The Dignity of Human Life
I recently read a disturbing story. It was a firsthand account of an African American man's experience. The thing that most disturbed me wasn't that it happened in recent years--though that in itself is quite upsetting. But the thing that bothered me the most was that it happened at all . It seems he was dining with another gentleman. In the midst of their conversation, another man, unknown to both of them, called the author "boy." In the African American experience, for a man to be called "boy" by a white man is a very derogatory and demeaning statement. It is to say, "I am white, so I am a man. You are not, so you are just 'a boy'." Even as I read the words, I was angered. I was ashamed. I wish I could apologize to the author for words spoken by another of my race. The author handled the situation with the utmost dignity, and, consequently, preserved his own Christian testimony in the midst of a very trying situation. The point of it all ...