Feb. 16, 2007 - 21:25 MST

WONDERFUL THOUGHT ?

Gary Massaro a columnist of The Rocky Mountain News has such interesting stories and his column of February 6 is no exception. Quoted here in full:

AMERICA ISN'T A MELTING POT, EDUCATOR SAYS -- IT'S A SALAD

AURORA -- "Carneice Brown White's mother taught her a lesson when she was a little girl. And it became her life's work."

"My mother Florida Thompson Wade, told me that if you're wealthy, your give money," Carneice said.

"But if your not wealthy, you give love."

"She has a new book, complete but unpublished. It's the illustrated text of her rap song, Salad."

"Most people say America's like a melting pot. If you melt us all together, you can't tell one from another," she said."

"She thinks it is a salad."

"In a salad, we look good. We're nutricious. We're colorful. And we all complement and enhance each other," she said."

"Her family moved from Memphis, Tenn., to Denver when she was 9. Her dad was a Pullman porter. She grew up in east Denver."

"She was going to be a dentist when she enrolled at Central State College in Ohio."

But I found myself thrust into my love for children," she said."

"So she moved back to Colorado, graduated from the University of Denver and became a special-education teacher in Denver Public Schools, where she taught every grade school level over 40 years."

"My whole passion in life is young children," she said."

"My passion is to give honor to my heavely father, and living my life for others to follow."

"DU honored her as an outstanding graduate. She was inducted into the Living Hall Of Fame in Denver and to another hall in Ohio for dedicating her life to education and writing."

"She had a radio show --Cooking with Carneice. From that she ended up writing three cookbooks."

"Her alter ego is Mrs. Goober -- a peanut -- in honor of George Washington Carver, who made miraculous discoveries with peanuts -- from peanut butter to cattle fodder."

"She'd visit grade schools to talk to children about respecting one another."

"She has had heart surgery and oral surgery, which has curtailed her visits."

"I had to learn to talk again," she said. "I don't speak well."

Actually, she speaks just fine. But she's a perfectionist, which means she doesn't speak as well as she'd like.

"She used to write her books on a typewriter. She told her husband, Sherman Trimble, a computer whiz, that she was too old to learn to use a computer. He insisted. She gave in."

"My typewriter is in storage," she said."

"Salad is her second children's book. She wrote the text for Mrs. Goober's ABC's," which is also a coloring book."

It is designed to get kids to focus on the positive. "You know how when you ask someone how they feel and they complain ?" she asked."

"Her book offers answers in the positive, like abundantly adaptable, enthusiastically energetic."

"She may be of retirement age, but she still has some unfinished business.

"I hope that I can get better so I can get out and be with children again," she said."

"They give you so much inspiration. I get as much from them as they do from me."

"They give."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Those last words, say a world to me. "They give," and children do just that. Given a chance and attention they give all the love and trust they are capable of. Enthralling it is to be with a youngster who lives life to the fullest and loves the world of people.

You know, I think her idea of us being a salad, puts things in the right perspective. Don't we make a nourishing meal of peoples ? Spicy, sweet, meat and potatoes as well as apple pie and strange dishes from the world over ? Isn't that a WONDERFUL THOUGHT ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Blog