I saw a Christmas movie. Most of the actors were not white people. The main characters were a very poor family that had no nice toys for their children, no lights, no tree, no Santa, no wreath, no decorations, no wrapped presents, no cards, no big family dinner. They lived in a violent neighborhood and were often scared for their lives.

This family had put their hopes for a better life into their teenage daughter. She, however, disappointed them by getting pregnant and her boyfriend wasn't the father. Nevertheless, she wanted her baby, and didn't even consider an abortion.

The boyfriend was going to break up with her and move on. But one day he came to her and said that he had a dream in which a stranger told him to go ahead and marry her because the baby was God's baby. So they decided to get married after the baby was born.

Before the baby was born, however, the boyfriend had to go out of town to meet with tax people and he decided to take her with him. They couldn't get a motel so they spent the night in an out building. During that night, the baby was born. Then some country guys who raised animals came up and began to worship the baby. And later some rich guys came up and also worshiped the baby and gave him some gold and other gifts.

The movie ended when the boy friend had a dream in which a stranger told him to get out of the country. So he took the girl and her baby and crossed an international border. Meanwhile, the army came looking for her baby, because the king had heard about the rich guys worshiping the baby. Then the army killed all the male babies they could find in that town.

Isn't that a strange Christmas movie? I liked it a lot and this is my movie review for it. It is called "The Nativity Story". It is really a well done movie. It is very realistic in costume and setting and it is nice that the actors look like the Middle Eastern people they are portraying instead of like Europeans. You should go see it!

Annie Onieta Plummer began to notice that many of the children in her neighborhood in Savannah, Georgia didn't carry any books to school. The thought came to her that if children had a brand new book of their own, they might be inspired to work harder on their education.

So in 1992 Annie Onieta Plummer bought 30 dictionaries for $50.00 and gave them out to children in her neighborhood. In each dictionary she wrote: "A mind is a terrible thing to waste. I challenge you not to waste yours."

When other people heard what Ms. Plummer was doing they began sending her money so she could buy more dictionaries. The idea caught on. By 1996 she had given dictionaries to more than 17,000 children. People began calling her, "The Dictionary Lady" so she started selling "Dictionary Lady" T-shirts to raise money for the project.

The idea began to spread to other cities, including Chicago and Detroit. Annie Onieta Plummer died in 1999, but by then almost 35,000 dictionaries had been given out. The project continues and as of today more than 4,798,426 children have been given a dictionary. (See dictionaryproject.org).

Annie Onieta Plummer was one of twelve children. She dropped out of school to have a baby. Her first job was a housekeeper. When asked how she gave away so many dictionaries, she said: "I saw children with no books. I wondered what I could do to help."

What can you do to help?

We get mixed messages today: "Practice tolerance!" "Judge not!" Does that mean that all human behavior choices should be regarded as equal?

But then we are told: "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." Does that mean we are suppose to not allow our friends to engage in destructive behavior?

It's all so confusing! I can understand why "To do or not to do?" is often an unasked question today. People seem to do things without any thought or deliberation -- "If it feels good do it". But we are so inconsistent.

We are told that killing a baby in the womb is a private "choice" and it doesn't make any difference whether we kill the baby or let it live. But then we are told that if we use regular light bulbs instead of florescent bulbs we are helping to cause global warming and are destroying the earth. Excuse me? Am I suppose to believe that my choice to kill a baby doesn't matter, but my choice to use a particular type of light bulb does matter? Gosh, that seems weird to me!

We are even told that some people are born with certain behaviors in their genetic make-up and that they have little or no choice about them. So if someone has a "genetic preference" for regular light bulbs or an "orientation" for drunk driving, why don't we tolerate them and applaud their "pride" day?

If Al Gore gets praised for speaking out against human behaviors that are destroying our planet (And I am glad Al spoke out.) then why don't those who speak out against human behaviors that are destroying our moral standards get praised? What good will a physically clean but a morally depraved environment do us? Don't we need to speak against all forms of human self-destruction?

If human behavior matters, speak up, before it is too late!

There is a public prejudice against bold, blatant racism in 21st Century America. This is progress. Until the 1960's aggressive, arrogant racism was a popular American pass time. Racist governors who confronted little children in front of public schools were populist heroes.

However, in the 21st Century when Senate Majority Leader, Trent Lott, referred nostalgically to Strom Thurman's aggressive racist past, he was forced out of his Senate leadership position (even though he was allowed to keep his seat). Yes, today blatant racism is not cool. But does that mean racism is gone, or just under cover?

There are diversities of racism. Bold, arrogant racism is only one form of racism. Here are four other types of racism.

1) Passive racism. Passive racism ignores and overlooks others because of their race. It may not aggressively fight against them, but it is frequently insensitive to their needs, their problems, and their concerns. An example: about the only time most white Americans are concerned with the conditions in an inner city black neighborhood is when there is a riot or a disaster like Katrina. Passive racism seems to be rampant in America.

2) Essential racism. Essential racism is believing or feeling others to be in some way inferior because of their skin color. This is a hidden form of racism because political correctness prohibits most Americans from publicly expressing negative feelings about race. I can't prove it, but from just what I have heard both white people and black people say privately about the other group, essential racism appears to me to be rampant. Essential racism frequently uses phrases like; "Now, I'm not prejudice but . . .". It also likes to use the word: "They," to describe another race.

3) Expectant racism. Expect racism expects others to have certain characteristics or behaviors because of their skin color. Racial profiling is an example of expectant racism. Another example would be a white person feeling fear when he meets a well dressed black man on the street, but not when he meets a well dressed white man.

4) Institutional racism. Institutional racism involves societal social and organizational structures. Many of these institutions and mores were established when American was an openly white supremacist country and their structure, tradition, and customs still work against people of color. An institution that has overcome most institutional racism is the U.S. military. Many other institutions, however, still have a way to go.

Is racism rampant? What do you think?

As NPR News reported this morning that Donald Rumsfeld is on a final tour of the troops in Iraq before stepping down as Secretary of Defense, I had an idea. Why not require Rumsfeld and other politicians and policy makers (including the President) who send men and women to war to a mandatory term of war duty when they leave office? For example, Rumsfeld could be required to patrol the streets of Baghdad for a year and take his chances on life or death.

If a leader knows that his or her own life will be put in danger for a year, perhaps that will make him or her think twice before committing other Americans to war. Good idea? What do you think?