Thursday, February 11, 2010

In Honor of Black History Month

At least I think they still call it Black History Month. We always did when I was in school. What I am about to share with you arrived in my email inbox yesterday. It is an email that was sent to the aunt of a coworker of mine. This moved me deeply. When things move me, I like to share them with you. It made me reflect on many things and after I share the context of that email, I will elaborate.

I took the liberty of removing specific names to protect privacy:

Hi Mary Beth,

Before I tell you who I am, let me say thank you and God bless you for your kindness. The year was 1967-1968.  The place was Lincoln grade school. The time was the civil rights struggle in America. It was the first year of integration for the W.V. school system. I was a frightened 11-year-old black kid going to a school with white children for the first time in my life. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy would both be murdered that historic year. The very first day of school that year it was your kindness that let me know everything was going to be alright. You said 4 simple words that only took a second but has lasted me a lifetime. "'HI I'M MARY BETH!" I am now a Bishop over the Ohio- Kentucky district of our church and I often mention your kindness in my sermons and the difference one simple act of kindness can make in a persons life. I have often wondered about you and how you were doing. When I found your email address on the ____ _______ web site, I thought it was a thank you 44 years overdue. I will never forget you and your next door neighbor ______ _____. I would love to hear from you and just know that you are well. May God richly bless you and your family and you will always be in my prayers. Oh, by the way, I don't know if you will remember me but I'm Michael _______. I now live in ______, Ohio and often visit your area. Perhaps someday I'll have a chance to meet you and your wonderful family. GOD BLESS YOU MARY BETH AND THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Thankfully

BISHOP MICHAEL ________ 

"Hi, I'm Mary Beth!" How hard is that? When I think about race relations and the issues that are STILL facing our society with respect to race, I am convinced that we severely complicate matters. When conversations turn to racism and bigotry I believe, as a white American, our first inclination is to scroll down our mental Rolodex of "Black Friends" and think to ourselves, "See, I'm not racist." When we do that we deceive ourselves. My belief is that our goal should be to drop the labels. We need to simply do what the Bible says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." MLK, Jr. echoed the words of Lincoln when he reminded us that, "All men are created equal." 


Mary Beth did not say, "Hi, my new black friend, I'm Mary Beth, your new white friend." She simply said what she probably had said thousands of other times before and since.  Why do we have such a hard time simply being kind to ALL the people we encounter EVERY day of our lives? If EVERYONE did this, the world would be changed in short order. I really don't see this as some "pie in the sky, by and by" dream. This is something that each of us have control over and it costs us nothing.


Everyone wants to talk about change today, but too few want to be changed.

2 comments:

  1. Oh Tiger, this is spot on my friend. Spot on.

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  2. FABULOUS! I am going to use this in my "spiritual/cultural" class next term!

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