Conversations with Friends

Nov. 5, 2012

Last week a student said to me, "Cikgu, kamu putih, saya hitam, kenapa?" <--Teacher, you are white, I am black, why?  I stumbled over my words and gave a scientifically based answer--it has to do with where we are born in regards to the equator.

I thought about this a lot and asked many people what they thought about it.  My friend, Felessia said she wanted to share a story with me about this idea.  She said that she thought about it a long time ago and said it would be okay for me to share with whomever.  

She said:

"I think about why people are black and white and I always imagined it to be like this:  At first I think all people were one color, black.  I imagined that once Jesus had a bucket of water, and he asked all people to come and clean themselves in the water.  The first people immersed themselves and turned white.  More and more people went into the bucket to clean themselves and the water began to lower.  Finally, the water left was so little, that people only put their hands and feet into the water.  These last people remained black, except for their palms and the bottoms of their feet.  That's how I think God made some people white and some people black."  

I asked her what she thought of her story, and she said, "I guess you should just never be last!"

While I laughed with her when she gave her response, I could help but think that I still felt unsettled about the answer and even the question.  I guess we can never really know why God made us the way that he did, but just have faith and trust that there is a plan for us in the exact form that we are in.  God made us this way for a reason.