Partway during the movie, I began to feel, not guilty, but maybe ashamed of how people with the same amount of pigment in their skin as I treated those who had a different amount. I choose these words carefully and deliberately. Why? There are no different races of people. There is only one race-the human one. To categorize someone based solely on their outward appearances goes against everything God ever intended, yet we do it and sometimes without thinking or realizing. The amount of DNA that sets a person of a darker skin from a lighter skin apart from one another is LESS than the amount of different DNA that sets a person of blue eyes apart from a person with green eyes. Put that way, it's preposterous to treat someone of darker skin as those they are less than you because you wouldn't make a green eyed person use a different bathroom or ride the back of the bus simply because you yourself deemed that blue eyes were better. Man choose to make "white" better than "black", certainly not God. Just remember that Jesus wasn't "white", He was "olive" skinned. But I cannot be ashamed of how people of my similar "color" treated others more than I can be ashamed that my ancestry has a lot of German lineage in it and that the Germans and Hitler massacred so many because of a difference, not in DNA, but in religion. (Although Hitler did want the fair skinned, blue eyed German look, if I remember correctly.) That wasn't my fault anymore than white people deeming themselves better. What would be my fault is if I choose to believe it. If, when I noticed someone, I noticed their color first and started to make assumptions. That's my fault. Or I see someone struggling, down on their luck, or perhaps "challenged" in some way physically or mentally and choose to make assumptions of them. Or I think I'm better than someone else and talk about them behind their back. That's my fault. My behavior, choices, and attitude are all mine and all something that I can make a difference with. "It is as I make it."
Skip ahead into the movie a little bit and I'm struck by the fact that those same people who are so fiercely proposing that every house have a "negro" bathroom or that no person of a darker skin should sit at the same table were also the ones who were very willing to discriminate against their "own". Quick to abandon a "friendship" if someone opposed them or talk about someone behind their back after being so kind to their face. While how they treated "the help" was much worse, they had it in them to treat their "own" just as bad. Reminds me of something my mother once told me. If someone is willing to mistreat an animal, they are just one step behind mistreating a human. I'll let you see if you see the similarities in the two. I'd rather be friends with the friendless than be a pretend friend to the most popular person in town. I know one of those two is much more likely to be loyal and to be a true friend back. I was never going to be the "popular" one in school, but I sure hope I was the best friend I could be to those I was close to. But I digress as that is another subject entirely!
Lastly, I realized that this movie isn't about feeling sorry for "the help", being ashamed of the past, or going out and fighting for civil rights. At least, it wasn't for me. I don't think that the ladies in the film wanted you to feel sorry for them. (Sorry don't feed the bulldog.) They wanted to know that someone cared and they wanted a change. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. It's about what I do, every day, and how I conduct myself. You don't feel sorry for a cause or situation or person and leave it at that but you have the courage to stand up and say, "Something needs to change. This isn't right. Let's do something about it." Maybe it isn't a big thing that will impact the world or at least you can't tell at the time that it'll change the world. But you can change the world each and every day. You reach out and help someone. Take the time to assist someone, ask them if they need help, or just give them your ear for 5-10 minutes out of your schedule. Help them become a better them. See a need; fulfill a need. Lift up a child and help set them on the right path. Love others. Give of yourself. Be a beacon of light in a world of darkness. Do what Jesus did. He didn't sit in the temple all day preaching. He went out among the masses, talked with them, showed them He cared. The lasting impact of Christ's ministry went well beyond His 33 years. People are still talking about Him thousands of years later. Me? I'll never be famous, I'll never make lots of money in the job I have. But the one thing that I think I'll do is change the world, or least a very tiny part of it. So how do I believe I'm helping the world? What's my difference maker? To each and every camper who comes into my barn-I will try my best to make time for them. To show the love of God to them and make them feel special in that one moment in time, in that "one-on-one" time. They will leave knowing that at least one person in this world truly cared for them, listened to them, and wanted the best. It's saddening but I know that many of these kids don't get it at home. And they come from "good" homes, ones with money. But they lack love. They lack attention. So if they go out into the world knowing that at least one person cared for them, I know that's going to help them, to help them change the world around them, and maybe make the world a little bit of a better place. It's hard sometimes and tiring oftentimes and I know that some kids will be missed and maybe I didn't get a chance with them. But it's not me doing it for them, it's God working through me and everyone else around me. I'm trying, in my very limited earthly ways, to make a difference.
Be a difference. Be THE difference.
"Be the change you want to see in the world."
"If not now, when? If not here, where? If not me, who?"
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