"a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."As I read this quote today I was thinking about the woman who walked up to me at a show in our art gallery about three years ago. She had been looking around for awhile and as she finished she stopped at this picture and said to me...
"I am not prejudice but I only like white children".
As she walked away I was speechless. I quickly excused myself from the show, locked myself in the bathroom and cried.
I was shaken by her words and was trying to think of something really good to say back to her.
Something like "funny, you don't look like a racist, but you sound like one"!
It takes me days to think up really good answers to stuff like that. I wish I could push the "pause button" until I could think of something really good to say and then nail 'em. Sadly, it never works like that for me. I just replay it in my head for days wishing I could have thought of something to say right then and there.
I do come up with a long list of great come backs that I will never get to use.
So, when I read this quote, I was thinking, no matter who you voted for, we have just seen something historic. You may not like him, just as that lady didn't like black children, but he is who God has allowed to be in office and he will need a great deal of prayer.
(FYI - This picture is a photograph I took here in Haiti, the artist is Kenneth Gatewood)
1 comment:
That reminds me of a moment last summer when I was at the rehearsal dinner for my friends wedding. I was sitting at a table full of other attendants and their significant others, and after a while people started telling jokes. One of the girlfriends started telling jokes about black people and I was so flabbergasted I had no idea what to say. Obviously no one had told them that my daughter was black. Later I could think of all the things I could have said. In the end though I just felt so sad for this woman because of how closed her world view was.
I'm coming to realize that not being able to come up with those quick retorts is maybe a gift, sort of God's way of stopping the cycle, because really, a retort might make us feel "good" in the moment, but I'm coming to realize that often it doesn't get us much further ahead. Maybe it's God's way of helping us turn the other cheek and letting him deal with a persons heart. Don't know, just thinkin'.
As for me, that painting stirs my heart and makes me feel deeply. It's beautiful.
Post a Comment