Family

When we were in Louisiana recently with our daughter and her family, we were waiting at the high school to pick up my grandson. As I observed the teenagers streaming out of the building, I remarked that it seems to be getting more and more difficult to identify genetic heritage. We are getting more and more "mingled" thereby making it harder to identify nationality. My daughter's response was, "Isn't that wonderful?" I totally agree. Back in the days of Adam and Eve, all humans were pretty closely related. After the confusion of language at the tower of Babel, groups began to splinter off. Over the past millenia, we have come to identify each other more by our differences than by our similarities. I disturbs me greatly to be aware of riots, wars, prejudice, and hatred of other humans based on something as totally accidental as color of skin, gender, or physical traits. 

 This first picture was taken on the same day as the one below in 2010, just less than a year before my father's death. It is from a family reunion. Those pictured above are first cousins to each other, as are the ones in the photo below- just a different generation.

 The picture below of the tie-dyed shirt group is my children and grandchildren. If you look closely you may be able to discern some physical similarities here and there.

However, for the most part, we're pretty different. I don't think it matters if our hair is light, dark, curly, straight or kinky. It doesn't matter what color eyes we have or how tall, short, fat, or skinny we are. In our families, we feel love for each other even when we don't know each other well. The passing of time and geographic separation often brings us such different life experiences that even first cousins become strangers, comparatively. I'm aware that not all families share love with each other. Some families don't even manage tolerance! That's pretty sad. It seems to me that if we can work out how to love and more-than-tolerate individuals who are intimately related to us, we ought to be able to extend that to people who are even more different. We have become so focused on our race, political beliefs, difference in moral standards, or general philosophies that we are more likely to see each other as enemies than friends.................much less family. We are creations of God. We are very different from snails, birds, or bears yet we can manage to appreciate them. We are all humans and not just creations of God, but children of God. As such, we are family. I am looking forward more and more to the day when everybody can recognize that and there are no more wars. I look forward to a time when we are able to overcome our "animal instincts" and behave more like family.