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Good point! That's exactly how I feel, too. In fact, my wife and I four years ago adopted a baby girl from San Bernardino County Adoption Services. Since then, lots of folks have been asking us, "So, when your daughter asks you what race she is, what are you going to tell her?"

Our answer has been, and always will be, "We will tell our daughter that her biological mother is half-black, half-korean; her father is half-black, half-filipino. Her adopted mother is black, her adopted father (me) is white (anglo, polish, whatever). But, we will stress to her that race has NOTHING to do with how far you want to go in life--rather, it is us to YOU to grab a hold of your dreams and make them come true. No one else will do this for you. You've got to 'take life by the horns' and ride it for all it's worth. You simply CAN NOT depend on your skin color, good looks, education, or "breeding" to take the place of good old-fashioned blood, sweat and tears to make the most of your life!"

I get so sick and tired of hearing, first of all, of hyphenated-Americans, and all this garbage about RACE, RACE, RACE and CULTURE, CULTURE, CULTURE, that it sometimes drives me nuts! I can tell you from firsthand experience that, though I am classified and "anglo," I've always had to bust my rear end to get to where I am today...and, where I want to go in my life tomorrow. While going to high school and college, in particular, and classmates were heading off to Hawaii and the Bahamas during summer, Christmas and Easter vacations, my three brothers and I were hard at work earning a few extra dollars towards the upcoming quarter or semester of school. That's something very valuable my Dad passed on to his boys--the value of hard work and that NO ONE is going to do it for you--at least, you'd better not count on that happening too often in your life.

Okay, okay, I'll jump down from my "soap box" for now; but, I guess you can plainly see where I stand when it comes to race issues, cultural "roots" and the like. YOU are the one who's got to make it happen! No one else--they've got their own lives to live.