GET OVER IT ALREADY!!!!

So I haven’t posted a blog since I’ve been back in NC, not because I haven’t had anything to say but because I’ve had SO MUCH to say that I haven’t had time to analyze my thoughts and sit down long enough to put anything into words. 

As everyone can imagine, 8 months in a third world country inevitably leads to many experiences that bring their share of both laughs and tears.  To say that the entire 8 months were filled with fantastic, bright, sun-shiny days everyone all-smiles every day would be not only a horrible lie but a terrible misrepresentation of the pain and suffering that those experiences held and the immeasurable grace and unending mercy that God grants to cover it all.  As my time here goes along and I find more time to process my time abroad, I will be able to share more about those heart-breaking yet enriching experiences.  However, just as (if not even more) heart-breaking as what I experienced in the Philippines is what I have faced while being back in the states.  And while there are many issues that I could write about like the early sexualization of pre-teen girls (which I could and probably will go on about all day) or the stereotypes placed on prostitutes in the US (once again, I’ll address this in another blog), there is one issue that I just can’t avoid these days.  I mean literally, it has slapped me in the face over and over again since I have returned.  Know what that issue is???

Yes, race relations—I mean really people?!?! Why are we still so stuck on this? Why do I have to drive up to the gas pump to find business cards for the KKK stuck in the credit card slot? Why do I have to sit on my hands during dinners with friends and family just to keep from slapping them across the face for making insanely ignorant comments? People are dying from starvation and easily preventable diseases, children are being sold into sexual servitude, lost people are living hopeless lives, and desperate circumstances are forcing people to turn to drugs, violence, prostitution, etc.. And yet, we’re still arguing about racial differences!

I found a book tucked away in our basement from when I was a child.  It’s called “God Makes Us Different” by Helen Caswell.

There isn’t anybody just like me,

because God makes everybody different.

I guess when God has to make so many people,

it’s more fun to make them different.

It would be boring to make them all the same.

So he makes us different colours—brown and pink and tan.

And he makes all shapes and sizes.

And he puts curly hair on some and straight hair on others.

And some are boys and some are girls.

God makes some noisy ones and some quiet ones.

But though people look different on the outside,

on the inside, we are not different at all.

Everybody likes to eat.

And everybody needs to sleep.

Everybody cries, sometimes.

And everybody likes to laugh.

So I guess God makes our outsides all different, just for fun.

But he makes our insides all alike, and he loves us, every one.

I suppose I can thank the books like this that I read while growing up, along with many other things shaped and formed the way that I was taught to love anyone and everyone.  But what gets me is if I could grasp the concept that we are all equal years ago, why is it taking everyone else so long to catch on?

I guess there are many reasons why this issue hurts me so deeply. Maybe its because I expect the people I love most and have known the longest to not be so ignorant and to fight for justice a little bit more. Or maybe its because I’ve been blind to the injustice for so long that I’m angry at myself for not recognizing it earlier.  Or maybe it’s the fact that I just don’t understand what the issue is because I can honestly say that when I’m around others of different races, I REALLY don’t pay ANY attention to race whatsoever! Or maybe it’s because this issue of race has been beaten to death for years and it is way past the MOVE ON point.  Or maybe its because my eyes have been opened to so many other injustices that it makes me downright sick to my stomach that we waste time analyzing skin color instead of coming together to work and end issues like the modern day slavery that is happening in our own backyards.