Required Reading

I want you to read this story. Story by Dwane Brown, NPR, All Things Considered.

Tears came to my eyes when I read the last line. Daryl Davis teaches us how to get what we really want. He has been at it for thirty years. He has proven that it works. It’s not just an idea, a possibility or a scheme. It’s not a knee jerk reaction, a political ploy or a complex plan. It’s not about taking down Confederate statues in the middle of the night or shouting over the hate. Mr. Davis has been doing the one thing the rest of us have most probably never even thought about.

He is spending time befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan and in the process has witnessed 200 Klansmen give up their robes. Oh and by the way…Mr. Davis is a black man.

Here is the wisdom from Mr. Davis:

So what do you do when you plant a seed? You nourish it.

The best thing you do is you study up on the subject as much as you can. I went in armed, not with a weapon, but with knowledge.

…because when two enemies are talking, they’re not fighting. It’s when the talking ceases that the ground becomes fertile for violence. If you spend five minutes with your worst enemy — it doesn’t have to be about race, it could be about anything…you will find that you both have something in common. As you build upon those commonalities, you’re forming a relationship and as you build about that relationship, you’re forming a friendship. That’s what would happen. I didn’t convert anybody. They saw the light and converted themselves.

I want to know…how many of us are brave enough to take this approach, to plant a seed without judgment? How many of us are willing to educate ourselves…not from reading the opinions of others but really doing some good old fashioned research so that we know what we’re talking about? How many of us are willing to make the commitment…for the long haul? How many of us are willing to sit down face to face with our enemy and really listen?

If we want to know why race is such a volatile issue in our country, or anywhere for that matter, we don’t need to look any further. We don’t listen to each other. We don’t find our common ground. We don’t create relationships. We are still trying to convert others rather than allowing  the light to shine…not only in ‘them’ but in ourselves as well.

Thank you Daryl Davis for shining your light in my direction.

Love to all
Paula