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What's The Difference?

© Richard Maffeo

I spotted them as I walked by the pediatric waiting room. A young woman sat in a grey-cushioned chair cradling her daughter on her lap. The child, obviously sick and listless, lay quietly as mom stroked her forehead and gently rocked back and forth.

I tried not to be conspicuous as I stood there, strangely awed by the scene. Is it important to know that the woman and her child were of a different race than I? As mom lingered long over a fevered brow, a sudden sense of identification flooded over me. My mind raced back over the years to another hospital, in another waiting room. My daughter - then only four months old - lay listlessly on my lap. I gently rocked her, stroking her fevered forehead, waiting for the physician to see us.

The pictures overlapped, and I understood afresh that the concern of a parent for her child is not driven by skin color, but by the warmth of the heart. Could that be the reason so many people of color: red and yellow, black and white - respond to the message, "God so loved the world. . . ." because He does not respect the color of the skin but only the longing of the heart?

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Late one evening I waited impatiently for my son to finish his Karate lesson. Every few minutes I glanced at my watch and drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. Then I saw her. She couldn't have been more than four years old. Arms draped over the open car window, she sang happily as they turned a corner and drove past me. When her bright eyes caught mine they flashed with curiosity. Impulsively, she smiled and waved. Before I could respond, the car turned another corner and she was gone.

Is it important to know that the child sang in her native language, and that it was not the same as mine? When my eyes locked with hers, I recognized the joy of my own children who delighted themselves with songs they sang to birds, or to clouds, or to audiences only they could see. Again, a wave of understanding surged over me. In that happy child I saw mirrored the children around the world . . . in Asia, in the Americas, in Europe, in Africa . . . each able to see beyond the superficial, each willing to accept others despite skin color or national boundary. Could that be why so many people around the world turn to Christ because "God so loved the world. . . ." and He that He looks beyond national boundaries to the individual hunger of the heart?

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