Dare to Dream of Somewhere Better

     Claira is sitting on her bed in the dark rolling a handful of miscellaneous pills through her fingertips. She watches them all topple and land on the mattress cover like lead hitting the ground.  She stares at those unopinionated bits of reality feeling comfort in their presence. She scoops them up in her hand and contemplates letting them, those lifeless things show her the way to a world where people don’t look at her differently because of a diagnosis.

     Joel walks on to the bus that takes him to his job every morning. He sits down in an empty seat and pulls out his newspaper unfolds it delicately and turns it to the comics, so he can start off his day with some cheer.  Another man comes aboard the bus and sees the seat left open next to Joel. A grimace begins to line his face and he scoffs at the empty seat. Joel looks up and smiles at the other man. “You can sit here, I’m not saving it for anyone.” The standing man looks Joel in the eyes and says, “I would never sit next to a black man.” and he walks off the bus.

     Melinda is sitting at her desk excitement coming to a boil inside her. She sees her coworker equal in job level and duties open the letter laid on his desk. He opens the letter and the words “a dollar raise” brings a smile to his face. He looks at Melinda as she receives her letter as well. She opens the letter and smiles. A smile brightens his face again, “Thank God for that dollar raise, maybe I can afford a few more drinks at the bar tonight.” He says to her. Melinda looks at him and nods in agreement, but the smile begins to fade from her face. She looks down at the now cold piece of paper. The fifty-cent raise beginning to leave a lump in her chest.

           Melinda packs up her things and heads home for the day. She gets a call from her husband who struggles to speak through tears. “Joel, what’s wrong I can’t understand you?” Melinda drops her phone tears brimming her eyes. She runs to her car and speeds her way to the hospital. She gets to the cold clean doors of the hospital and runs into the building, crash landing into her husband’s arms. They both walk into the room and see their cold lifeless daughter laying on the overly crisp clinical sheets. The doctor looks up at them with pain etched in his eyes. “I’m sorry Claira is gone.”

     As Melinda surrenders to the tears grasping tightly to the inside of her eyes, she collapses into her husband’s arms. An old woman passes their room and looks at the scene with hatred and disgust in her eyes “I can’t believe such a pretty white girl would find love in the arms of a black man.” She spits out as she walks by.

    

      No one is born hating another person because of the color of their skin, their background, or their religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

-          Nelson Mandela

        Change begins with one person. Don’t be the person on the wrong side of history. Love your neighbor no matter their race, gender, diagnosis, or sexuality, they deserve love like anyone else. No one is better than anyone else. Teach our kids to love and maybe they can live in a world a bit kinder than this one.