Black and White and a Book

The other day I was out playing a sport called Disc Golf. It is a sport that I discovered 5 years ago and have been in love with since I started. We have several courses here in Knoxville, the one I was playing at is in an area some would refer to as the "ghetto". I was playing with several friends and having a great time, when we came upon the next hole I saw something that captivated my attention and consumed my thoughts for the rest of the round.

As we walked up to tee off on the next hole, I looked up and there was a white man who was in his late 50's or early 60's wearing a dingo hat and holding a book. Sitting next to him was an African American man looking to be around the same age as the white man. At first I was not sure as to what the two were doing sitting there in this park. My curiosity was not intrigued to the fact that two men of a different color were sitting next to each other, but I did wonder what the two of them were doing sitting on a bench in a park that is not safe to hang out in. The tee box for the hole is right next to the bench where the two were sitting which made it hard not to eaves drop, couple that with the fact that my curiosity was intrigued, I nonchalantly inserted myself into the situation.

After about 5 seconds of listening, I realized exactly what was going on and I can remember the wave of emotion that hit me at that moment. The white gentleman was teaching the black gentleman how to read. I know that racism exists still this day (which is sad), but I am of the age that I did not grow up in the era of segregation or extreme racism. When I think about those times, it makes me angry to think of people treating other people with such hate and vileness due to the simple fact that they don't look like you. This moment with these two men sitting next to each other laughing, sharing a cold Steele Reserve beer, and putting behind them the years of hatred that made this moment seem impossible, will be a moment that gives me hope. I wondered to myself where the two would have been decades ago when a moment like this would have seemed more like a fairy tale rather than reality. Would the white man have sat next to the black man in that very same park, doing that very same thing they were doing that day? In my heart I would love to believe so.

I think where I differ from a lot of my friends, is the fact that I recognize or care to take the time to recognize what was happening. I hope the two men didn't feel that I was being rude in paying so much attention to what was going on, but before I realized it my group had walked off and was on down the field finding their discs. I really wanted to sit down with the two and immerse myself into their conversation and tell them how much I appreciated the moment they gave me, even though the moment was probably not that big of a deal to either of them. I really wish I had brought my camera, so that I could capture the beauty of this and share it with others.

As I walked away, I thought about what the two of them had seen and experienced in their life times. How they had met to be sitting together in the park that day? What memories they had of a time when our country had such a dark sense of how to treat others? I thought about what kind of man I would have been during this time? Would I have had the strength to stand against such polluted views or would I have let fear of being different cause me to act in such a way that i would have regretted my actions? I would like to think that I would have had the heart and strength in my soul to oppose such hatred, but until you are put in that intense moment you never really know.

I am thankful and it gives me encouragement that we as a society have come as far as we have from the times of the 60's/70's. One of my greatest desires is that we as people can one day look past hatred and differences and learn to embrace each other for the people that we are inside. I feel that if we can one day learn to care for each other as we care for ourselves, anger and hatred will have no place in our society. What a wonderful place this world would be if we could ever learn to do that. I thank God that he put me in that park on that day to see that moment and my hope and prayer is that moments like that become more frequent.

“It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.” - Robert Francis Kennedy