When I parked my car, I thought I was parking so I wouldn’t be blocked from any direction. I noticed the drive-thru was backing up with about six or seven cars waiting in line. Thinking I was completely out of their way, I entered Dunkin’ Donuts for some coffee (no donuts for me!). As usual, they were slow; but I wasn’t in a hurry. What a surprise I had when I came out to find the drive-thru winding around through the parking lot, blocking my car.
I sat in my car for several minutes with no one offering to leave a space for me to get out. Trying to decide what to do, I noticed a man coming out of a store next to Dunkin’ Donuts. His car was parked next to mine, a large SUV, making my car look very small. It was impossible to see to my left around his car. The man surveyed the situation and walked slowly into the parking lot behind my car. I had rolled down my window; and I heard him say to the man behind his car, “Would you please back up and let this lady out?” The young man agreed and backed his car up. Because of the way cars were lined up for the drive-thru I still wasn’t sure I could get out. He assured me that he was watching and encouraged me to continue backing up. When I finally got out of the parking space, I thanked the gentleman. I said, “You get citizen of the day.” He smiled and said, “thank you, and have a wonderful day.” After leaving the parking lot, I wondered how he was able to get out. Traffic was even worse than when I tried to get out.
This story is not all that eventful. It is just a simple illustration of how one person was kind and helpful when he didn’t really have to be. But in the current environment it is eventful, at least to me. You see, I am a white woman. The man who helped me out of my parking space was African-American. The man who backed up his car for me to get out was a white man. There were no harsh words, no accusations, no hesitancy. This was a kind person wanting to help someone just because. It was cooperation among people of different races, looking at the situation and not the color of one another’s skin.
It is sad that there are those in our country that cannot look past the color of a man’s skin. Those who can’t are trapped by prejudice, just like I was trapped in a parking place. The escape from prejudice is just as simple as my being able to back out of a parking space and go on my way. The Holy Spirit made it simple for us. “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:24-27 KJV) (emphasis mine).
Prejudice has long existed. We see it even in scripture. It was important enough of an issue that the writers of the New Testament included several incidents for our learning. The first one that probably comes to mind is the story of The Good Samaritan. Here we see a Samaritan as the only one who would stop to help a wounded man on the road. There is also the encounter Jesus had with the Samaritan woman in John 4.
The Jews hated the Samaritans and would avoid going through Samaria at all cost. Jesus showed no partiality in His healing or His teaching, and not in the places to which He traveled. In Samaria, we find Him sitting at the well where the women of the city came to draw water. When a Samaritan woman came to the well, He asked her to give Him a drink of water. He offered her “living water”—the offer of eternal salvation. He offered her a way of escape from the sinful life she had led.
The Samaritan woman was of the same blood, created by God in His own image, no different than any woman of Jewish descent. She was worthy to be called a child of God.
Anger, hatred, and violence are not the answer for this country or any other. The answer lies in complete faith in and obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul said, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18).
In spite of what some may say, things are visibly better than they were years ago. No longer must minorities drink from different water fountains, use separate bathrooms, sit in the back of buses, be turned away from certain businesses because of the color of their skin. In spite of these and many other changes, history remains. You can tear down statues, change the names of military bases, athletic teams, ships, and many other landmarks; but until we change our hearts, we will still be trapped by prejudice.
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:10 ESV).
Sandra Oliver