Blood. Sweat. Bruises. Dirt. A swollen face...
Jeremy came home looking
like a ghost, looking half-dead. His school uniform was torn. As his mother
watched over him when he slept after she'd bathed him and dressed his wounds,
she thought to herself, with tears streaming down her face: Jeremy had never
come home looking this bad, even though he usually came home sad, not wanting
to talk to anyone. What happened to my son? What's gonna happen to him?
Jeremy, a 7
year-old boy, a BLACK boy, had to go through hell in school. The very day he
started school, he was given a very cold welcome by his teacher and his
classmates. They all laughed at him when he stood up to answer a question.
Nobody played with him, nobody talked to him. They just laughed, laughed at the
little BLACK boy that came to their school. One day, a girl in Jeremy's class
talked to him. Jeremy smiled when she said "hi". He smiled because he
thought he'd finally had a friend, but the lines on his face got twisted from a
smile to a frown within seconds. Why was that? The girl who talked to him had asked
him with so much ridicule in her voice, "Did you stay too long in your
mummy's tummy that you got burnt?" For Jeremy, that was a big insult, but
he was to expect more of such insults.
This time, Jeremy was a
victim of a mob action by the seniors in school. They ganged up on him just
because he had a dark skin, his skin was black and theirs was not. Did he have
any broken bones? Was any organ damaged? Did he commit any offence by being
black? Did he choose to be black? A knock on the door startled Jeremy's
mother back from her thoughts. It was her sister who came visiting.
All his life, Jeff had
been feeling stifled. He had to pretend, to give everybody a colored impression
of himself. He made people think he was straight, but somewhere deep within, he
always wanted to wave the rainbow flag. Few months ago, he decided to come to
terms with reality. He felt nothing for women but the sight of some cute guy
would make his adrenaline boil. Finally, Jeff decided that anybody that loved
him had to do so because of who he truly was and not because of some fake image
of himself which he presented.
It was Thanksgiving Day
when Jeff told his family over dinner that he was gay. When everybody was
seated for dinner, Jeff said he would say the grace. "Before we
pray", he said, "I've got something to tell everyone". For a
moment, there was silence in the room and everybody stared at him with
curiosity, then he spoke: "I love you all and I know you guys love me
too. I feel everyone deserves to know the truth". He took some time to
look into the faces of all those seated around him, and then he spilled it, "I'M
GAY..."
... For some months,
Jeff had to live with the stigma of being gay. He could not take it anymore. He
could not get over the feeling of being rejected by family, friend and
acquaintance, so he felt that alcohol would take the pain away.
THINK ABOUT THIS
* What would you
do if you were either Jeremy or Jeff?
* Is
discrimination the best way to make someone a better person?
PRAYER
Dear God, help us to
accept every human being just as you have accepted us even in our sinfulness.
Let our actions light their paths and bring them back to you.FOR OUR REFLECTION
James 4:12
John 4:9-10
