Tuesday, July 27, 2010

A Different Color

Today while teaching 3rd grade summer school, I had my cell phone out on the table, as I was using it for the stopwatch for running records. A picture of Diva is displayed as my wallpaper. One of my students looked down at the picture on the phone....

Student: Is that your daughter?
Me: Yes, it is.
Student: She's a different color than you.
Me: Yes, she is.


That's as far as the conversation went. I could see the little girl trying to comprehend. I guess I could have elaborated, but it really took me by surprise. Most of the time I don't even think about the fact that Diva's skin is darker than mine. She's just my Diva. After class, I looked at the picture again, thinking to myself, "Really? Is it really that obvious that Diva is "a different color?" Of course it is obvious to the naked eye, but she's not just a "different color", she's my baby. When I look at her, I see the brightness in her eyes (that are a deep brown like D's but shaped like mine). I see the perfect combination of mine and D's nose, and I see my chin. I see D's long eyelashes and distinguished eyebrows. But most of all, I see the precious little person who I am blessed to call my daughter. I guess it's just another reminder that we all see things differently.

3 comments:

greygillfish said...

That is too sweet! You should have elaborated...it could have been a great lesson learned for that student. :)

Shan said...

I know it's easy to bring tears to a pregnant mama's eyes, but sheesh that was sweet!

MommyToTwoBoys said...

Once I had a mom get mad because I did a lesson on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (as if that is so off the curriculum???) and it brought color to her son's attention. She wished I had never taught him that. Now he would see people as different. Give me a break lady!

Did you read my post a while back when Jaylen asked about being black. At the time I thought he understood, but not really. One day you and I will swap stories about our kids not knowing their identity, etc, etc.