Greetings Dear Reader,
Yesterday, I related the story of my encounter with a young
man who could laugh like a Kookaburra. In the same store at a later date, I had
another encounter. I was wheeling my
trolly through the soup aisle when an African American mom and her daughter were
headed in the opposite direction.
I only mention her race because it is important to the
encounter. The little girl was filled
with energy and smiled at me as we were about to pass. She was riding in the large part of the trolly. She raised her left hand and blurted, “Give
me a high-five mister. It is a great
day.” Even before she got it all the way
out her mum was trying to shoosh her.
The mum looked at me, nervous, and said, “Don’t bother the
man. He doesn’t want to give you a
high-five.” She looked at me with eyes
that were apologetic and sadly, fearful.
I instantly felt compassion for whatever has instilled this fear and
sadness in her.
Looking at her, I said, “With your permission,” and held up
my hand to her daughter. The daughter
giggled and smacked me the hardest high five she could muster. The mum informed me that her daughter had
been doing this all over the store and nobody responded until me. When she said this, the daughter responded, “But
I got somebody to do it, so I am done now.”
I was delighted with the girl.
The mum and I chatted for a moment and I could tell that she needed to move
on. As they moved down the aisle, I heard the mum say, “You see sugar, nice people
come in every color no matter what your uncle says.”
It was my turn to be sad.
I was sad that any child has to be taught to not fear others. I was sad that the mum had been fearful of my
response to her child. Sadness over the
depth to which we are all wrong about how we treat each other welled up in
me. No matter what anyone believes, we
all fail to treat each other as we should.
This is not a platitude or weak mea culpa. We need to accept our guilt for failing to
treat everyone with dignity and respect out of love.
Almost all absolutes about humans are in error. We still form weighted opinions based on
race, religion, politics, and social alignments that play the percentages. We find a tribe or clan to align with and
fuel our status at the expense of other clans or tribes. We choose foolishness and greed to neglect
the needs of others. We all hate for
some reason. Many justify their hate
based on the actions of others.
The problem is that we are responsible for everyone. We are required to love every human soul and
meet the needs of that human if we can. Racial,
religious, and social division are our way of justifying our bloody deeds in
the name of our creed or cause. If I
accept the requirement to love the Father by loving my neighbor, the stranger,
and my enemy, then none of the other things matter accept in understanding
their needs.
We all fail to love others as we are required to do. We all are our brother’s and sister’s keeper
if we have any hope of following Christ.
I saw that mum and little girl again yesterday when I was grocery shopping. I should say that the little girl saw me
first. Her voice radiated sunshine, “Hey
mister, you got a high five for me today?”
Of course, I did. The
beauty of the moment was that her mum was smiling too. She greeted me and this time we exchanged
names. What I need to do; what we all
need to do, Dear Reader, is to replicate moments of honest love and kindness with
everyone. We have to begin to be that
constant source of loving respect in every situation.
Any statement that I am following Christ that does not include
this determination is me following a false path. As we journey together, I must become a
living source of love and light to whoever falls into step with me. Those small events will cascade into
something beautiful if we determine to be this.
Until we do, we need to really listen and hear when others do not feel
loved and respected. We need to see
their fear and anger and mitigate it through the love of Christ. We need to give little kids a high five
whenever they ask for it.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Every human story is part of the great story that leads
to the Father getting everything back to Good.
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
#aramisthorn
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