' Maybe it was the weed, but what I said had some effect on him. He's very noticeably more 'tolerant' and curious about other peoples now. I think he realized that his previous philosophies were not in line with those of The Federation. Good for him.
Reformed-Racists-Reveal-What-Forced-Them-To-Change-Views
From birth I was raised to be racist in a racist household (VA). I was ignorant. I used the “N” word, antisemitic, homophobic, racist language everyday. My immediate family and extended family all share the same ignorance. At family gatherings if one of my older cousins let slip they were dating someone new, the first question would be “Is s/he white?” Followed by laughter, but the question was serious. Then I started middle school. 6th grade. On the first day of class I set down my backpack against the classroom wall (like every other student) while we found our desks and had a small Meet & Greet w/ new classmates. I made sure to only speak to the kids (white) whom I knew from elementary school. Our teacher told us to take our seats. I’m 42 yrs old and I remember this like it was yesterday. I picked up my backpack, found my desk, before I could open my bag the girl behind me told me she liked my earrings, her Mom wouldn’t let her get her ears pierced until high school. Then I heard another voice from further behind me say, “Ms. Kay, this isn’t my backpack”. The backpack sitting on this girl’s desk was identical to the one sitting next to my desk. We both opened our backpacks and realized we’d grabbed the wrong bag. Internally I rolled my eyes in disgust, this girl was a “N”. But I was taught to never let it show. So we met each other to quickly exchange. Her smile was beautiful. She wore glasses the same shape as mine. She wore her hair in a pony tail, just like mine. In our back to school shopping we picked the exact same backpack and we picked the exact same Nikes (pink/white). Her name was Jacinda. I found myself genuinely smiling back to her, and giggling like young girls do. That day she asked to sit together during lunch, and we sat beside each other for lunch every single day of middle school. She was my very first best friend. Jacinda taught me about her Sunday School classes (my family never attended church), we talked about everything important in the life of middle school girls. She wasn’t allowed to attend my birthday parties, and I wasn’t allowed to go to hers, but we always celebrated together at school. I loved her so much. When it was time to go to high school I continued in public school and her parents chose to homeschool her. I thought homeschooling was the coolest idea. Jacinda was (is) brilliantly intelligent. God, she was going to do great things for this world. Long before the age of social media, we lost touch sadly - but I still think of her often. After meeting Jacinda I never used another racist or derogatory word. Meeting Jacinda changed my life for the better.Show All 4 Upvotes
Xandra • upvoted 20 items 4 days ago
People-Share-Interesting-Facts-About-Human-Body
The proportion of your vision that is actually in sharp focus roughly equates to the size of your thumbnail at arm's length. The rest of it is just your visual cortex filling in the blanks.
People-Share-Interesting-Facts-About-Human-Body
People who live in "extreme" conditions for generations adapt in extreme ways. For example people that live in high elevations often have larger lungs and different blood makeup. Or my favorite is the Bajau people that live on the water and spend a lot of their time diving, their spleens have become 50% larger in order to store more blood.
Worst-Reactions-To-Men-Letting-Emotional-Guard-Down
In my family I - as the father - am the rock and immovable point where everything hinges on. The stoic calm eye of the storm. I once started to open up to my wife about what worries me and she almost had a nervous breakdown and I ended up consoling her for an hour. And it was some of the rather tame [stuff] I deal with all the time. I stopped opening up about my worries towards her after that. I have a friend or two I can share heavy stuff with, but not with my partner. I tell her about stuff once it is solved. "You should open up to me more!" No. Example of something current? The smell of desinfectant triggers painful memories of the death of my first daughter (NICU, 27 days old). Luckily you can't see my face under the mask in public, where there is a desinfectant station at every shop. I barely flinch at the pain anymore. "You look grumpy today?" "Grocery shopping was... exhausting. Everything is fine."
