Can the Heart Win This One?

Are we so disconnected from our own souls that we are unable to recognize the soul within another?  

–Lisa Kiel

True justice and equity will not happen until we see each other as equals. 

–Rita Romero

The Words that Lisa and Rita wrote and shared with us over the last two days brought me back to some pondering I’ve done repeatedly over my lifetime, and they helped me consider it from different angles. 

I was born in 1959 in Birmingham, AL, a white, male. Apart from family wealth (which we did not have) I could not have been born with greater opportunity. On the equity starting line, I was given a huge advantage over others who were not white and male in the United States of America. I actually remember a time in my life when black people were barred from city parks, swimming pools, lunch counters, buses and schools–all of the ones that I had instant access to. I summarize all of this to acknowledge that my young eyes and ears were taught to see the world this way, and to view and hear those with darker skin tone with suspicion if not some quiet fear–the fear of difference. 

Are we so disconnected from our own souls that we are unable to recognize the soul within? While my eyes and ears were being trained to see “the other” my heart was wrestling with this very good question, and I emerged from Birmingham, AL struggling to see the soul within every other human being despite the loud messages to the contrary. 

My heart started asking questions when I was fairly young, questions that my culture was not ready to answer. But why can’t we ride the bus into town anymore? Why did they close the swimming pool? Why do black people work in our homes but white people don’t work in their homes? Why is the black school so sad looking? Why did you try to convince me that MLK, Jr. was a communist? Why do you believe that God made people with darker skin to be less than those of us with lighter skin?

For me, it’s been a lifelong battle between what my young eyes and ears were taught to perceive, and what my heart already knew. True justice and equity will not happen until we see each other as equals. 

God, please. My heart has to win this one. 

~Bob Patrick