One Step To Understanding

I grew up in a family where it was important to be kind and helpful to everyone. And I'm a child of the 60's, which taught me to value people because of who they are and what they do, not their appearance, whether race, gender, or an extremely unflattering hairstyle. A while ago a friend of mine recommended a book called White Fragility, by Robin Diangelo. It is giving me a new way of thinking ­­­about and talking about race relations. I spend time thinking about my reactions to people and situations. But it turns out there are cultural ideas that I've absorbed, that we all have absorbed, that are part of our mindsets and that we are unaware of. One example: several years ago on a trip to Japan, my husband and I went to the downtown area of the city, had lunch and just wandered around, window shopping and listening to the small bands that were on every other street corner. At some point it occurred to me that we hadn't seen any other white people all afternoon. There were usually a few at the tourist spots we visited. I also noticed that it didn't make me uncomfortable, but I didn't know why. Now I know it's because being white, I've never been an outsider or a minority and so it never occurred to me to feel like one. The book is also helping me understand why change is so hard and been so long in coming, which means I have a better idea how to help change happen. I've been trying to figure out a way to condense the high points of her message, but I'm struggling. It's a complicated issue. So I was very grateful when one of my daughters sent me the following essay by Nadia Bolz-Weber. Please take a few minutes to read it. https://nadiabolzweber.substack.com/p/a-pastoral-letter (If the link doesn't work, you may have to copy the address into your browser/search engine. I'm new at this.) I still recommend the book, but this is a great place to start. I guarantee that you will learn something. Something important.