crayons

Moses asked me a question today during class that caught me a little off guard. (I don't remember our conversation verbatim, but I can do it justice, so stick with me.)

"SJ, what do you call the color of your skin?"
"Most people call it white, but it's really more peach isn't it."
"Yeah, it isn't really white."
"Well, why do people call your skin black? It's really more brown."
"Yeah it is. Why is your skin white?"
"Because God made me that way, just the same way that he made your skin brown."

I told Moses that God made me white for a reason and that there were things that I could do, being white, that were important and that maybe only I could do. In the same way, God made him black and there are things that he can do that are important and maybe he is the only one who can do them. God had a purpose and a reason for creating us the way that he did.

[I grabbed two crayons, one a peach and one a brown]
"See, you are the color of that one and I am the color of this one, but they are both good."
[Moses held his crayon up to his arm as I held my crayon up to my arm]
"Look, SJ, our crayons are camouflaged."

That's what I like to call having a conversation about race and God's love while reviewing science.
Nailed it.