Conversation with my son

Uraeus told me he was eating lunch at school and this "kid with this big, big, puffy Afro" asked him if he was going to eat his biscuit. Uraeus said he looked at the biscuit and said, "No. Look at it. It doesn't even have honey or jelly or anything. You can have it." Then he said the kid said, "Man, this is a white school! Donchu know the only place you get biscuits like that is at yo Aintie house?" And then took the biscuit.

That interaction sparked a conversation about accepting people for who they are and what they can provide and accepting ourselves for who we are and what we can be for others. A friend of mine shared a story with me about a guy friend she had who blessed her life tremendously without him even really being aware of how great. She is a single mother of three and didn't get off work until after all of her children arrived home. Her friend, who didn't have a lot of money and could not afford to take her out or buy her gifts, would be at her house when the children got home and make sure their homework was done. That they had eaten and the house was clean. Priceless. We can all bless each other by standing in the gap between someone and a need or even want they have.

What if we took that on? Just standing in the gap. Just being who we could be for the people in our lives and without placing age, cultural or gender normative standards upon them. What would that look like, in my life, in yours?