I think you must love yourself if you’re going to make any progress on embracing people different from you. If we could just throw off, once and for all and despite an almost constant, shrill chorus of deniers, that skin color matters a whit in the grand pageant of our messy complex lives…ah what a day that would be!

The more we sternly and publicly condemn our respective privilege in some sweepstakes of the absurd, or slyly and maliciously denigrate someone of a different class or skin tone - the further from my utopian ideal we stray. Of course there is work to do. But let’s approach it with joy that recognizes how far we have come while realistically knowing how far we have to travel.

I can resolve to act and speak with integrity and a deep appreciation for all of us. Each person is a unique opportunity to have a great conversation, learning and respecting what makes us different as much as what makes us the same. Yes.

Toss the dross. Don’t give in to cynicism. It’s always too easy, after all.