God's beautiful colors

this is lengthy, boys and girls, so get comfortable and sit a spell. if you care to, that is :-)

i love to see people of different races, cultures, shades and shapes blending together, loving each other, building families, friendships and societies together.

that's one thing i adored about my highschool (an all-girl, private school in case you're curious). it had a perfect mixture of culture - vibrant culture. i had friends - real friends - who were black (american), white (american), filipino, nigerian, ethiopian, eritrean, guatemalan, puerto rican, mexican, jamaican, trinidadian, indian, middle eastern, and a whole slew of biriacial friends.

and we all loved each other, got along beautifully, learned so much from each other, celebrated each other's cultures. being in that environment helped shape who i am and what i value today.

my college was so segregated it was ridiculous.

it was an amazing experience, my high school. it's how i wish the world was. but sadly, the world seems to love segregration - separate but equal. i see entire communities of just white. or just black. or just hispanic. i see groups of friends who are just white. or just black. or just hispanic. i see churches that are just white. or just black. or just hispanic. man, we don't even like to worship together...

i hear words that are so defamatory about other cultures. i see animosity, misunderstanding and hatred between one culture and the next. i see people wishing and wanting that another race or culture would just go away. i hear people saying " i don't have a problem with such-and-such people as long as they stay over there..."

i understand that histories, events, horrible racial experiences and persecutions, personal discriminations, and sometimes just basic differences of lifestyle and upbringing have all contributed to separation, anxiety, and animosity. and i don't belittle or take any of those factors lightly. to be honest, i've had some not-so-pleasant experiences with at least one member of almost every race i can think of. and on more than one occasion i have uttered the words "so-and-so people really get on my nerves..." it's amazing how we can let our individual experiences (the small and the traumatic) shape our view of an entire group of people.

but my prayer and heartfelt desire is that in my lifetime, i'll see things change, in myself, in you, in us, in families, in friendships, in neighborhoods, in cities, in nations, in continents (LOL, that sounds like 'incontinence' when you read it out loud...sorry...that's how my mind rolls). we have come a mighty long way, not just in this country but all over the world. but even though more and more people are opening their hearts and arms to these differences, no matter where you travel in the world, you will still see separation, anxiety and animosity. 'you stay on your side, and i'll stay on mine, and everything will be cool.'

sometimes, it's not just separation between different races - sometimes there's lingering hatred among people of the same race but of different tribes (as is the case in some African countries), different classes (as is the case in probably every country of the world), different skin tones (certainly in black america, in many hispanic countries, and india, to name a few).

it seems as if the mentality of "like kinds" sticking together is rampant all over the world. perhaps it's because familial lineage and survival of one's own culture, name and traditions is so important and families don't want to "lose" any of that. perhaps because history has taught that people of different races and nationalities are violent, ignorant, greedy, filthy or evil. i totally understand how these things can infiltrate one's mind, family and culture, take root, and never leave.

but my prayer is that one day, it will leave. i have this hippie, rainbow-colored, naive view of the world, i know (imagine us all holding hands in a field singing "We Are the World"). and many would say "give it up sistah, it ain't ever gonna happen." and maybe it won't.

but maybe it will.

until i learn otherwise, i'll keep praying for some changes.

i imagine a life where i can travel all over the world and not have people fear, hate, or shun me because of the country i'm from or the tone of my skin. i imagine a world where no one automatically decides they hate you when they see you walking a mile down the road, and they've never even met you. i imagine a woman not being ashamed or afraid to tell her father she's in love with a man who has black skin. i imagine a man not being afraid to tell his mom he's in love with a woman who has white skin. i imagine children whose ethnicity is somewhat ambiguous because of the wonderful colors their parents blended together, not being teased and outcast because they're different.

i look at someone like angelina jolie (moral issues aside please), who has adopted a beautiful ethiopian daughter, a beautiful cambodian son, and has given birth to a beautiful white american baby girl of her own - these children have an awesome blessing built into their families. they have the opportunity to grow up as brothers and sisters, sharing a name, sharing a home, sharing love, sharing their different cultures, seeing and appreciating the beauty of their different features - all the while still saying "this is my brother. this is my sister." if their parents teach them the value of their own identities, cultures, mother tongues and native countries, while still teaching them the value of loving, growing, and bonding with people of other identities, cultures, tongues and nations, those kids, and others in families like theirs, could be among the some of the most blessed in the world. what experiences they'll have!

that touches and inspires me. it inspires me to foster a love of all people and appreciation of color and culture in my future children. it inspires me to teach them never to fear or hate someone because of surface differences. it inspires me to let them know how important it is to love and build friendships and relationships with others based on their personal experience with that person, not because of their skin, language and ethnicity. it inspires me to teach them to never be afraid to love someone who is different, for fear of disapproval.

it inspires me to teach myself all those same things and to always remember that love is love and has no color.

you know what else blows my mind? that our beautiful Jesus knows all languages of the world. right now, all over the planet, people are crying out to Him in english, spanish, quechua, french, italian, chinese, swahili, amharic, tigrinya, zulu, dutch, hindu, tagalog, and the list goes on and on and on...and He hears and understands every single word. how absolutely phenomenal is that!?

anyway, if Jesus, Lord of all Lords, who is bigger and greater than any of us could ever aspire to be, can see past all of our colors, differences, languages and national divides, why can't we?