I am reminded of that 70's commercial here in the U.S. with the old owl saying.."How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?...wa-huuuun...ta-hooo..tha-hrrrrreeee...*crunch* "

I am reminded of that silly commercial because it made me think of it as an analogy to some of the reasonings here on this board..hmmm indeed.. just how many licks would it take in order to get to the very center of OUR own subsitive core?? Certainly...I think it might take a bit more than 3 licks to penetrate the hard candy coated sweetness of our own slick shiny protective outer shells...

How deep are we willing to Reason?...How far are we willing to go? How many layers must we lick to hit the true center of our core?

So many layers for sure...layer pon layer pon layer. We are so conditioned and influenced to think certain ways that often these layers become a subsitute or artificial coating to cover and insulate how much we really are willing to admit to how we actually think and feel about ourselves..(let alone others)..to such an extent that it has crystilized our minds into some very hard and set ways of percieving/thinking..that often..we ourselves have difficulty in seeing who we truly are beneath so many layers.

We all take licks at each other to get to that core...and some even go for the big *crunch* to hit it sooner...but after all is said and done.....truly..it takes honesty to reason.. to even come close.

Hard issues like racism often get deflected into other areas, or onto other people and end up MISSING THE POINT! It is important to recognize that quite often..we are most unwilling to look at OURSELVES in light of our OWN BIASES with regards to racism and other hard reasonings. Which in my opinion..is THE point...and why we begin to see so many deflections and distortions of the key issues..as insecurities or unreasonings are projected onto others that become "symbol" for what they themselves are unwilling to acknowledge or look at from within. It is far easier TO SEE IT IN OTHERS then to look at it from within one's own self! Hence, another artful ploy of deflection from self realization is to bring other prominent figure heads to focus on and use to promote one's agenda..rather than to look within and reflect..again another block at getting to the inna self...and why "the issues" such as racism keep resurfacing over and over again. Many have yet to truthfully deal with this issue THEMSELVES...but only choose to see it as a "social ill" that "others" must come to terms and get right with!

Until we are willing to face ourselves and our OWN BIASES within OURSELVES we will only continue to repeat and perpetuate these issues over and over again because they are not sufficiently dealt with on a PERSONAL level...and therebye the "collective" level remains a splintered/separated far off distant house to reach at best.

Just how many licks will it take to get to the center of the real core??