I have wanted to voice this for a very, very long time. I am sorry for the delay; yet today is the day! And I'm glad for it.
There's a song that rings true for every generation, every culture!
"You've got to be carefully taught".
Yesterday, I saw a very young child, maybe 6 years old, holding a sign, that for sure she didn't write, nor even understood. Yet, she was holding this "protest" sign. Who put this into her hands? Who explained what the words meant? Could she even comprehend what the description was? Probably not. But carefully through the years, hearing adults around her, and them actually teaching her "how to think" and "what to believe", she will take on "their skewed perspectives" without questioning.
When my young daughter (possibly 5 years old) saw a black young girl for the first time, she so sweetly commented, "Oh, look at her hair (wavy and braided), it's so pretty!" I replied, "Yes, isn't she beautiful!" So happy, as her mother, I had done this well.
When you see someone who is from another ethnic group and color, is your first response, "Oh, how beautiful!" or is it something else? When we see each other through God's eyes and His creative hand, we should acknowledge the beauty of His creation.
And to bring this home.....color is only the thickness of the epidermis!!!
The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin. Categorized into five horizontal layers, the epidermis actually consists of anywhere between 50 cell layers (in thin areas) to 100 cell layers (in thick areas). The average epidermal thickness is 0.1 millimeters, which is about the thickness of one sheet of paper.
So, who taught you? Were you taught to be vehement over 0.1 millimeters of skin? Were you "carefully taught" of this or that? Were you taught from man's perspective or God's? Were you some of the blessed ones who "corrected your taught thinking" to God's perspective? I do hope so.
You’ve got to be
carefully taught
Richard Rogers - South Pacific musical
You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be taught from year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught
You’ve got to be carefully taught
