I don't want to be color blind...

Two great books I read this summer: "The Lost Quilter" (the continuation of the story The Runaway Quilt) and "The Help". I didn't know I was walking straight into the ugly face of racism when I picked them up. They either sounded good or were recommended. Racism: in my generation has come to mean the strife between races, stemming from years of misunderstanding, judgment, lack of political correctness, and other petty arguments. However, these two books taught me the real meaning of the term and how it came to be.

The Lost Quilter, a story about a runaway slave, Joanna, who had been captured and returned to captivity, tells of what became of Joanna in the years after her flight. Detailed in the story are the many ways black slaves were treated (I should say "mistreated") by their owners. The mentality portrayed in "The Help" was clearly formed from these times in our history.

When I finished the Lost Quilter, I was left with the uplifting sense of Joanna's perseverance and courage. As I finished The Help, I was in awe at the boldness of the three heroines of this story. However, I was also left repulsed. It was as if a bright light had hit a seldom- noticed corner of my living room and revealed a thick, filthy cob web there. The only way it got that way was neglect, oversight or just indifference.

The "web" is a gnarly, nasty reminder of a lack of "housekeeping" skills or pure laziness. This being a metaphor for my emotions after reading "The Help" brought on a strong conviction to repent for the attitudes and action of the white, post-slavery south.

Before reading these stories, I simply could not understand how anyone could believe that one race is beneath another. Now that I can, it gave me a whole new definition for the common term and goal many of us has today: "color blind".

People are people, right?? Well, yes, we are all human; valued by God because He created us all.

But, are we all the same? No. We are every shade of pink, white, yellow, brown, tan and black imaginable- with minds, souls and spirits created to love, serve and reside with The Father. Why would we ever say we're the same, and ever want to be? I would never want to miss anything so beautiful.

Galatians 3:28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile,^[a] slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.