Sitting in silence, I continued to look down on the church ground, playing with random particles that one might find on a village floor…wishing there was something insightful I could say that she could understand… we both continued to sit in understanding silence, for the words we are selves are familiar with, are not familiar to the other person. I looked up with a breath of air in the back of my throat, ready to spew out simple words she might have been able to piece together, until suddenly she grabbed my hand. I exhaled my breath, as I watched the thought process behind her eyes. Tracing every detail of my hand, every crevice, scar and finger, a simple smile came across her face. As I’m thinking “I know, I know…I have man hands” she held my hand gently and said “Your hands are beautiful.” My eyes widen, surprised at the comment, she put her hand next to mine, “Your hands are so much more beautiful compared to mine.” My eyes grew even wider, as I examined the dynamic of the two radically different hands. One white, one brown, her hands were eloquent and dainty: yet strong and define, with callouses from all the labor she does day to day. “What defines beautiful?” I asked. I grabbed her hand and held it firm, “Just because my hand is white and yours in brown doesn’t make either one any less beautiful, God created your hands and they are beautiful.” She looked at me intensely, smiled and simply said “yes.” She kissed my hand and I kissed hers, then we continued, sitting in our shared silence.
In India culture, it seems to be perceived that the lighter skin you have the higher class you are. The richer you are, smarter you are, more beautiful you are…this perception is obviously wrong and has humbled me. Seeing “get rid of your tan” lotion or “Make your skin lighter instantly” has broken my heart and made me question “What do people find their worth in?” Not just in India but around the world. I remember being a teenager girl, being told that tan and skinny is beautiful, but who deemed that to be beautiful? There was a time when tan and skinny meant that you were poor and worked in the fields.
Since leaving for the race, I’ve realized how much of where a person finds their worth can define them, shape them and mold them. We are all created by the one who created the millions of grains of sand, all the variations of animals, plants and flowers. In Him, there is true worth. We were created in His Image.
I will simply end this blog with Isaiah 61
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;[a] he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;[b]2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn..”
