To get a jump start on the forthcoming holiday season, I sat down to my computer and dialed up my media player and tuned up some Christmas music but I only got as far as one song. That song was “Some Children See Him.” I listened to the words of how some children see him as lily white, some children see him bronzed and brown, and some children see him as dark as they. It made me think of all the anger, hate and racism that we older people grow into as adults. Children at this stage are just the sons and daughters of life longing to be all that they were born into, which is a life of accepting another’s vision of how he perceives the goodness of humanity.
It really doesn’t matter if you travel on different roads to reach the destination of “kindness,” only that you get there. Kindness does not need to be extravagant, expensive or extraordinary. It can be easy like a wave, a smile, a fist bump or just recognizing that everyone counts and everyone is a part of this thing we call humanity, recognizing that some of us are lily white and some of us are bronzed and brown and some of us are dark as night.
The world is large and there is a place for everyone, but unless you are willing to rid yourself of the demons that have invaded your being during your transition from an innocent child to a conflicted color-conscious adult, then you have robbed yourself of the lessons learned as a child. Each day you rise is a gift to you, and how you live those days is a thank you note in return, remembering that no man is useless if you possess the desire to lighten the burden of someone else.
Different people have different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes and different dreams, but as long as those differences don’t bring harm to anyone else, they should be permitted to flourish because it is that diversity that has made this nation the envy around this globe, and it is diversity that I seek here and now. For those who make the decision to avoid diversity in the local radio media, choosing by their actions that the alternative is a better way to go, I am hoping that those better angels whisper to them that we love this city and the type of city that we are or hope to be does not end at the corporation limits. Who and what we are travels far beyond those city limits and we would love to be the city that says, this is how you do it and be the city that others envy.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeing something or someone in their own image. It’s ok if you see him lily white, or bronze and brown, and it’s ok if you see him as Black as the night. The important thing is that you see everyone.
Charles Thomas lives in Lima. His column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Lima News editorial board or AIM Media, owner of The Lima News.
