Monday, May 7, 2012

Would I help The Help?




I've been reading The Help on my Kindle. I've only finished nine chapters, though. It's taking me a while to read because it's so painful for me. I feel so frustrated at the injustice of how the maids are treated by both their employers and society in general. I feel heartbroken at how Aibleen's employer treats her own daughter. Having a two year old myself, reading the scenes breaks my heart for that poor baby. I find myeslf identifying strongly with the character Skeeter, although I'm sure that's the author's intent. Not only do we share the same height and pale skin, but also the desire to write about what seems so wrong to us. I don't think my words can change the world, but if I at least make someone stop to think, then I'll feel better.


But also I wonder if I was living in that same time period, would I really be like Skeeter? Would I have the courage to take action against the injustices I see all around me? I did grow up in the South - if I was born thirty years earlier, would I even notice? Or would I be more like Hilly, believing that segregation is not only acceptable but proper, and that the purpose of college is to find a husband? Are my feelings of injustice simply the product of being born in my generation instead of my grandmother's?
I like to think that I would still see the injustice. It would be heavy in my heart. I would support the Civil Rights movement, just like I support gay rights today. People are people, and that's it. There doesn't need to be labels. Human is the only race label I want to hear, and love is love. But I wonder if I would be brave enough to actually DO something.

7 comments:

  1. I have yet to read The Help, but this is making me want to. That's definitely a tough question, and I love the picture you posted. So true.

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  2. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE that book. It was a huge eye opener for me as well. I just watched the movie while my mom was in town!

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  3. It wasn't just 45 y ago. Some of us marched, some of us registered voters, some of us worked to open restaurants and shops.. But the need did not end in the 60's.
    In the ate 70's and 80's, we had folks who were deliberately prevented from learning to read-. So we color coded our products, so they could work for us-- and tutored them to learn to read. There's still plenty to do- the choice to act (or the commandment to do so) is yours. Do it now!

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  4. You produce some great questions and I don't think they are ones we should answer glibly or too fast. Even the question of if we were living in Rwanda during the time of genocide-wld we have been one of the ones helping save people- or would we assume this was 'beyond our scoop of power to do anything"-- these are questions I grapple with alot- and hope I can come up with the answer is the truest about myself and not just what I want to believe I am like.

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  5. i haven't read the book, but the movie is good.. made me cry.. i love the saying you posted - so true, yet we don't always realize we are that somebody...
    thanks for stopping by my blog, and following.... i will be checking in regularly with you, too...

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  6. I was there and then, although young. I finished high school at the end of 1969. Growing up in the turbulent Mississippi of the 60's, my attitudes and beliefs evolved even as they developed. I could not remain blind to the injustices around me, but I had no way of knowing how to do anything about it except, eventually, leave. That did nobody any good but me. The book captures some of the truth of its time and has generated lots of reflection on my part. Yours are the questions that I hope Stockett meant to generate with her story.

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  7. I saw the movie and read the book. Both where really good but it did make me mad. I don't know if I would of done anything either. How sad for me not to know.

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