On Friday, Caleb came home from school with this crown he had made at Kindergarten and began to teach Steph and I (and eden somewhat) about how amazing this "Dr. Martin King" was and what a "special person" he was. "Do you know that without him, blacks and whites couldn't go to the same schools...and used different bathrooms?" He continued, puzzled by how SILLY it would be (with his frame of reference being his multiracial kindergarten class and international church) if this was true today. His perplexed curiosity and heart for justice came out as Steph and I continued to use this as a teachable moment to answer more of the WHYS? "Can you believe, a guy came and shot him dead.?!"
Then, he turned to me and said, quote unquote, "Dad, you're black, right. And mommy's white. You're darker than her." And looked at Sophia (who could be whiter than snow) and said, "she's kind of black." Funny. I never corrected him, but laughed inside, now realizing how cool it is to be a inter-racial marriage.
What broke my heart with joy is realizing that through Dr. King's arduous, nonviolent, tremendous sacrifices, his "I have a dream" resounds in our childrens' generation, where "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" - and yet there is much more ground to cover and reconciliation to endure, but feel so blessed to be surrounded in such a rich, diverse community, school, church, etc that echoes Dr. King's aspirations.
After that, my grandpa called and we talked a while about it, and after hearing innocent, full-of-faith truths from the mouth of babes in my son, further heard from a wise man who lived most of this century and still doesn't understand why we go to war, argue and kill over trivial misunderstandings, and judge on the basis of mere skin color. From his words, "It's just plain stupid."
Anyways, thought I share it with ya - and join in commemorating a "special man". Happy B-Day, Dr. King!"
3 comments:
A man worth talking about!
That's great!
What a precious story from Caleb.
Maybe that's part of the reason that Jesus said, "Unless you become as little children..."
Post a Comment