At 5’9 (1.8 meters) I stand out in Asia. It is not uncommon for me to be one of the
tallest people even on the subway. Today
as I was walking in the subway, I passed 2 people who I am at least a foot
taller than. I passed one grandma who I
was easily a foot and a half taller than.
Seeing these shorter people got me thinking about how
blessed I am. I hit the genetic and
family background jackpot which allowed me to be so tall. I could not control my genetic heritage which
contributed to my height. Equally, I
could not control the socioeconomic or geographic reality of the family I was
born into. I was blessed to be raised in
America by parents who were financially stable enough to provide 3 meal (with
protein) a day. The people I passed in
the subway are genetically inclined to be shorter than I am, but their family
background not afford them the same nutritional opportunities that I have.
The height difference between me and the grandma were
entirely out of our control. She could not control being born in the Chinese
countryside any more than I could control being born in suburban, middle class
America. It got me thinking that human
beings are very good at judging people for things outside of their
control. Look at the news and the main
immigration platforms coming out of the US Presidential election. The rhetoric of fear is pervasive. The vast majority of the things that people
are afraid of are things that are uncontrollable (place of birth, economic
resources, parent’s religion, access to education). It breaks my heart to see so many people
being judged for things outside of their control, things they could not change
even if they wanted to.
My hope is that as the human race we will stop
categorizing people and criticizing them for genetic realities. Instead of broadly condemning entire classes
of people as other and evil, I hope that we will being to build relationships
and see that despite all the differences of background we have more in common
than we can ever imagine. I hope that
our definition of “neighbor” will expand to look more like the story of the
Good Samaritan. May we see people like
us and help others like we would want to be helped. May grace be extended to everyone, regardless
of background.
