The world is filled with many things I wish would go away for the sake of my children. Wars. Illegal drugs. Poverty. Hatred. So many things that we'd all be better off without.But there's one thing I don't see nearly as much as previous generations did – racial prejudice. Sure, it's still there on some levels, but not the way it was when my grandparents were living. A friend of mine is in the process of fostering-to-adopt a sweet little baby, who happens to be of another race. She was sharing the concern she has about what one of her elderly relatives might say.
My daughter was caught off guard by this. In her mind, the color of a person's skin is no different than the color of their shoes. We talked about it with our kids and explained to them what segregation was like in our country, not that long ago. We shared with them how white and black children used different drinking fountains and went to different schools. And how adults often couldn't see past racial barriers. That led them to the realization that if we were still living in such a society they would be missing out on many of their valued friendships.
We are blessed to be living in a world – and a neighborhood – where we have friends of all different backgrounds living together in harmony, caring for each other. And we are blessed to be living in a time during which prejudice isn't something we deal with on a regular basis.Sure, our world isn't perfect. But we're making progress.
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