Taught to Love

One of my favorite and most impactful experiences while traveling in Israel happened while at a rest stop on Route 90.  The impact of the incident touched me so deeply that the beautiful moment is worth sharing again with added highlights, particularly for those who were unable to read the initial post on Facebook.

While at a rest stop getting fuel, a friend decided to quickly run into the store to get a snack. Upon returning to the vehicle, he relayed how he stumbled while walking into the store, slightly grunting while trying to stabilize himself.

The sound caught the attention of a young boy walking in front of him, who turned around to see what was happening behind him. A look of terror overcame the young boy when he saw my deep-complexion friend, and the young child’s body began to shake as he whimpered in fear.

We assumed the child had not seen nor been close to someone of my friend’s complexion.  Maybe he heard negative things from other folks about deep-complexion individuals and had preconceived notions about what was about to happen.  My friend later shared that he thinks the child was expecting to see one of his relatives or someone from his group, and when it was someone completely different, he became scared.  Whatever the case, the young boy was frightened.

As we were waiting for the rest of our party to return to the vehicle, we noticed a gentleman staring intently into the van as he walked by. This was not uncommon as folks tended to stare at times. Yet he began to circle the vehicle, which quickly heightened our attention, as this was not common; we did not know his intentions.

He was holding the hand of a young boy who looked to be 7-9 years old.

They then stopped by the window of my friend, who stated, “That’s the kid!” The gentleman then pointed at my friend and began to wave, turned to the boy who still looked afraid and gestured for him to wave at my friend. All of us began to smile and wave at the man and the child as the look of fear on the child’s face began to melt, and a tentative smile crept across the child’s face.

The man was gently talking to the child, and after a few moments, they gave us one final wave and walked away.

This confirmed that the child’s fear was most-likely attached to my friend’s complexion.

Children are taught whether to love or to hate. They are taught to fear or to walk in
faith. In that teachable moment, the gentleman – who we all later agreed was most likely his father – taught the child not to fear someone different, which most likely altered that child’s perception of others for the rest of his life.

The father’s actions and the son’s response melted my heart. It simply was a beautiful thing to witness.

Sometimes we are similar to this young boy.   We may have experienced moments of fear, confusion, or misunderstanding because of someone different.   We may find ourselves around individuals with whom we normally do not associate, suddenly becoming uncomfortable and unsure of how to respond when we are in close proximity to those who are different.

Perhaps we have heard negative things from other folks about people who are different than us and have developed preconceived notions regarding how someone will act or behave.

Our worldviews about others became tainted because no one was there to gently guide us through our past emotions and experiences, or if there was someone or something – we chose not to listen.

Sometimes we simply do not know what we do not know regarding differences.

The father/son moment reminded me that cultural awareness and sensitivity is essential, particularly to eradicate our fears and preconceived notions about those who are different than ourselves, and to grow in areas where we may be unaware of our prejudgments.  It taught me that we have a responsibility to be accountable to one another, being courageous enough to address fears and offenses – as the father did with his son – whether such were caused intentionally or unintentionally.

Yes, there are those who are so entrenched in their hatred and disrespect of others that it simply will take a miracle and a touch from God to change them. This is not about those folks.

It is about all of us who are willing to admit that even though we are all human beings, we all have a preconceived notion(s) about those who are different from us in any way. And it is our attitudes, thoughts and beliefs that impact all of our interactions –  both positively and negatively.

This is about those of us who are willing to be the change we want to see in the world, because change – an intrinsic decision – starts with each and every one of us.

Thank God the father influenced the change in his son.

Visiting a local entity was another unexpected treasure.  Read more next week, Monday, June 11, 2018, about Expecting the Unexpected.