Tuesday 18 August 2009

colour blind

We went for a drive the other day - ended up in Barrington and Shelburne, two towns in a part of the province I don't visit a lot. They're both lovely, although differences are clear - Barrington (and the surrounding area) is mainly fishing-based, and Shelburne trades on its historical status while trying not to reel from the loss of the Air Force base nearby.

Shelburne Harbour is beautiful. Lots of museums, artisans plying their craft from days gone by, and a general air of stepping back in time.

We rounded the corner (my head full of must shoot that! Want to take a picture there!) and saw it.

Amistad. La Amistad.











And suddenly I was trying to explain to my son what a slave ship was - how it happened, before, but musn't happen again, how this lovely ship reminded us not to let history repeat itself, how people all over the world needed a reminder sometimes that things have not always been so easy.

Cass scrunched up his face, thinking hard. Then, his voice alternately bewildered and outraged: 'They were slaves - because of the colour of their skin? Why?'

I paused, thinking. The very-Afrikaans man aboard the Amistad gave me a small smile.

'I hear that a lot with the younger kids.' he said. 'It gives me hope.'

12 comments:

Momma Sunshine said...

Beautiful. I love the fact that my girls would have said the exact same thing. :)

motherbumper said...

Love this post. Done good mom.

cd0103 said...

You have done a good thing raising that child. Thank you.

witchypoo said...

You don't have to go that far back. Just look at Halifax expropriating Africville and displacing all the lifelong residents.

Ree said...

Thank goodness our children don't understand the hell we put our fellow human beings through.

Woman in a Window said...

Yes, why? I love that.

I never could get my head around the why either. Seems pretty messed up.

Chantal said...

Oh I love tall ships and I have never seen that one in person.

Suzanne said...

Beautiful pictures, but even more beautiful that Cass is color blind. Awesome. :D

FoundProdigalDaughter said...

That's so touching and true, brought tears to my eyes.

Loth said...

Great post. And I love Shelburne (even if some of it was faked up for that Demi Moore movie!)

kimmyk said...

What great pictures!

I love how kids think---too bad that doesn't rub off on adults.

coffeejitters said...

kids - and those kinds of comments give me hope too.

A couple of big blows

 Snow, that is. My province has been hit hard this year.  We're still digging out from the St. Valentine's day storm, and we might f...