Little Gift Boxes

 

My colleague's 6 year old son just said, "you will born a nice baby because the white man makes nice babies."

I asked, "what about the black man's babies?"

He explained, "okay, sometimes the black man makes nice babies too, but sometimes they are not so nice."

I informed him that "sometimes the white man makes babies that are not so nice too."

He wondered, "is that true?"

I confirmed "yes."

He had a thoughtful look on his face.

Watching him ponder what he had just learned, I added, "you know, you and I are really only different on the outside. Inside we are just the same."

He smiled, "is that so?"

“What color is your tongue,” I asked, showing him mine.

He confidently replied, "the same!"

He smiled, pointed to his teeth, and asked me the color of mine. I smiled broadly. He exclaimed, "the same!"

Then I tugged on my bottom lip revealing my gums. He let out, "the same!"

I asked him if he had ever seen a gift box wrapped up in colored paper. He told me he had. I explained that sometimes that wrapping paper is shiny, sometimes it's dull, sometimes it's dark, sometimes it's light. But that doesn't tell us what is going to be inside the box. I said our skin is like the wrapping paper, but the gift is inside.

He seemed to like that story. I did too especially since I made it up on the spot.