Why is the shell so damn important to people? I like organic eggs and they always come in various shades of brown. I throw away the shell to get to the good stuff inside. Shouldn't we as a human race do the same when we look to our neighbors? See the beautiful shell as it is but rely solely on the inside (the values, character, and kindness) of one another as our guide.
Does is matter the color of your eggs? I mean organic is organic right?
I am a mom of two beautiful, kind, loving, caring, wise, funny, and smart kids. A boy and a girl, the light of my life. Yes, also my greatest worry and my most exhausting aspect of my life as well, but worth it in every way.
The color of my eggs just happens to be a beautiful caramel. As a mother to mixed race kids it adds a layer of worry that I feel some others may not experience. All moms have some layer of worry, of course. It is kind of part of the role as a mom. A mom of black kids has the worry of racism and trying to make sure her kids are strong enough to handle the unfortunate world we live in, emotionally and physically speaking. As does Latino moms, and Indian moms, and Asian moms. Every mom worries of her child’s health and well-being and we try to protect them as best we can. As they grow, we come to the very sad realization that we cannot protect them at all times nor from the world we live in.
The thoughts of a bully at school picking on your child is heart wrenching but also infuriating. The thoughts of your child ever getting physically harmed during a fight from one of those bullies wants me to put up my own fists and go to town on some little shit. When I think of the emotional damage a bully can have on my child, I just want to keep them as close to the vest as possible, but they have to be able to live, and part of that journey is pain.
As a mom to mixed race kids; to beautiful, kind, generous, smart, loving children it is so painful to think of their little hearts getting broken by someone they love who doesn’t see them as they are (black kids) and says something ignorant and gut wrenching. I know it will happen; they are fairly light skinned. I know some people in my family even subconsciously view them as white. Yes, they are white. And Yes, they are black. They are equally both, as they are equally a part of my husband and I, and exactly as God intended them to be. But someone who views them as white, will discredit half of their family, their father, and one ignorant comment will tell them that half of who they are is not welcomed.
As a mom to mixed race kids, I always question if they will find their place in a world that is so divided? Will they feel welcomed in the black community? Will they be welcomed in the white community? Will they feel like they don’t belong anywhere? As humans I know we have the capability to come together just as that, humans. Not black, white, red, or green. I mean really…we are all human and all various shades of the brown family anyway. Either the lightest shade of beige or the darkest shades of brown.
After this week and sitting in the grief of the shameful and simply awful death of George Floyd out of Minneapolis, I morn his death. A man I have never met or heard of until this week. His poor family and loved ones, his all too soon and cut short life, his hopes and his dreams. I am sure his family would describe him similar to how I describe my own children; smart, kind, generous, loving, etc. Yet, his shade of brown is what contributed to his death. As my son grows and starts to venture out on his own, you know, getting his license and driving around with friends with his music too loud, just like every other teenager has ever done, will his shade of brown cause someone to pull him over just because? Will his shade of brown cause racial profiling? Will his shade of brown cause hate in someone’s eyes who doesn’t even know him? Will his shade of brown cause him pain beyond belief? And as his mom will I someday morn him simply because his shade is darker than mine? (pause with that one) Will the divide continue to grow and cause his identity of himself to have to choose one side or the other? Will we as a nation, as a human race, continue to allow ignorance, injustice and hate tear apart communities, families, and lives? Will we continue to selectively care for our neighbors? God says LOVE, to LOVE ALL NEIGHBORS. Love is the answer. The only answer. But first we have to admit to the problem. If you are reading this and hesitate to think that racism is a problem, then you could be part of the problem. Change only happens when individually we recognize there is a problem and we choose to make a difference starting with ourselves. Then, collectively we can work to change.
A friend of mine recently wrote this on a Facebook post and I couldn’t agree more. “There is a problem, you don’t have to believe it if you don’t want to, but not believing it, IS THE PROBLEM.” (I love you Marie)
Evil exists in all of us. But so does good. We will make mistakes and we will be ignorant, but we can learn from them and grow and begin to change. If you are white and you do not have one single black person you follow or have as a friend, I encourage you to go find someone to learn from. Sit with them, find out a little bit about their experience as a black person, or a Latino person, or an Indian person, or an Arab person, or an Asian person. Expand your knowledge, I dare you. We all have different walks of life, all have different perspectives, and all have different prejudices against us. But if you are white, by not admitting that you are at the top of the food chain, only adds to the problem. Acknowledgement is always the first step. Acknowledgement within oneself then within society. Be the person in the mirror that can say “I AM LOVE” I will love my neighbor as I love myself.
One of my favorite quotes in history is from Mother Teresa. The end of the quote says “For you see, in the end it is between you and God, it was never between you and them anyway”. If you read your Bible and you have racist thoughts, work to change that. If you have faith in Love, than show it. If you can look to your left and show love to your neighbor, extend that love to the right. If you can look to your right and show love to your neighbor, extend that love to the left. If you do not like bullies, don’t be one. If you want your own children to be free from bullies, hate, harm and pain, teach them to show love instead by showing love yourself. Don’t be the problem, start to become the solution.
So, do your eggs really matter? Mine are a caramel. Yours may be a really lite shade of beige and another’s the darkest brown out there. I hope and pray my littles and all the littles of this world and those to come can someday simply be viewed as who they are as a human and not by the various shades that God made them.
What’s inside the egg is what matters, it’s what you eat and it is where all the nutrients lie, the shell is irrelevant.
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