Color

It has been hard the last few months to write, there has been little to no movement in our adoption process and the world around us is a very scary place. This doesn’t change anything about our ultimate goal to adopt a child in the very near future, its just been a slow moving process. Really, since the beginning this has been so much slower than we could ever imagine and the virus has just made it all the more slow.

Not only has the virus taken a toll on our income, our ability to move forward in the classes and approvals with the agency but the recent situations of racial issues has brought up many conversations at home. This is a tough subject but one very near and dear to us.

Many of you know that we are both from a small, very white town. To us, color was never anything to consider, even being brought up in a town with such little diversity we were raised in homes where the color of someones skin was nothing. We didn’t see this as different, less of a person or anything else. I am so thankful we were raised in this way.

I remember as a child seeing and hearing some comments on color, views of people around me and I completely didn’t understand. When I went to college and was surrounded by so many people that came from literally every background, religion, race, sexual orientation etc I was able to make my own opinions. I was able to see first hand that these judgements were unfair and wrong. I see beauty in color, I love that everyone is blessed to actually look different. Can you imagine our world if we all looked the same? How boring. If we all came from the same background, religion, belief and troubles can you imagine how absolutely boring life would be? We are all here and have different paths so we can all bring something to the table.

These issues that continue to bubble up with racial slurs, judgements and acts of violence scare me. They break my heart. In our adoption journey we have had many conversations with each other about race, sex and ethnicity. Though we want to adopt within the United States we have absolutely no preference on the babies race, ethnicity, or sex.

In the end, the recent issues aren’t even all about race or ethnicity, even more scary, its about humanity. How can someone be judged because the color of their skin or where they came from? What makes them any different from you? How could the color of someone’s skin tell you if they are good or bad?

This may be a terrible comparison but its another one that I am all too familiar with. How can you say that a Golden Retriever is any more or less vicious than a pit bull? My dogs often get judged because they are “pit bull’s” yet they wouldn’t hurt a fly. Yes, this comparison is very different than that of human beings, but when it comes down to the principal of the lesson, it’s the exact same. You don’t know a dog and its unfair to make a judgement just because of their breed.

We fully understand if we have a little black boy join as our son that as he grows he will be viewed differently. Even through he is brought up in a house that understands and teaches equality. This is not the world we want to bring our kids up in but is the world we are living in. We need to actively teach our children, our parents, our friends about these issues. Teach that this is no way to view any human being. Oh wait, did you catch that? That’s right, we are all human beings!

An upbringing, the color of someones skin, ethnicity, sex, or religion cannot make up who a human being is. There are plenty of kids brought up on the streets that are outstanding citizens, there are plenty of kids brought up in wonderful, supportive households that cause problems. Please people, stop making judgements!

Remember that song, ‘red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD’. We recently had a sermon based off of color, it was really interesting to hear this in religious context, but it all comes down to the fact that we should embrace all of the colors, we should never pass judgement. We are all here to serve.

I hope that this has hit home for you, these issues are so real and scary. These inhumane treatments and judgements have been going on for centuries and we have got to figure out how to put a stop to it. Keep shining a light on the issue until we can find peace.