I feel sad that our country is in a place where these are the types of headlines we have to read, our children have to read. My grandfather volunteered to fight against such atrocities in WWII. And here we are more than 70 years later it's hard to believe we have still so much farther to go.
This past weekend it was hard to escape the sadness that was happening across our country in Charlottesville, VA. I tried to keep the kids oblivious to what was happening but enviably they saw. And they tried to process. "Mom, what does White Supremacist mean?" "What is a Neo-Nazis?" I honestly didn't know where to begin and to explain to them that this was happening in 2017, I struggled to decide how to approach it. I decided to be honest, to be open and to explain to them the best way I knew how, the truth. I'm sure I stumbled over words but I did my best to clearly explain. The boys sat staring at me and when I stopped talking they said, "Mom, does that mean we aren't as good or equal as someone who is white?" I swallowed and I said, "Gabriel and Michael that is absolutely NOT true. God created all of us to be equal, to love each other as we so loved our God. Sadly not everyone believes this and in those people's minds they believe some people have more value than others. I assure you both, they are wrong."
I tried to not let my voice crack. Just vocalizing it to them made me feel sadness, burning anger and hurt that they would ever have to ask themselves such a question. It took me back to the political campaign when they feared they were going to be banned as a U.S. Citizen because they are Hispanic and Caucasian.
We continued on about our day and my mind kept going back to that earlier conversation. I thought, "How did we get here?" How has so much changed in this country in such a short amount of time? What would happen if we would focus more on loving one another, on praising qualities those who have different beliefs, who look differently and who may have even different views than us? What if we choose kindness over everything else?
In this world where so much of the headlines, the news on the radio, the TV, our phones and our computers is all negative, the sadness in my heart was diminished, when I look at our future... when I look at our children.
That same afternoon, Dad and the boys went to a baseball game, so Madelyn, Isabelle and I were home. I asked Isabelle what she would like to do for something fun and she picked going to McDonald's to the play land. As much as I would have preferred to go anywhere else, I let her choose, so we went. After eating, Isabelle asked to run off to the play center. Already playing were two girls... girls with different color skin than Isabelle but about her same age. One girl it seemed to be about 5 just like Isabelle, and the other a couple of years older than Madelyn. I sat with Madelyn and observed the interaction.
Isabelle and the girl about the same age met at the top of the climbing structure and immediately my daughter said, "My name is Isabelle, what is your name?" The girl responded and without a second hesitation Isabelle said, "Would you like to play together?" I looked down at Madelyn at my feet and I smiled. I felt the sadness in my heart from earlier that morning, grow weaker, dissipate some. And then the other girl said, "Isabelle this is my little sister Naomi." Isabelle said hi and in typical Isabelle fashion said, "Guess what?, I have a baby sister "Sweetie Pie", but we call her Madelyn. Would you like to come see her?" Seconds later, standing near me was Isabelle and her two newest friends, giving Madelyn a high five and telling us how cute they thought she was.
For the next 45 minutes the three of them and sometimes Madelyn when they'd come to check on Isabelle's baby sister, played together like they had been friends for life. They didn't see the differences that each of them possessed, they saw the similarities they shared. They saw a stranger as a friend, the opportunity to have fun, to celebrate the moment and to share kindness.
Several times throughout their playing I wanted to stop and record the interaction taking place, to broadcast it across all my social media platforms. To say, "Maybe we should look to our children as leaders for how we need to act." Maybe we've forgotten to choose love over hate.
I never would have thought my trip to McDonald's with my daughter this past Sunday would have presented me a moment to reflect, a lesson to be learned, but it did. I think a post on Twitter that has become the most liked Tweet in the history of Twitter said it perfectly...
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or religion. People learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. - Nelson Mandela (Shared by former President Obama)
Yes, love does come more naturally. Love doesn't see in color, or religion or background. Love is love is love is love.
I pray our country can take a lesson from the children demonstrating each and everyday for us on playgrounds across this great nation.... let's come together, lets celebrate our similarities while respecting our differences and share kindness and love with reckless abandon.
Don't we at least owe it to our children, our future, to try?
angie
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