I’d like to think that we had anything figured out at this late date, but it looks like it’s just more of the same in some ways.

But a birthday celebration is to be celebrated…and today is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.

We need to celebrate what happened as a result of this man’s life.

We need to celebrate what his brave efforts helped to bring about.

So everybody celebrate.

It’s a huge deal….put on your party hats and rejoice like you would at any good man’s party.

But…and I looked it up to make sure I understood exactly what the phrase meant…there seems to still be an “elephant in the room”.

The older I get, and the more I think about everything, the less sense this whole “race thing” makes.

This whole “race thing” seems to still be a pretty big issue sometimes.

We still notice who looks kind of dark….or maybe really white, like albino white…or kind of middle eastern dark…or mexicanish…or maybe wonder “Just what is that guy? He’s darkish…but not so dark that I can place where he comes from…..do I need to worry about him?! He’s kind of different from me…do I need to worry?”

Why the heck do we notice things like that?

(Somebody is thinking, “Don’t lump me in with that bunch, you racist little Norwegian…I don’t notice things like that. Why, some of my best friends are Blacks….or Asian….or Mexican…or some other nationality that I can’t even pronounce…but they’re all my friends.  That’s how big a person I am…I let all nationalities be my friend! I’m not one of the ones who notices race.”)

You shouldn’t invite somebody who’s caught up in deep issues like race to come to a birthday party.

“All we wanted to do was wear a funny hat and eat some cake.  You’re spoiling the party with all this ‘race talk’. ”

Now if you believe that we really are “spirit”, walking around in a temporary skin-suit like astronauts just visiting a strange planet for a while, then the whole race thing makes even less sense.

How did we get to the point where we thought it was possible to look at someone else and pass a judgement that caused their life to be less than what it should be?

That’s an easy road to take.  We all love the surface. That’s as far as we’re willing to go…that’s as far as we’re able to go. We don’t commune on a spiritual level… for the most part.

For the most part, we don’t commune with strangers at all. We don’t want people we don’t know to invade our space.

But every once in a while, we get a chance to smile at someone or look into their eyes and forget for a moment that this person we’re talking to is kind of different from us….and then it becomes a habit, and pretty soon everybody is the same, and things are easier.

I’ve met people of different “colors” or nationalities who are some of the greatest people. I have met people of different “colors” or nationalities who are some of the biggest jerks I’ve ever encountered.

People are people wherever you go.

Red and yellow, black and white…they are precious in His sight….

“Could you move your elephant over a little, please?  It’s hard for me to see…”

Oh….I got caught up in some weird diatribe for a moment….forgot why I came.  Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King, Jr. !

Thankyou.