mona
was so happy that the morning went quickly. Seat work was unusually
interesting. The kindergarten now had sheets of pictures, three to a row,
printed in purple ink by the ditto machine. One row showed a top, a girl, and a
toe. The kindergarten was supposed to circle the top and the toe, because they
both began with T, and cross out the
girl, because the girl began with a different sound. Ramona dearly loved to
circle and cross out, and was sorry when recess time came”.
This passage comes from pg. 289 of the second installment of the Ramona book
series written by Beverly Cleary, copyright 1968. This seemingly innocent
worksheet given to young kindergarteners can lead to destructive behavior and
frame of mind in the future. Think about it, they are literally crossing out
what doesn't belong. Now of course it is used to teach kids about letters and
sounds, but actually, it teaches their sub conscious to mentally shut certain
things out because they are not like the others. For instance they may see more
white children on the playground and less African Americans, therefore, they
don't belong; cross them out. More straight people than gay people, they don't
belong; cross them out.
A brilliant actor comes into our high school every two years. His
name is Mykee Fowlin, and
he teaches kids about acceptance in a whole new way. He creates different
characters and tells stories about acceptance, and inequality through their
point of view. One of his characters was probably middle school aged, and she
was reflecting about how mean the kids in her class could be. Especially the
girls, teasing her about how much money she had, or how she looked. And she
blamed her first grade teacher for the cruel words and behaviors. She blamed
the “Cross out what doesn't belong” activity and made a very interesting
observation and adjustment to the work sheet. She said that instead of crossing
out the thing that doesn't belong, the kids should instead draw a smiley face
on it. Teaching kids that being different is good, and that it is the
differences between us that make us beautiful.
Galatians 3:26-28 reads, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children
of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed
yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor
free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.
According to the Bible, Jesus was not
a teacher that would have given his pupils a worksheet to cross out what
doesn't belong, but rather, use it as a teaching experience and inspire
children to smile at what is different because it is what makes us unique that
makes us beautiful.
Equality for Everyone - II
By Clara Mooney
our
society we are constantly presented with examples of inequality.
As of recent the marriage equality debate has been particularly
prevalent. The struggle for equal pay between men and women continues
to be an issue. Historically, the civil rights movement fought hard
for racial equality. We see examples of socio-economic inequality
and religious inequality as well as many, many other forms. As
infuriating as it is to be a witness to these struggles, their
existence poses crucial questions on the subject of equality. The
more we recognize these situations of inequality on a national and
international stage, the more motivated we are to understand the
concept of equality.
So I would like to highlight two definitions of what it means to
be "equal." The first is my dictionary's definition which is "being
the same in quantity, size, degree, or value." The second is the
bible's portrait of equality. The Bible and Christian Tradition,
especially in the United Church of Christ, emphasize how people are
made in the image of God and that God loves everyone unconditionally.
When we began discussing Equality as the theme of this year's Youth
Sunday, we noticed that it was amusingly close to the theme from
two years ago of "Draw the Circle Wide." Both have an element of
inclusion and celebration of community however are distinct and
it's this distinction that helped me to better understand what
Equality means in the context of faith and the Christ Church
community. I am not a huge fan of the first three prongs of the
dictionary's definition of "equal" which are quantity, size and
degree. Perhaps it's more that they have less application here than
in other contexts but I think that what makes people truly equal
is being the same in value and the bible's definition certainly
argues this to be the case. Developing equality amongst a group of
people is not a matter of homogenizing but rather a matter of
understanding each person and valuing each person for who they are.
It's a matter of recognizing what makes each person unique and
knowing that that wonderful thing is what determines their value.
In a lot of ways, acknowledging what is special and unique about
people increases their value because we shift from seeing everyone
as ordinary to celebrating individuals as extraordinary.
Many of us have had the awesome opportunity to reflect on how we
combat and decipher inequality on our service trips. We've had
experiences where we have challenged ourselves to forge equal
relationships and to value the new people we meet. On some occasions
we have made it an intentional goal and on others have happened
upon it accidentally.
