When I started on Medium less than a year ago, I honestly thought my journey out of racism was complete.

Sure, I knew there was white privilege, but then I got a bit of education about what white privilege really is, how utterly pervasive it is…and how I should have realized that already.

Now I’ve received another reminder of just how much more there is to know.

A long time ago in the Navy, a shipmate (one of the senior cooks) asked, “Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how to improve the food for the crew?” I replied that it seemed that we always had the same thing for breakfast, day after day, and that maybe they could use a bit of variety. He said, “Okay, then what would you suggest we serve?”

I blanked. I had not a clue. It was then that I first began to learn that if one’s going to lodge a complaint, then one should at least have a suggestion on how to fix that complaint. Sounds reasonable, right?

Until you threw a vicious curveball at me this morning with a reply that essentially went along the lines of “You and your people made this mess, so you figure out how to clean it up!” In other words, you rightly reminded me that the “requirement” to have a suggestion on how to fix a problem is not a requirement at all, but merely an option.

Okay. So I’ll try to do that (hubris, thy name is Glenn). I’ll post an article with my suggestions (hopefully later today), and I’d appreciate your criticism.