Worst-Reactions-To-Men-Letting-Emotional-Guard-Down
I don’t like opening up to anyone even today, after two years of anti depressants and six months of therapy. I can’t open up to my mom because she would end up using it against me, maybe immediately, maybe later. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom. She’s been through a great deal and tried her level best to not let that [stuff] reach us ( my brother and I),but to err is human. My dad is what your typical Indian dad is, a stoic guy, not expressing himself( kind of like the meme of that dog sitting in a room on fire). Add to that his emotionally distant parents and him joining the army at 17 to become an officer and you have this absolutely thick exterior that doesn’t let anything through. I work as a doctor in Delhi. Everyone around is dying. Bright eyed juniors I knew, people I said goodbye to not knowing it would be the last opportunity I’d get, patients and their hapless families, grieving mothers/ fathers/ wives/ husbands/ parents/ children. None of them deserved it and I feel that somehow I’m to blame. I can’t just man up every time. Sorry I started this diatribe. Had to get it out somewhere.People-Share-Interesting-Facts-About-Human-Body
Your body will reduce your muscle strength to protect your spine. Stand on flat ground, hold your arms out in a t-pose, and have a friend push down on your hand while you try to hold it in place. That's your control, how strong you actually are. Now, remove 1 shoe (or put a book under 1 foot) and repeat with your hips askew so your spine isn't straight. An inch is all it takes. Your strength will be reduced to the point that your friend can use a single finger to push your hand down.
People-Share-Interesting-Facts-About-Human-Body
Humans have, on average, just as many hairs on their body as chimpanzees, human hair is just a lot shorter and finer.
Show All 20 Upvotes
Xandra • upvoted 14 items 5 days ago
Show All 14 Upvotes
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Xandra • upvoted 4 items 1 day ago
Reformed-Racists-Reveal-What-Forced-Them-To-Change-Views
The Army forced me to live with black people. Turns out I didn't hate anyone, I was just afraid of what I didn't understand and had some very stupid notions passed on to me from my dad and his dipsh*t friends. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to understand a greater sample of people than my tiny home town afforded me.Reformed-Racists-Reveal-What-Forced-Them-To-Change-Views
Brother was racist. We both love science fiction. One time he was talking about all the cool races in the 'Star Wars' and 'Star Trek' and 'Mass Effect' universes. How creative Lucas and Roddenberry were. He talked about how great it would be to be among those races as a human and acquaint yourself with alien cultures and people and mythology. I said, 'You can't even mingle with the other races on your home planet.' Maybe it was the weed, but what I said had some effect on him. He's very noticeably more 'tolerant' and curious about other peoples now. I think he realized that his previous philosophies were not in line with those of The Federation. Good for him.Reformed-Racists-Reveal-What-Forced-Them-To-Change-Views
From birth I was raised to be racist in a racist household (VA). I was ignorant. I used the “N” word, antisemitic, homophobic, racist language everyday. My immediate family and extended family all share the same ignorance. At family gatherings if one of my older cousins let slip they were dating someone new, the first question would be “Is s/he white?” Followed by laughter, but the question was serious. Then I started middle school. 6th grade. On the first day of class I set down my backpack against the classroom wall (like every other student) while we found our desks and had a small Meet & Greet w/ new classmates. I made sure to only speak to the kids (white) whom I knew from elementary school. Our teacher told us to take our seats. I’m 42 yrs old and I remember this like it was yesterday. I picked up my backpack, found my desk, before I could open my bag the girl behind me told me she liked my earrings, her Mom wouldn’t let her get her ears pierced until high school. Then I heard another voice from further behind me say, “Ms. Kay, this isn’t my backpack”. The backpack sitting on this girl’s desk was identical to the one sitting next to my desk. We both opened our backpacks and realized we’d grabbed the wrong bag. Internally I rolled my eyes in disgust, this girl was a “N”. But I was taught to never let it show. So we met each other to quickly exchange. Her smile was beautiful. She wore glasses the same shape as mine. She wore her hair in a pony tail, just like mine. In our back to