"Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."
At home we've been watching "Eyes on the Prize", the superlative, and award-winning 14-episode documentary on the Civil Rights Movement from the death of Emmett Till all the way to the rise of Southern black mayors, congressmen, and other civic leaders.
One of the most challenging parts of watching this film is to see my daughter Gabrielle's reaction to so much of the documentary footage where segregationists decry the mixing of races. As a bi-racial child, she takes every mean-spirited and cruel thing said with a degree of deeply felt personal pain. Even at 60 years distance the words still sting. Perhaps I should not be surprised given that she is 9 years old and entering the time of life when identity becomes such a powerful influence over us.
"Why do they say those things?" she asks with her head hung down and a drawn look in her eye.
"They didn't know any better," I tell her. "Remember what Jesus said on the Cross, 'Father forgive them because they don't know better,'?"
I want her to have compassion on these people -- to seek to understand and love them even if they would not have understood or loved our family. I do not want her to grow hard-hearted toward anyone.
And yet, I also want her to learn to protect herself and her heart. This is a lesson that goes beyond race and racial politics. She will have to learn that there are people out there of all different races and places and creeds and genders who just aren't very nice. In fact, they're mean -- perhaps just as mean in spirit as the segregationists in the film. Part of the task now -- and part of the reason why we are watching this documentary -- is because I know Gabrielle will have learn to protect herself and her own spirit from the abuse and ridicule of people who simply don't like who she is and what she stands for.
Jesus says in today's Lesson, "Do not cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them underfoot and come and maul you." The pearl of great price is the soul of who we are -- our true identity.
And what I'm trying to teach Gabrielle is that she is not to give that away to anybody.
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