Every day, I have the privilege and joy of holding a sweet, little brown-skinned hand, of kissing a beautiful, warm milk-chocolate cheek. I look in those huge deep-brown eyes, and I know God created this beautiful human exactly as God desired.
Why, then, is it so difficult for people—other humans—not to love, respect and appreciate what God created and loves? I know; not everyone believes in God or cares what God created. But really, we all are human beings. We don’t have to love each other or even like each other, but we honestly have more in common than we might think.
I am the fortunate mom of an adopted daughter from Ethiopia.
I am the fortunate mom of an adopted daughter from Ethiopia. I am not African-American. We have very curious and interesting discussions about skin color and even hair in our home!
One of my favorite middle-school science teachers once said, “We all have brown skin; some of us just have more melanin than others.” Some have lighter brown skin with darker spots all over, and on others, the darker spots spread out to cover them in beautiful rich hues of brown. I love Maya Angelou’s words when she describes all the amazing colors of brown in very descriptive, familiar words such as coffee with cream, dark chocolate, toffee and warm honey!
Skin is what we are wrapped in. It’s beautiful. It’s different. It holds us together. And maybe, if we look deep enough, it actually can bring us together. Maybe we can see the beauty on the outside and discover the beauty on the inside, find our similarities and see that we all want and need many of the same things.
We all need love and friendship. We all have fear and stress. Each of us laughs and cries and hopes. Everyone wants a brighter future, to find joy and to grow as human beings. We want a “better world” for our children.
Maybe we should watch our children and learn from them how to get along and care for one another. They tend to do it better than grownups. We can rant and rave, pass laws, preach incredible sermons, march and protest, but perhaps there are some other ways we can confront and deal with racism in our world.
Maybe it’s time…
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Maybe it’s time we wholeheartedly invest everything we have in every child’s education. Keep our public schools a melting pot of ethnicity and economics so that we learn from each other and support each other. Maybe it’s time we make sure every person can get a decent wage to live and support their children. Maybe it’s time we open our congregations and partner with others so we can build relationships and educate one another and work together, hand in hand for justice, advocating for one another in the public square.
Maybe it’s time we hold someone’s hand whose skin is a different shade of brown, look into their eyes and begin a friendship that might lead to more friendships that might lead to working together for justice that maybe, just maybe, may lead to changing our world.
Amazing things happen when we are able to see the world through another’s eyes, when we take the time to listen and understand. So today, take a hand and begin a journey. You might discover a new friend, and together you may just change the world!
Sharon Felton, a former Texas Baptist, is youth minister at Faith Baptist Church in Georgetown, Ky.
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