school shopping we picked the exact same backpack and we picked the exact same Nikes (pink/white). Her name was Jacinda. I found myself genuinely smiling back to her, and giggling like young girls do. That day she asked to sit together during lunch, and we sat beside each other for lunch every single day of middle school. She was my very first best friend. Jacinda taught me about her Sunday School classes (my family never attended church), we talked about everything important in the life of middle school girls. She wasn’t allowed to attend my birthday parties, and I wasn’t allowed to go to hers, but we always celebrated together at school. I loved her so much. When it was time to go to high school I continued in public school and her parents chose to homeschool her. I thought homeschooling was the coolest idea. Jacinda was (is) brilliantly intelligent. God, she was going to do great things for this world. Long before the age of social media, we lost touch sadly - but I still think of her often. After meeting Jacinda I never used another racist or derogatory word. Meeting Jacinda changed my life for the better. Xandra • upvoted 16 items 4 days ago
People-Share-Interesting-Facts-About-Human-Body
The proportion of your vision that is actually in sharp focus roughly equates to the size of your thumbnail at arm's length. The rest of it is just your visual cortex filling in the blanks.People-Share-Interesting-Facts-About-Human-Body
People who live in "extreme" conditions for generations adapt in extreme ways. For example people that live in high elevations often have larger lungs and different blood makeup. Or my favorite is the Bajau people that live on the water and spend a lot of their time diving, their spleens have become 50% larger in order to store more blood.Worst-Reactions-To-Men-Letting-Emotional-Guard-Down
In my family I - as the father - am the rock and immovable point where everything hinges on. The stoic calm eye of the storm. I once started to open up to my wife about what worries me and she almost had a nervous breakdown and I ended up consoling her for an hour. And it was some of the rather tame [stuff] I deal with all the time. I stopped opening up about my worries towards her after that. I have a friend or two I can share heavy stuff with, but not with my partner. I tell her about stuff once it is solved. "You should open up to me more!" No. Example of something current? The smell of desinfectant triggers painful memories of the death of my first daughter (NICU, 27 days old). Luckily you can't see my face under the mask in public, where there is a desinfectant station at every shop. I barely flinch at the pain anymore. "You look grumpy today?" "Grocery shopping was... exhausting. Everything is fine."Worst-Reactions-To-Men-Letting-Emotional-Guard-Down
I don’t like opening up to anyone even today, after two years of anti depressants and six months of therapy. I can’t open up to my mom because she would end up using it against me, maybe immediately, maybe later. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom. She’s been through a great deal and tried her level best to not let that [stuff] reach us ( my brother and I),but to err is human. My dad is what your typical Indian dad is, a stoic guy, not expressing himself( kind of like the meme of that dog sitting in a room on fire). Add to that his emotionally distant parents and him joining the army at 17 to become an officer and you have this absolutely thick exterior that doesn’t let anything through. I work as a doctor in Delhi. Everyone around is dying. Bright eyed juniors I knew, people I said goodbye to not knowing it would be the last opportunity I’d get, patients and their hapless families, grieving mothers/ fathers/ wives/ husbands/ parents/ children. None of them deserved it and I feel that somehow I’m to blame. I can’t just man up every time. Sorry I started this diatribe. Had to get it out somewhere.People-Share-Interesting-Facts-About-Human-Body
Your body will reduce your muscle strength to protect your spine. Stand on flat ground, hold your arms out in a t-pose, and have a friend push down on your hand while you try to hold it in place. That's your control, how strong you actually are. Now, remove 1 shoe (or put a book under 1 foot) and repeat with your hips askew so your spine isn't straight. An inch is all it takes. Your strength will be reduced to the point that your friend can use a single finger to push your hand down.People-Share-Interesting-Facts-About-Human-Body
Humans have, on average, just as many hairs on their body as chimpanzees, human hair is just a lot shorter and finer.This Panda hasn't followed anyone yet
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