It is harder to hate up close.

I was on my walk this morning and listening to a really good book. That sentence made me think of examples in my life where that rang true.

My mom and dad used to have coffee at a café on Main Street and their regular waitress’ arms and neck were covered with tattoos. If they had observed her walking across the street or coming out of a tattoo parlor, the impression would have been completely different, but because she was their every day waitress who had a smile and a name and knew their order before they ever spoke, and because they knew a little of her story and why she chose the tattoos, they considered her a friend.

As I was walking, the sun began to wake up small town USA. Two blocks away, I heard Foghorn Leghorn’s broken record, and my first thought was, “If I lived next door to THAT, we’d be having fried chicken for dinner.” But then I thought, “Or maybe not. If I lived next door to a rooster, I would probably want a rooster for a pet.”

It’s the same, isn’t it? It is harder to hate when you know, up close, the person…or the creature.

We only know what we know. We know people by 1) getting to know them up close and personal, or 2) hearing about people from other sources.

Someone very dear to me chooses to include those who are the outcasts of society. If he listened to the average citizen and avoided because of rumors, he would not have near the friends and support that he has now.

We all have a story and a past; some of our stories and pasts would make the average Joe cringe. I know mine would and HAS made others cringe. We all believe certain ways regarding faith and theology. We put our stake in certain political parties. We gravitate toward certain types of music or movies. We might have purple hair or piercings in places unusual, or we might be one who only wears dresses or burqas or turbans. We might not speak the same language, might have a different shade of epidermis.

All these pieces of humanity have the potential for creating hate for others who are not like me. All these also have the potential for expanding our circle of support, our network of friends, our color wheel of community, IF WE WILL DARE TO GET UP CLOSE.

Today, I am grateful for a lesson from a great book in the early morning.

I am grateful for a partner who loves and accepts without a critical eye.

I am grateful for time on a morning walk to learn something worthwhile.

I am grateful for friends and family who do not post or speak hate toward politicians they do not know personally and have only heard about through their versions of news and information. I need to do better, because I KNOW better.

I am grateful that God gave me a heart that is sensitive and a conscience that twinges when I say or post something potentially offensive to others or those I know are unkind toward those they do not know up close.

Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them…

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:29b, 32 NLT

I am grateful for a sister who teaches me and others to set a bigger table rather than build a bigger wall. Our guests ALL have a story to tell and are precious in His sight.

I am grateful that I have an attitude of HOPE and POSITIVE ANTICIPATION for 2021, not despair.

I am grateful for colorful friends who are not like me.

I am pretty grateful that I am so very blessed and I am grateful that God reminds me to not take my blessings for granted.

And I am grateful for a rooster who makes me smile.