{"id":10911,"date":"2020-08-12T10:20:58","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T14:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=10911"},"modified":"2020-08-12T10:21:02","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T14:21:02","slug":"wringer-washers-kaleidoscopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=10911","title":{"rendered":"wringer washers & kaleidoscopes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cIf I am known as your \u2018black friend,\u2019 <\/em>news flash:<\/em><\/strong> You see color. Let\u2019s see each other as friends and fellow Americans.\u201d \u2014 Carol T., age 50<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything feels so heavy. What is wrong with everyone? I <\/em>love<\/em><\/strong> being brown.\u201d \u2014 Jubilee W., age 13<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current social climate has been nothing short of tricky to navigate for the last several weeks. It feels as though as a nation, our hearts have been put through the wringer of that old-time three-tub wringer washer of my childhood. \u201cWash Day\u201d was always a day of dread in some ways for me. As a teenager, just the thought of spending the whole<\/em> day sorting, washing, hanging the wash on the line, folding, and finally putting loads and loads and loads of clean laundry all away is what I would dread. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as a younger version of myself, it wasn\u2019t the all-day affair that I dreaded as much as it was the wringer washer itself. And actually, in all honesty, the wringer itself was the epicenter of my dread. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if my hand got caught in the wringer? I was pretty confident it would be smashed flat. After all, just look at what happened to the clothes!!! Surely, my hand would have had the life completely squeezed out of it!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many ways, our hearts, my heart, and spirits, have felt the \u201cSQUEEZE\u201d of the proverbial wringer washer of current happenings in so, so many ways. First, there came a global pandemic that brought about a somewhat forced shut down of our lives. Next, personally, there was the untimely passing of a very dear friend who was more like family than he was a friend\u2026 and now, the navigation of our current social climate which makes you feel like you are treading where serpents nest or bomb shells are buried. All of these situations force us to feel that squeeze and try to make sense of it all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allow me to share the words that have brought my heart and spirit the most comfort in this season of \u201cthe wringer.\u201d The two quotes at the beginning of this blog have come from two dear ones who are in different places in their lives but both have struck a deep well of pondering in my own heart\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I am known as your \u2018black friend,\u2019 <\/em>news flash:<\/em><\/strong> You see color. Let\u2019s see each other as friends and fellow Americans.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything feels so heavy. What is wrong with everyone? I <\/em>love<\/em><\/strong> being brown.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question that quickly leapt out of my heart and took me aback was this: is seeing color such a bad thing?<\/em> And, as I have chewed on this question, a word study has ensued; that tends to be how the Great Big God of the Universe speaks to me.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word that came to me is \u201ckaleidoscope.\u201d Did you know that kaleidoscope is derived from the Greek? Let\u2019s break it down\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalos –<\/em><\/strong> meaning beautiful, beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eidos –<\/em><\/strong> meaning that which is seen-form-shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skopeo –<\/em><\/strong> meaning to look to, to examine.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, the word \u201ckaleidoscope\u201d equates to the observation of beautiful forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The observation of beautiful forms. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You guys\u2026 isn\u2019t that what we are?!<\/em> We are those beautiful forms\u2026 the human race<\/strong> \u2014 with all of our good, bad, and ugly.<\/em> We are those beautiful forms.<\/em> We each have so much to bring to the table to share with each other. So much that goes beyond our skin color but even our skin tone is so vital to who we are and what we bring to the table. There is so much to value in another person \u2014 like their mind and how they think, their heart and how they feel, things deep inside their souls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I love to see the colors of the human race. I love watching the colors bend and shift and come together again in intricate patterns and designs. So many angles just like the kaleidoscope of our youth.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, therefore, is the kaleidoscope in words: \u201cDo nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think I hear that old wringer washer firing up again\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LJ
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf I am known as your \u2018black friend,\u2019 news flash: You see color. Let\u2019s see each other as friends and fellow Americans.\u201d \u2014 Carol T., age 50 \u201cEverything feels so heavy. What is wrong with everyone? I love being brown.\u201d \u2014 Jubilee W., age 13 The current social climate has been nothing short of tricky … <\/p>\n

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