Amazing

Today, after work, after I mowed my grandparents' yard, and while on the way to my running trail, I saw the most amazing thing:

Two kids riding their bikes hard up a steep hill.

You're probably like "Uhh, cool, Josh." But honestly, it was amazing. What do you think of when I say these two little boys both had buzzed haircuts, no shirt in sight, and matching jean shorts? If you're like me and you hear that description, you are probably going to be picturing two little fellas who are almost identical. But now add in this last little bit. One was Caucasian and the other was African American.

Now, ideally, we should be able to say I saw two kids riding their bikes today and race shouldn't have to be a descriptive factor. However, it is definitely true that people will use race as a color significance when describing people of other origins. As an example, I will use myself. My dad mentioned that some kids were playing ball up the street outside of the Frankensmitchein's home. In my head, I have a mental picture of a bunch of white kids playing street ball, like we used to do. Is this racism? Am I being racist by only thinking about white kids? I think I am, although I would consider myself not racist and not even slightly prejudiced. A lot of growing up, experiencing, and working away from some of the family values were involved with helping me accomplish being a better person and I am so grateful for that. However, in this example, I would call myself being racist.

When I saw these two kids, I was extremely happy. They were biking, they were outside, the weather was amazing, they were having fun, and ethnicity wasn't an issue. Probably wasn't even something they had ever considered. My neighborhood has always been pretty diverse, much to the chagrinof some members of my family and other neighbors, but the level of diversity is skewing towards one side. In my opinion, this is fine. It's all good. Some others, however, do not like it all.

What I wish is that we could be like those kids. I wish we didn't notice differences or anything "abnormal" about other people. I wish everything was just easy-going and fun, that racism, prejudice, and discrimination didn't exist. I am reminded of a line in the movie Alexander where the hero says something along the lines of "what surprises me the most is your contempt for a world much older than ours" to his gathered war leaders in a heated argument. I used that and twisted it to mean "what makes you better than anyone else?" and I try to live by that. Yeah, I've been told I am conceited or stuck-up before, but those people who have said that don't know me, that's for sure. I even used that line rather vigorously during many "hush-hush" moments that I absolutely hated about being in a fraternity.

I want to be like those kids, so I try to be.

I think it was Mahatma Gandhi who said, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."