Hello and welcome to An altitude Problem, where it is...
•Adopt A Rescued Rabbit Month
•African-American History Month
•Low Vision Awareness Month
•American Heart Month
•American History Month
•Bake for Family Fun Month
•Berry Fresh in the Sunshine State Month
•Black History/Heritage Month (Canada)
•Chocolate Lover's Month
•Creative Romance Month
•Deaf History Month
•Fabulous Florida Strawberry Month
•Festival of Camellias Month
•From Africa to Virginia Month
•Great American Pies Month
•Greek-American Heritage Month
•Human Relations Month
•International Boost Self-Esteem Month
•Irish-American Heritage Month
•Library Lovers Month
•Marfan Syndrome Awareness Month
•Marijuana Awareness Month
•Mental Retardation Awareness Month
•National African American History Month (Black History)
•National Bird Feeding Month
•National Black History Month (African American)
•National Boost-Your-Self-Esteem Month
•National Canned Food Month
•National Care About Your Indoor Air Month
•National Cherry Pie Month
•National Children's Dental Health Month
•National Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Month
•National Craft Month
•National Dental Month
•National Grapefruit Month
•National Hot Breakfast Month
•National Laugh-Friendly Month
•National Mend A Broken Heart Month
•National Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness Month
•National Parent Leadership Month
•National Pet Dental Health Month
•National Senior Independence Month
•National Snack Food Month
•National Sweet Potato Month
•National Time Management Month
•National Weddings Month
•National Women's History Month
•North Carolina Sweet Potato Month
•Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month
•Relationship Wellness Month
•Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month
•Spiritual Wellness Month
•Spunky Old Broads Month
•Sweet Potato Month
•Wise Health Care Consumer Month
•Worldwide Renaissance of the Heart Month

(Thanks to about.com for that list.) I must admit, I am loving some of these. I mean, I had no idea spunky old broads got their own month, granted they have to share it with most of the rest of the world- African-Americans, potheads, sweet potato farmers, dogs with bad teeth and people with bad eyes. And What's Marfan Syndrome? In honor of it's month, I googled it. It's a genetic disorder in which connective tissues don't do their job. You get really tall and then pretty much fall apart. Okay, so that's oversimplified a bit, but google it yourself if you want to know more.

It's also Care About Your Indoor Air Month. I would like to point out that not only do house plants lend a healthy influence to your indoor spaces because we humans are programmed to need to be around growing things, and not only do they produce oxygen, they are excellent air purifiers. If you live in an old double-wide, you will be happy to know that that philodendron you keep trimming and starting new plants from is, according to Nasa, one of the best plants in the world for filtering formaldehyde from your air. Benzene? Gerbera Daisies or Chrysanthemums. The Philodendron, Spider plant, and Golden Pothos all use more carbon than normal, so it can't hurt to position them close to your furnace room in case of low levels of carbon monoxide. Finding actual studies that say definitively how many plants per square feet of living space you need to filter out all the toxins within that space are hard to find, but considering the psychological benefits of being around plants, added to what is at the very least a small boost in air purity is a good reason to keep 'em growing.

And in honor of Black History Month, there is much to say. I have been listening, while working or running, to various history podcasts, and it has been a theme this month. Black activists and leaders and businessmen and actresses who found themselves and were successful. If one wants to feel that the world is all good, that in the end, fairness wins, and that one comes from an honorable bloodline filled with upstanding ansestors, one should stay far, far away from history. History is for those who are realistic about life and are okay with admitting that they come from a long line of scoundrels and people who became monsters along with the society around them. I find it hard to believe how enlightened we feel we are, but how close, literally close in years, we are to a time when we considered one race to be master, and one race to be slave, and it frightens me to think that I may have believed all people to be created equal, or I may not have. I may have risked reputation and even life to see my fellow man free, but then again, I may not have. I think about all the swaying arguements I have been taken in by over the years, and how easily convinced I am with just a bit of logic in whatever topic I allowd myself to be drawn in by, and I feel guilty for who I might be if I lived in a time when society's norm was slavery. I feel that if i had lived in such a time, I would probably see the flaws in the system, I would probably strive toward fairness, but I probably would not make any big statements.

Am I the kind of person who would leave water bottles in the desert to prevent the deaths of illegal aliens crossing from Mexico? How far would I go to see to their safety and quality of life, believing that in spite of the legality of their actions and the long-temr effect on our country, they deserve the same chances I have grown up taking for granted? How much would I risk? Am I the only one seeing scary parallels to Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad here? (I have to give a shout out to my girl Harriet, since it is Women's History Month and Black History Month and Spunky Old Broad Month.) The 3,200 people who helped smuggle slaves into Canada knew the cost their actions would take on the American economy, and we now hail them as American heroes. They knew that fewer unpaid workers meant less product and a slower economy. Those who wanted to see the slaves freed knew it would cause many people to lose their mansions and plantations when they had to pay their help. But those who did it chose to see the trees, the individuals who were gaining financial freedom, over what it would do for the forest, the entire economy of the South. When one looks at it from that point of view, there will always be those who are sympathetic over the plight of an individual, and there will be those who believe that the individual matters less than the system as a whole. I suppose it comes down to dates. One century's villain is another century's hero. It makes me wonder who will be the hindsight heroes of today? Will it be Humane Borders? Or the Minutemen?
We live in a time when racism against blacks has become a serious social crime, but have we transfered that old superior attitude to other cultures? We say illegal immigrants take our jobs, pay no taxes, bring drugs and crime and refuse to learn our language and bring down the economy and society in general. But we say this as the descendants of the ruthless crowds from Europe who swept into this country only a short time ago and forced the locals, at knife-tip and gunpoint, to become them, with all of their idiosyncratic ideals and customs, or die. As far back as the Crusades, we of European descent have made our statement to the world, and we have made it loudly and bloodily- become like we are. Look like we do, believe as we do, or else.

Black History Month is about more than one race looking back with pride to those in their ancestry who conquered, more than about their own awareness of their own rich heritage. American slavery is a big, unavoidable part of Black history, so it also reminds us all that we are not so far removed from that ugly time in our proud nation's history as we think we are. It forces us to evaluate our attitudes toward all races.

It is to remind us that we are not as special or superior as we think we are, simply because we were born free and financially secure and, as we see it, morally and physically uncompromised. We are not special because we speak English, because our food comes from the supermarket, because we live in a house with a garage, because we were not born on a dirt floor, because we weren't born with AIDS. We're not special because as toddlers we fell asleep to lullabies instead of machine gun fire, because we have never been truly hungry and have never drunk from a well that made us sick.

We are not special. We are fortunate. We were born free, which puts us in a place from which we can do great good. Did I mention it's Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month?