Wednesday Words of Wisdom
27JUN“Perhaps one day, all these conflicts will end, and it won’t be because of great statesmen or churches or organisations like this one. It’ll be because people have changed. They’ll be like you, Puffin. More a mixture. So why not become a mongrel? It’s healthy.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, When We Were Orphans
One of the Crepe Myrtle trees in my front yard makes a definite statement. For some reason, whoever planted this tree decided to integrate three different color trees in one grouping. They are intertwined and blossom with bursts of bright pink, white and pale pink. Looking at the trunk and protruding branches, it’s difficult to see where one color starts and the other finishes. This made me think of the integration of our world. Why can’t people of different colors, races and religions blossom as one. The varied colors are so beautiful. The strength of the many roots and branches are much stronger.
When I was a little girl growing up in Chicago in the 50′s and 60′s, our neighborhood schools were integrated, but we didn’t think of it as something special. The kids were just kids. We noticed the different colors, but we didn’t think it was a bad thing or a big deal. We all studied, played and went to the same church. It wasn’t until I got a little older that I learned that the whole world didn’t see through a child’s colorblind eyes and heart. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could keep those eyes and heart of our childhood?
In the lower left you see white, the middle is pale pink, the right is bright pink and the rest mingles here and there.
1954: Students in an integrated classroom in Fort Myer, Va., the year of Brown v. Board of Education.
Photo: Bettmann/Corbis. New York Times
SOMEDAY!!!
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