When Will We Ever Learn?

Oxymoronic...that's the only way I can describe the puzzling and
almost vitriolic reactions to President Obama shaking hands with
Cuba's president, Raul Castro. Will this pose problems for Obama,
one news service blares. Should Obama have done this, asks
another. Is there something more behind this, queries still another.
And I am left shaking my head, wondering yet again if our president
can do anything right in the eyes of some people.

Were you critics listening, I am wondering, to the eulogy President
Obama delivered today? Were you watching, as people from nations
all over the globe came together...yes, together, to honor a man who
taught the whole world about the meaning of forgiveness...of
reconciliation. So within this context, on this day of all days, why
wouldn't Barak Obama shake hands with Raul Castro? Why read
something more into it? Why not accept and honor this action as
the only appropriate thing a gracious man would do, under the
circumstances.

When will we ever learn? And will some of the people of this nation
never get past the fact...the indisputable FACT, that our president
is African-American...is, actually, a man of mixed heritage, with
numerous bloodlines running through him from both his American
mother and his Kenyan father. Are there still those of us who are
so threatened by the fact...the indisputable FACT, that those of
us who consider ourselves Caucasian will be in the minority in
this country within the next two decades and already are on Planet
Earth?

And for those who may find themselves offended by my words,
may I discombobulate you even further by reminding you that Jesus,
whose incarnation we are preparing to celebrate, was a Jew...not 
the blond, blue-eyed European seen in so much religious art? The
God of Creation has created a world which is a celebration of
diversity- in the world of nature, in the world of humanity...why not
be part of the joy and wonder and beauty and truth of that?