I had just introduced myself and one of the girls in the class had her hand up, I had no idea what her question or comment might be so I called on her before jumping into the lesson. Her question? "What's wrong with your mouth?" #ouch Boy, I thought I was ready for anything, I was not ready for that question.
You see, I have a mild speech impediment. It affects the way I pronounce my 's' sound. Coming off as more of a 'sshh' vs the traditional 'ssss' you get what I'm driving at. I'm different, I talk different and I have for all of my life. Honestly I don't think about it much, it's how I talk so it doesn't much matter to me. Until moment like this... suddenly I'm a freak at a circus and the lights are blinding me and I'm much too exposed. It's a horrible feeling, and until you have a "flaw" that people like to point out or question you won't really understand the feeling. Let's just say it sucks.... a lot.
But it got me thinking. Why are people so hyper focused one differences? Different skin color, hair color, way you talk, dress, eat whatever. Why does is it such a big deal to some and barley noticeable to others?
For example on my mission my first mission president sat me down and first thing asked about my speech. He wanted to know the what and the why. Frankly I had been terrified before my mission about the speech and this was no help for those anxieties. When the new mission president came in I felt sick, at our first meeting I thought "oh boy, here we go again." But for the remainder of my mission it was never brought up again, not by a companion or mission leader.
So again I ask why? Why did one president need to know and understand every specific detail and the other not even bring it up? What's the difference? I honestly believe that when you see some one with spiritual eyes instead of mortal ones you begin to see past those mortal flaws, mortal differences.
And my advice is: it starts with the kids. They don't learn to point things things out, to notice the differences unless we teach them too. Unless we show them by our example or our words. We teach children and then they become adults and the things they learned as children becomes who they are. How they see the world and how they treat others. So please be kind. See others as good. And when all else fails remember the old addage: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say nothing at all."
