I am not a football fan, but the commercials are pretty entertaining. I was not paying attention when our national anthem sung in many languages came on, I was brushing my teeth. But our daughter was. I paid attention to her. She was glued to the TV, and smiling. She was proud, she was accepted, she was home.
The next morning I saw numerous post's on Facebook attacking this commercial. I was stunned.
Does it matter what race our daughter is, what color she is, what religion, what sexual preferences she may have, or what language she speaks? Does it matter what country she was born in? Does it matter if her IQ is a certain number?
So what IQ is high enough, what color is OK, what religion is OK, what language, country, sex, sexual preference, political affiliation, address, income, class standing, career, car...blah blah blah, is OK?
I can assure you, none of this matters to Boyd and I. These things don't matter to us if you are our child, or our friend, or our neighbor.
Our son speaks another language. Every week in school he has an assignment to write a paragraph about a specific virtue. About integrity. About forgiveness. About kindness. About caring. About grace. About honesty. About respect. About ambition. About persistence. About perseverance. About generosity. About compassion. About humility. About love.
Boyd and I can tell you loud and clear without any hesitation, our son has learned all these things, in another country, in another language, in an imperfect sometimes hostile environment.
These are the traits that measure a person to Boyd and I. There are more, but you get the picture...well I think you do. This list of virtues is what matters to us, these traits describe the kind of person we want to be.
It is hard for Boyd and I to stand still, to listen to the hate, to quietly let other people get away with attacking human beings who are different from them. Especially hard if our children feel less than when you do it. Boyd and I won't be quiet any longer.
