When What You See Is Not What You See...

This is a rock.  Well, concrete with small pebbles embedded into it, actually.  It looks like nothing, but it is something.  Oh, baby, is it something.


My dear co-worker brought this to me to share with my students.  I know they don't quite get it this young, but I hope they one day look back and realize the weight this rock carries.


It is not large...it is about the size of a fist.  Ironic.  I wonder how many people wanted to punch this small rock when it was part of a larger rock...Breaking it down into bits of dust.


It is a piece of the Berlin Wall.  Yep, that wall.  A wall built overnight to separate humans from other humans.  A wall that divided.  A wall that was more than a wall.  


I'd like to think we've moved past walls in so many ways, but I'm learning we have not.  I'm learning that we still carry our histories deep in our souls despite our mouths speaking happy and politically-correct thoughts.  I'm learning I am naive.  I'm learning that are still some really big assholes out there.


When do we become aware of differences and start judging based upon those?  Why do we do it?  Is it simply human nature to have to feel superior to someone else?  


This quote popped up on my facebook today:  "You have enemies? Good.  That means you stood up for something, sometime in your life."  Compliments of Winston Churchill, thank you.  I think I may not have enough enemies.  I  haven't stood up often enough in my life. Sometimes my ears hear hateful words...my mouth is full of thoughts that won't come out...and my heart aches because of what others, thoughtless and careless with their words, have put onto my universe. Those thoughts need to find their voice.  And, if I make an enemy, so be it.  I stood up for something, sometime.