I'm losing it!

I am a German-born, half-Korean, half-American girl living in Utah.  I went to an all black middle and high school in Virginia.  Since then I have lived in mostly white, very white, and a when-I-see-a-black-person-I-want-to hug-them-and-tell-them-not-to-ever-leave-me places.  I crave color and diversity, not just because I love those of a different color or race, but because I need them.  I’m losing it!  I’m losing something that is so ridiculously valuable that people put their life on the line for it daily.  I’m losing something that can only be truly gained by a change in venue.   I’m losing PERSPECTIVE.  

Currently I’m living in the latter of the places I mentioned above.  My good friend, Alex, who used to daily give me a dose of African American perspective has moved.  I am surrounded by 4 or 5 Congolese students at least twice a week, but I am still missing the beautiful people that make up 14% of our population.  I realize this is a foreign thought to a lot of people.  Who would care about perspective so much?  Who would put their life on the line for perspective? Reporters do it all the time but they are getting paid for it.  Would anyone do it without compensation?  Jesus.  He could have saved us from afar but he didn’t.  He saved us after he walked in our shoes for many years: some nasty shoes by the way. “He suffered in every way like us.” If God made it a point to “get” people.  I must do the same.  I cannot truly love or understand those that I am distant from in proximity and knowledge.  To counteract this, I am determined to read more books and articles by African American authors, to watch more documentaries about African American people, and chat more with my African American friends and nieces and nephews.  If I don’t, I am in danger of saying those ugly words:  “They should…”  “They” being African-Americans and “should” followed by a very white solution to a very non-white problem.  

What are you doing to keep or gain perspective about a different race, social class, or age group?