Live The Dream

At my house, we are living the dream!

It's not the dream where people feed you grapes while you lay on couches in Greek togas with golden leaves in your hair.

Even the "Cribs" dream of having more bathrooms than bedrooms, and a bowling alley and a movie theatre in your home seems a little unnecessary to me.

I'm talking about Dr. King's dream.  I'm specifically talking about his vision of a place and time that children can learn and play and pray together, regardless of the color of their skin, or the where their great-grandpa was from.  I'm talking about the fact that my kids care less about what color someone's skin is, and care more about what kind of person they are.  We're not perfect over here, but I believe we are living the dream.

One piece of evidence of this happened several years ago on this date.  The kids had been discussing Martin Luther King Day at school, and they came home with questions.

Them: Who is this guy?
Me: Dr. Martin Luther King.  Preacher, civil rights activist, he was shot for his beliefs.
Them: So, martyr?
Me:  I guess so, yes. He gave a very famous speech about his dream.
Them:  What was his dream about?
Me:  It was his hope for the future that people would just love each other and not judge each other by the color of their skin.
Them:  That's stupid.
Me: WHAT?!?!?!
Them: That's stupid!  Why would someone think someone was less or more important because of the color of their skin? That's just stupid!
Me: (Calming down.) Agreed.  But there was a time when black and white people weren't allowed to go to the same school or church or even bathrooms.
Them:  What!?! That's Stupid!  What difference does it make?

This is when I run out of answers for them, because I don't know.  I don't have all the answers for why  people feel that way.  I don't know why history was like that.  I don't agree with that way of looking at people.  Then the kids really got incensed.  They stopped thinking of color and started naming names.

We went to Cincinnati a few years ago and visited the Underground Railroad Museum.  It was awesome and I highly recommend it.  I watched my kids learn the history of former slaves and free people working together to liberate those born and sold into slavery.  As every cruel act was described, at every horrible disrespectful word they would look at me and ask "Why?"  It was the same response when we got to sit on Rosa Parks' bus.  Why?

Stay innocent, my children.  Don't look for reasons to separate and hate and disrespect.  Don't hate people.  The dream is that Love Rules!  Live the Dream!  Love One Another!  


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