I don’t get it…really. It seems to me that such ignorance would be slightly imprisoning. Stuck in stupidity. Come on out of the darkness, people! It’s so much better in the light! Logically, it would take so much less energy to just love…hate is too consuming. That’s what I think anyway…but I am just one person, living on this great, big planet. Smiling at all kinds of people – because I like to smile…not because the recipient of my smile wears the same skin that I do. Oh well.
As I do every Tuesday, I strolled through the aisles of my local grocery, doing my best to navigate that super-duper, extra long grocery cart that makes my kids think they’re driving through the produce section. I often ask God to let His Light work through me, that He may be visible to others, through me…and on this day, I could see people recognizing that Goodness in me. My beautiful baby boys were also busy being blessings, waving and smiling (OK, so just AD was doing that – D’Lo was working on the jojo the deli lady gave him).
And then, there he was…
As I looked up after placing some frozen veggies in my limo of a cart, our eyes locked. This was mostly because his eyes were already locked on me – on us. As is usually the case with cowards, he quickly broke his gaze and shifted the direction of his eyes. He turned his back as he walked away, shaking his head in a message of disapproval. The first thing that really struck me was that his leathery, old neck was actually red. A literal redneck, I thought, as laughter audibly rose out of me – a message of my own being sent, loud and clear, to an aged and pitiful man.
I did feel a little bad about the “redneck” thought, it was a defense mechanism and I did have a small amount of guilt about that but, dang! Doesn’t he know that his silly little display of hatefulness doesn’t affect me the way he wishes it would?! Well, he probably does now – as he listened to the laughter erupt out of me, upon witnessing his flashback to his wonder years – when his world was a nice-n-tidy community of segregation.
Sorry, Gramps…we are here to stay. And if you think the colors are too swirled together now, all these folks of different shades and backgrounds, mixing up friendships and families – just wait til you see Heaven!
