Do you remember Highlights magazine? I sure do! They were everywhere when I was a kid. They seemed to be a staple for every dentist office, doctors’ office, hospital waiting room and every other lobby type space where children were told to wait quietly for adults to finish doing whatever adults do. They were engaging, time sucking, kid magnets and well worth the subscription. But why were they so effective?

That is an easy one! They had activity pages in them like Hidden Pictures, Where’s Waldo?, Find the Match and One of These Things is Not Like the Other. However, my favorite activity page was Spot the Difference. I know you remember those. There would be two images side by side that at first glance looked like the same picture. However, upon closer inspection we would discover that there were plenty of differences. Sometimes the creators even told us how many differences we needed to spot. Still as an adult I could play Spot the Difference for a long time without getting bored. But why is Spot the Difference so effective?

This is also very easy to answer. We are all masters at spotting the differences in other people. You don’t need a masters in sociology to know this to be true. However, here is a refresher. Any basic sociology class will tell you that first, we spot gender, then age, followed by ethnicity, social class and so on. We are constantly, both consciously and subconsciously making assumptions about others, comparing those assumptions to past experiences and prejudging strangers, acquaintances and friends. This practice is part of who we are as humans. We know how to spot differences in people for better and for worse and most of the time our gut reaction is fairly accurate. Our brain is very intuitive but it sometimes takes shortcuts in order to process information quicker.

Because of this…there are occasions when our prejudices are wrong and when this happens it leaves quite an impression. When our intuition fails us, we must take a step back and allow a new neuropathway to form in our brain. We must contemplate the error in judgment. Consider what caused it and correct the error. Then this new pathway will be taken into consideration the next time we play Spot the Difference.

Many of us need a new pathway to form in our brain. Last week we were asked to listen to the stories of black Americans. Not talk… just listen. To listen to their likes, dislikes, passions and pet peeves. To change the lens on our camera and look at the picture differently, through the eyes of a person of color. If you have not already taken some time to do so please do. Just listen. When we listen, we allow our brain the freedom to grow and change. Be brave enough to blaze a new path! You will be a better person because if it!

This is what I find to be true about most people. If you stick around long enough and listen to their stories you will find a depth to them. This depth allows you to stretch yourself and become more flexible. True beauty is not the absence of color but the presence of it. We need to pray to see people more clearly… in living color. This is where we begin!