An Open Letter of Sorts

Over on the Faceplant (as Robbo calls it, which I have fully coopted), I saw several meme-slash-open letter type things along the lines of "If you have Thanksgiving with a Black family it's just about food and loved ones, not celebrating genocide in the name of exploration."

It was all I could do not to comment with a little reality for these friends of mine, because I would stake just about anything that there is not one white, green, or purple person out there who sat down on Thursday in front of their turkey and had even one tiny thought of celebrating the treatment of indigenous peoples 300 years ago. Thanksgiving? Yeah, it's about food and family for 99.999999% of Americans regardless of race.

It got me thinking (because the idea of the meme is the same as others on different topics I've been seeing of late) and I realized that if you're the sort of person who groups other people by a single characteristic over which they have little to no control, you're part of the problem, not the solution.

That's right. If you're writing Dear White/Fat/Thin/Pretty/Ugly/whatever People open letters? It's your heart that needs examining.

All of us are human beings, created in the very image of God and beloved by Him. That's where generalization ends. After that, our physical characteristics, likes and dislikes are varied and unique from one person to the next regardless of said physical characteristics, and to be willing to say "All 44 year old white females do X, Y and Z" takes an incredible level of conceit.

Yes, my life has been shaped by those characteristics, as has yours. I don't deny that. But that doesn't mean it has to define you. That's a choice we all make, based on our willingness to do the work required of being a grown up (with the understanding that there may be more work required in some situations than others and, no, it isn't fair, but do you want it or not?)

It seems to me, the world would be on its way to being a much better place if we'd all step back from the penchant for generalizing others, recognize everyone's individuality regardless of whatever groups they belong to, and instead simply choose to be kind.

And if you want to say, "Hey, at my house Thanksgiving is all about the turkey, what about you?" and then have an open, honest dialog about that, then hey, go for it. Otherwise? Check your heart.