Yeah, I'm going there.

At 18 years of age and about two months before my mission. A friend took me to a place just north of Minersville, Utah. I never thought about the name Minersville and where it came from until I was shown the numerous mines that surrounded the Minersville area. There was something intriguing about the old openings. Some openings went as tunnels into the mountain and others were vertical pits littered with century old mining paraphanalia around the entrance. I immediately wanted to explore the mines and was stopped short by the fear of my friend. My friend just didn't want to go there. I decided that I would have to go about the mine exploration alone.

The next morning I woke up early, grabbed a flashlight, some extra batteries, and a hammer (to chip out the gold of course) and headed for Minersville.

There was one mine that stood out from the previous day that I knew I had to explore. I drove around the Minersville hills for about an hour, lost trying to find my special mine, until I came across an equally intriguing mine. Only about 15 feet from where I had parked, and over a few sagebrush was a hole about 4 foot wide by 6 foot tall. I climbed out of my primer grey Ford Bronco II equipped with an 8-ball stick shifter (I had to throw that in so you could know what kind of bad-A I was back then), grabbed my flash light and hammer and headed into the dark adventure that was ahead of me.

As I entered the mine, I inspected the mine for safety, and with 18 years of experience of messing around in places that I shouldn't, deemed the mine safe for exploration. As I walked throught the mine, I looked closely at the walls for, perhaps a little gold that had been left behind. After about 200 feet of close inspection, I realized that whomever painstakingly chipped this cave out by hand probably made sure that he didn't leave any gold behind. As I explored deeper I came across a small cave-in that made me a little unsure of going any farther, but being the safety expert that I was, decided that I would be OK to venture on. I climbed over the rubble and headed deeper into the hole. After what seemed like 300 feet, I came to a place that looked like the earth had settled about 3 feet and I looked down at the settled area and found a vein of turqoise. I took my hammer and chipped away the vein and filled my pockets. After taking a minute to reflect on my success I decided to venture deeper into the cave. Turn after turn, straight-away after straight-away I walked deeper. There were little if any branches to the tunnel, and what branches I found, I explored, and never found any branch to go much farther than 100 feet. As I traveled deeper I came to a wooden structure about 2 feet tall blocking the mine and what seemed like the end of my adventure. As I walked closer and looked over the barrier, I saw that the shaft was no longer horizontal but vertical. The wooden structure was a support for a ladder system leading deep, very deep. As I shined my flashlight over the edge I couldn't see the bottom. I inspected the ladder system and though the system seemed structurally sound, I realized that the structure had been built probably 100 years earlier. I thought about climbing down the ladder, but thought I should perform a few safety tests first. I picked up a rock and tossed it into the hole and listened. I never heard it hit the bottom. I did however hear what I thought was a faint cursing in Chinese. I'll never know though. I threw another larger rock and listened for a landing and never heard it. That scared me enough to decide that it would not be in my best interest to not go there.

Today I want to go somewhere that perhaps I shouldn't go, but I would like to. First, I do want to say that truly and deep down. I am not a racist. I can say that at times ignorance has caused me to make judgements on people different than I, (Race, Religion, Politics, etc.) and in the aftermath of getting to know someone that fell into my ignorant prejudgemet, realized how foolish my un-educated pre-judgements really were. I think most of us are guilty of that sometimes. Maybe I am the only one, I don't know. As I have experienced being around people that are different than me, I have come to realize more fully that most of us are all struggling with the same problems regardless of Race or Religion. I do believe that there are some things out there that do more harm for their race in the name of helping their race. I want to mention some things that bother me.. Yes, I am going there.

1. I am bothered by the United Negro College Fund. I think that a college fund designed for people to ensure that their money only goes to someone of another race is racist. I don't even think it is proper to say negro any more? How can you have a college fund called that. Can you imagine the uproar If I started a United Honky College Fund?

2. I am bothered by The Miss Black America Contest. For the same reasons as above. " There she is Miss White America..... Just not happening.

3. I am bothered by BET (Black Entertainment Television.) Not just for the same reasons as mentioned, but I think that If a channel is going to only play shows with African Americans in them, they should have to take claim on Steve Erkel.

4. I am bothered by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Any time a celebrity or politition says something derogotory or racially incorrect they have to apologise to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Hell, don't apologise to Jesse and Al, apologise to who you said it too. If Denzel Washington called me a cracker, I'm not going to feel better if he got on National Television and apologised to Reverend Billy Graham. I want him to call me. I don't need it to be a national issue.

5. I am bothered by equal opportunity employment. I think this forces an employer to take race into account when hiring, instead of the most qualified.

6. I am bothered by affirmative action and its intent to promote access to education or employment aimed at historically sociopolitically non-dominant group. I think this ensures the labeling of a non-dominant group.

My list is by no means exhaustive. Those are just a few things that I think hinder a productive society.

I think as a nation we have come along way. Look at our presidential front runners. We have a White Woman, a Black Muslim, and an 80 year old White Guy. I think this proves that we have come a long way.

I think we, collectively as a nation, are getting over the bigotry. I just think that there are some out there (e.g. Jesse and Al) that wouldn't have a living unless it were still alive.

Perhaps I shouldn' t have gone here. I feel strongly about it and welcome any comments, critisms, or questions.

I guess sometimes when you don't go somewhere, you are always left not having gone there. And just as with my cave, I could go further, but I won't, because I am afraid.