To think that at this day and age in a first world country like America, something like that is still happening. Speechless, was my initial reaction. Then, probably anger. Anger towards the injustice shown to this couple. Then sadness, towards the state of mind of the people in this particular church. Where do they come from? What kind of world do they live for them to have this kind of mindset? How can they possibly conceive the idea that "unity" could be brought about through discrimination? Then once again, we are reminded. We are humans and we are imperfect. And maybe there is something I know and they don't. Some experiences that they had and I didn't that separate them from us. Scott Fitzgerald stated in the opening of his novel The Great Gatsby "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had." So something in that little town has gone terribly wrong for something so insane to happen.
I am married to a man of different race. So technically, we are an interracial couple. I have not for one moment in the days I have known my husband, look at him as different from me because of the colour of his eyes. I did not say skin because his skin is tan in Summer, more tan than mine. In fact, I feel often, he is more traditional than I am, more Singaporean and Asian in some ways than I am. When I look at my husband, I look into his soul. It doesn't matter if he is this or that on the outside. People are just people. Created in the image of God and as varied as the colourful hue of Nature.
Then I think of the world where lives are not valued.The world that we are not in touch with, the world we don't read about but exist. The world where young girls are married off to much older man, where girls are less respected than a sheep or a goat. Then of the little infant girls that are slaughtered or left frozen to death in the countryside in China, of that one particular 2-year old girl who was left to die when the truck hits her. And I think of the millions of the late term aborted babies sucked out of life because one mind decides he/ she is too much to bear. The price of free will, where do we draw the line? On a day a like this, with a news like that, it tears me into many directions. Like a shredded piece of paper being tossed in the wind. On the one hand, I feel blessed that I can have the opportunity to have a great life of education and travel and the blessings of motherhood and marriage. To be able to sit in front of my computer and type my feelings. On the other hand, my heart breaks to see people unable to accept what is true and good. Maybe it is winter, and the cold and grey it bring. This moment calls for a prayer. A prayer for a more tolerant world where Love can truly triumph.