“Remember us.” As simple an order as a king can give. “Remember why we died.” For he did not wish tribute, nor song, nor monuments nor poems of war and valor. His wish was simple. “Remember us,” he said to me. That was his hope, should any free soul come across that place, in all the countless centuries yet to be. May all our voices whisper to you from the ageless stones, “Go tell the Spartans, passerby, that here by Spartan law, we lie.” — 300

We didn’t ask for parades.  We didn’t do it for free drinks.  We didn’t sell our youth, our health, and our lives for a free meal on Veteran’s Day.  We did it because it needed doing, nothing more, nothing less.  All we ask is that what we did, and what we gave up to do it, be remembered.

Young Gru: Mom, someday, I’m going to go to the moon.
Gru’s Mom: I’m afraid you’re too late, son. NASA isn’t sending the monkeys anymore.

— Despicable Me

There is a balancing act that every parent goes through.  First, you want to encourage your children to succeed.  Second, you want to put your foot in their backside when they stop trying.  Third, you want to keep their expectations manageable.  The last thing you want to do is lay one of the three on too thick and either hold them up when they should be moving on their own, push them too hard, or crush their dreams.

Blood has no nationality — Gattaca

No matter where we come from, what color our skin, or what faith or creed we follow, we are all human.   We divide ourselves in a lot of ways, but when we forget that basic truth, horrible things happen.

Rizzo: He’s some kind of a blind fiend.
Gonzo: I believe they prefer visually challenged fiend.

— Muppet Treasure Island

At what point do I get to stop using modern euphemisms for things that have been said, with no bad connotations, for years?  Where is the shame in having a condition where you cannot use your eyes to see called being “blind”?  Is it really an insult to call someone who has trouble hearing “deaf”?  Can anyone point to where using the old words, with some obvious exceptions such as outright slurs, is derogatory?

Larry Correia makes a good point when he says that due to his Portuguese ancestry, he’s “Hispanic”, but he’s as white as I am, so I guess that doesn’t count.  I can see where someone whose ancestors greeted my ancestors when they got to Vinland objecting to being called “redskin”, or even “Indian”.  They are neither.  But “Aboriginal” or “Native American” is clunky. Would it be better if they said “Lakota” or “Blackfoot” instead?  Can’t we just say “American” and force others to treat us in the manner that name demands?

And by the way, I’m not a Caucasian.  I know people from the Caucasus, and they don’t look a heck of a lot like me.  If I have to pick a description, I prefer “Barbarian American” or “Green Eyed Devil”, thank you very much.