The Petal paper. [volume] (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??, 1957-03-14

ana ask Tor lel-cenL piece Oh salt meat.
According to the narrator, the clerk in the
store had said to the child, well, boy, for
dime you can smell the knife cut salt meat
with"
This story brought a taunderous amount
of laughter in my Mothers house !. and
was ashamed. Most ashamed I didn't know
why 4. and to this very day I'm not sure
TIA; could explain my shame just left
the room . left without saying word
AS recall, was about seven years old
During this same period of my childhood
l had friend at one of the camps in which
! lived. He was my favorite playmate, and
about my own age. but nc had one draw
back :, it was later before became aware
cause of the accident of birth which caused
my friend, Tee, to be colored, il was under
stood that | was superior. Everyone seems
to have understood it. except me. am
honest in saying that such an idea never
once crossed my mind
There were some things which failed to
understand. And at he age Of seven or eight
my limited ability to reason was even less
than it is today. could never get into my
mind why Tee couldn't charge nickel's
worth of candy at the store TO his daddy if
could charge candy to my daddy. didn't
do much thinking about il could charge
candy so l did l would buy dimes
worth and give half of it to Tee, which to
me, seemed a fair thing to do for friend.
True, | bought the candy and shared with
Tee as l would expect him to share with me-
had the situation been reversed
But what failed to do was to speak up for
a friend. l took the easy way out . and
7 was to learn later in life that most folks
do things that way.
Z Anyway, having failed to speak up for Tee,
was failing to speak up for my daughter .
but at the age of seven or eight it is a trifle
difficult to project ones thinking almost
three decades.
Nevertheless, committed a sin by my
silence it was the sin of omission, about
which feel guilty to this hour. don't like
to feel guilty it takes lot out of per-
son . it takes out a lot tt at could be ,ed
to produce, to make whatever contribution
person is capable of making to the society
in which he lives . and all persons have
that obligation . each to the other
AS said earlier, / am aMississippian, and
/ would like to add that I'm about to be a
presumptuous one at. this point. Also, am
a product of my times; too, I'm victim of
my environment. Finding myself in such cir
cumstances, | recognize that l am living
in an age of analysis, psyche and otherwise,
believe me.
think it is unquestoinably true that all
men, in the final analysis, seek the same end
peace of mind Everything we know as
human beings is aimed. at the goal. With
that fact in mind, prefer to look on the
South today as physician, a many faceted
physician I'd like to point out, as such man
of medicine would view a patient Also,
would like to make it understood that the
doctor is just as sick as the patient . there
is but one notable difference between the
two: The doctor knows he's SICK and in so
realizing, is making an effort to cure himself
At this point | want to make most clear
a fact or two. Like everyone else, / am
victim to my own ego. view the South as
a patient That means l am setting myself up
as a doctor And you wonder about my quail
ifications? have none. am without union
card to treat the, i'll. Perhaps, after all, I'm
nothing more or less than an mcalled quack.
but, suffering from these weaknesses of
human nature, you will allow that have
confessed before committing my crime.
From my unqualified point of view, the
South, collectively, is patient most ill.
The patient suffers from condition which
has been growing on it for well over cen
tury. The symptoms have taken many forms,
but on close observation they all point to
one direction. For the purpose of treatment,
would diagnose the case as that of many
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