Zebra's Can't Blend In

I adopted the zebra as my personal trademark during the years that The Jeffersons telelvision program ran (1975-1985.) For those too young to remember, this was a sitcom about an African American family who "moved on up to the East Side" of New York City, after "making it" with a small chain of dry cleaning establishments.

The Jeffersons' son fell in love with and married the daughter of a mixed couple in the building. George Jefferson, the buffoon of a father in the title role, referred to his daughter-in-law as a zebra, because her mother was black and her father was white.

There are zebras strategically located throughout my house and I named my now-defunct company accordingly.

A zebra cannot hide before a snowdrift

Nor fade into the blackness of the night.

Her stripes, which give her texture, interest and depth,

Don't lend to getting lost in any crowd.

A zebra learns to stand alone in crowds,

To listen always for the fearsome hooves of

Predators that pounce from all directions.

She moves about in groups to which she cannot truly belong.

A zebra carries passengers along her back;

Those not as strong or quick or fit enough to live

Within the jungle known to man as life.

She's neither black nor white, and covets the skill of the chameleon.