Heath Ledger, Misunderstanding and DiscriminationI've been thinking a lot about poor Heath today. All this dreadful news, and the terrible rumors which are still flying. And the terrible comments made by people about Heath. He is so misunderstood, and I wonder why? What was so mysterious about Heath? Nothing really. He was a brilliant, talented, handsome man and a loving father. But for some reason people want to pin all this mystery on him. I started wondering if maybe Heath felt misunderstood while he was alive. I hope not, but I don't think all this misunderstanding suddenly happened once he was dead. It must have been there earlier, and I wonder if he was aware of it.
This got me to thinking about my youth. I felt very misunderstood as a child. When I was younger I didn't really understand it. Then when I become older (a teenager) I learned to fear it. You see, my mother was Native American, French and African American. This was a very misunderstood mixture here in the Midwest. My mother really couldn't hide it. She was called every name in the book, and often in my presence. It hurt her very badly, and she wanted to make sure I didn't suffer the same fate. So she told me secrets.
"Around here, even one teeny tiny drop of Black blood is too much" she would warn me. "Don't you NEVER tell nobody about it or I'll whoop the tan off your ass".
My Native American looks were enough to cover up my Black heritage - for the most part, although being a Native American in the 1960's wasn't a very good thing to be either. At least not around here. So my European roots helped cover up the Native American, and the Native American helped cover up the Black. The problem was, I didn't look White. I didn't look Black and I didn't look Native American. So people asked questions. And then there was my Roman Catholicism in a Protestant city and state. And we won't even go into my feminine qualities as a child.
So, people wondered, people talked, and sometimes people asked a question or two.
I wonder if Heath suffered from a feeling of misunderstanding and isolation. I sure hope not.
But they're talking aren't they? And they're asking questions. And they're wondering. I wonder if they realize how painful that can be to others?
Poor poor Heath!