#confusion
SOMETHING I DO NOT UNDERSTAND
I should begin by saying there are many things in life I do not understand…
so many things under the sun…
Today, however, because of what I see happening around me
I’m concentrating on just one.
The moment we learn we will be be parents…as partners as husband and wife…
we feel blessed to have been chosen…to be the ones creating a life.
And for 9 months we do our best
to keep our baby safe, healthy and happy
Before they become part of this world and enter our family.
For all those months we spend celebrating little milestones
excitedly welcoming each day
without ever thinking about the color of our baby’s skin
If they will be bi, transgender, straight…or gay
We are wishing…praying…for a baby with all their body parts
that they are breathing on their own…and come to us with healthy hearts.
And we rejoice when they finally arrive
It’s hard to express the joy we feel that day…
Without ever giving a thought to the color of their skin
if they are bi, transgender, straight…or gay
As they grow we care that they are close to us…
that in their lives…we play a part….
that they have gentle souls and spirits… and kindness in their hearts.
Now here’s where we get to the part I find difficult to understand…
when I see prejudice toward LGBTQ+ people…spreading out across the land…
To all you parents who cared only that your children were healthy and happy…
when they first came your way…
who didn’t give a thought to the color of their skin
if they were bi, transgender, straight or gay….
That same child you created…why would you now disavow….
If you didn’t care about this when they were born…
please tell me…why do you care now?
OUR EYES
Sometimes I wonder about our eyes…
it’s true without them we couldn’t see all the beauty on this Earth
surrounding you…surrounding me.
Our eyes have a direct connection to our heart…
through our veins and nerves and arteries….
which allow us to develop feelings for all the things we see.
But for some reason the way we were constructed…
the way we were designed to be
means our eyes were also created with a perplexing dichotomy.
On the one hand they can relish in the beauty of a mountaintop…
love the colors of the forest…the different shapes of clouds as they glide by…
the changing of the seasons…how the sunrise paints the sky.
On the other hand those same eyes…when they see the different ways we dress,
our different religions…the different colors of our skin
can, within that same heart, find the place where prejudice begins.
The subtle differences our eyes see in nature…that we find beautiful…
that soothe our soul and invigorate our heart…
when we see them in each other can, if we allow them, tear ourselves apart.
And for a long time we have let them tear ourselves apart…
look back and you will see
how prejudice which leads to hatred which lead to wars and guns…
are imbedded in our history.
And as much as we’d love to see them fade away…
prejudice, hatred, wars and guns are sill with us today.
Which makes me wonder…
If we are able to see and enjoy the beauty in nature’s diversity
but not in our own…
perhaps it’s time to discuss:
The problem is not with our eyes…
the problem…is with us.