My students recently wrote letters of the next president. I thought I would do the same. Dear Future President: This morning I was reminded of a song I love, and it is the message that I want to implore you to remember. The message will sound simplistic because it is. The song is titled “Everyone’s Beautiful,” and that’s where I want to start. Our country feels more deeply divided than it ever has in my memory. I have my theories as to why this is, but I know you’re busy, so I won’t share them here. I do want to share what I think can fix that. It can be summed up in a word: empathy. Empathy will help us remember that everyone is, indeed, beautiful. I’m teaching my high school students the beauty of To Kill a Mockingbird right now. I hope you know the story. The main character, Scout, develops empathy for others throughout the story because of lessons her father teaches her, lessons about walking around in someone else’s skin, learning from others’ experiences. You don’t need to know my whole life story, but I will tell you this: I had an idyllic childhood with loving parents and extended family and a strong educational foundation. My world lacked one essential element, though: diversity. My friends were like me: white, Midwestern, Christian, and heterosexual (or so I believed at the time.) It may have not been explicitly stated to me as a child, but I grew up knowing to vote Republican. Because my world looked just like me, I thought that WAS the world. That changed. Now here I am, decades later, the white mom of black children with gay friends and Buddhist friends. I’ve traveled outside of my Midwestern bubble more times than I can count on all my fingers and toes. Every one of those people, every single experience expanded my world. It’s no longer white, Midwestern, Christian, heterosexual, and Republican. And it’s better because of that. My worldview changed because I now love people who are different than I am. (Now here's a lengthy side note on faith. It’s worth noting that I’m still a Christian. My relationships with Buddhists and agnostics didn’t sway my beliefs. However, I want to live in a country where my friends feel they have freedom of their religion as well. I hope you realize that you can’t legislate salvation, as much as some well-meaning Christians might wish you could. The rest of the lyrics from “Everyone’s Beautiful” mentions that redemption is found “down deep in your [God’s] eyes.” Redemption isn’t found on a ballot or scrawled on a piece of legislature. I’m not sure where that faulty idea came from, but it’s a permeating, poisonous one.) Maybe what I’m suggesting is a book club where the Syrian refugee and the Midwestern farmer join together with some other folks to read To Kill a Mockingbird. I guess that’s probably not feasible, so what I’m asking you to do is this: help our country remember that we’re not all the same, and that’s a good thing. I recently saw a poll that suggested the majority of Republican voters thought life was better in the 1950s. But Mr. or Madam President, my transracial family would not exist if it were the 1950s. One of my favorite former students would probably still be living in the closet, and my role as a working mom would be the exception, not the norm. Personally, that’s not a way of life I would like to return to. My encounters with the exceptional diversity in this country tell me that America is still pretty great. This all means that you’re assigned a task that I’m sure feels nearly impossible; you must make decisions that are in the best interest of a wide range of people groups. For a long time the direction of our country was driven by white men, but that is no longer the case. You need to do your job accordingly. That means you’re representing the white man, the black man, the Jewish woman, and the Muslim refugee. That’s a tough task, and I sincerely hope you’re up for the challenge. After all, we are all beautiful. Thank you for your time. Sincerely and respectfully, Kimberly Witt
1 Comment
Greg
11/4/2016 07:59:35 pm
Thank you. I wish I could write like this. You explain the idea of tolerance so well. God Bless.
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