Color Blind.. the day I was called a racist…

There seems to be a lot of race baiting going on these days. We all know the players and this is not the place to start such diatribe or debate. Regardless there seems to be an effort for all people to focus on our differences than the things we find in common. I will admit my life journey this far has lead me down many diverse curvy roads. God has allowed me to experience many different cultures, races, and nationalities. But before we go any further this is not the “I have many (insert color or race here) friends” to try to defend my point of view, validated my opinion, or declare some type of intellectual superiority.  It is just to state that I have been blessed by diversity which may indicate I’m not as big as a jerk as I sometime feel. But the recent media attention to race reminded me of the first time I was called a racist to my face by a coworker.  In shock I reacted in silence. Me? Racist? Now I might have a lot of redneck in me that may come from my DNA but does that automatically align me with the KKK. Instead of agreeing or arguing back I did some serious soul searching. Even trying to live my life with a set of virtues where I honestly try to live without judgment could I deep down is yearning to turn in my clerical black rode I wear for a white one with a hood. So I did some more soul searching.  I made a list of why I honestly did not connect with my coworker. My list was long and included things like narcissistic, closed minded, chauvinistic, rude, and uncooperative. I had a long list with the summation of the guy was just as ass. The color or heritage of the ass did not make my list. I surmised that there are asses of all colors. There are days I am an ass. I pray that I am less of one each day and realize I have a way to go. However we all have differences. We all have preferences. We all have different backgrounds. We all have hardships, heartbreaks, disappointments, and pain in our lives. Hate only breeds on discontentment, entitlement, and lack of compassion. Empathy, understanding, and openness are the only remedy for racism. But it’s a two way street. Each side must be willing to first listen, question second, and lastly defend our position.  For me, I admit to the fact that I am neither a creator nor judge so I relinquish that to God. God does a better job than me in both those arenas.  Plus my hands are full trying to somewhat manage my own life. But in the meantime, maybe instead of baiting we adopt the habit of beginning all discussion on race relations with our commonalities then move deeper in trust and respect to address our differences. Because we all were created differently and it will allow us to eliminated some of the asses. And we just might find our society has more asses and less racist than we think.. 

Until we see each other.. take care of yourself and one another..

Peace Out! Tommy