4 YEAR OLD’S ARE MUCH SMARTER THAN SOME ADULTS!

Something Griffin said the other day has really been sticking in my mind so I thought I would share it with everyone. Paul was putting lotion on his dry skin and Griffin looked at his arm and said to Paul, “my skin is white and my sisters’ is black.” Paul responded with a “yes it is”. Paul’s not one for a lot of words but I don’t think he could of responded any better than that. There wasn’t anything else to say. That summed it up. Yes her skin is black and yours is white.

That of course is not a bombshell to us or anyone who has seen Araya and Griffin. But I have been thinking how those small words coming out of such a tiny little innocent mouth are so powerful. He had no questions about their skin. He was just making an observation that his skin was one color and hers was another color but in that same comment he was saying she is my sister, we are family, we are the same.

I guess my point is…why is that a 4 year old can understand that, but so many adults can not. I’m certainly no expert on diversity. I was born and raised in the cove. I wasn’t exposed to much diversity but I have just always been a.. well I will call it "a different thinker”. I never had a lot of the same feelings some in my family or perhaps others in the community used to have. I never really understood what different meant. Who wrote this definition of different anyway? Am I the different one? or is an African American different? or is a Canadian different? Who exactly is the different one and who is the normal one. Who set the standard that everyone who isn’t that one person is the different one?? I could never figure that one out. Who was this person then who wasn’t the different one? It never made sense to me that because someone has an accent or a skin color other than mine, or eyes that looks different than mine that they are “different”. Wouldn’t I then be different from them too! If so then doesn’t that actually make us the same?? I guess I just don’t like the word different. The things that make us who we are are exactly that. They are who we are. They shouldn’t be termed different they are just who we are.

Anyway, I could not be prouder of my 4 year old for knowing that he and Araya are not different. They are absolutely the same. They are God’s children and they are brother and sister.

(Oh and I must note I use Canadian as my example because it came first to mind since that is part of Paul's heritage.) That's for you Aunt Mary Ann and Aunt Pauline :)