Whatchu Talkin' 'Bout, Willis?

Recently, we have begun watching older sitcoms, and have been enjoying the family favourite "Different Strokes." While I had watched this as a kid, I never quite realized the blatant and shocking reaction that many people have to Mr. Drummond adopting two black boys, Willis and Arnold. While this sitcom illustrates and pokes fun at the ignorance of people, it actually hits a nerve, realizing that this kind of behaviour was quite rampant. Watching this now makes me even that much more appreciative of what my parents did for me, and for my three adopted siblings, in actually requesting the "hard to place" children from the Children's Aid Society. Here they were, as Dutch in accent, tradition and looks as you can get, and they had four children of varying shades of beige and brown. In the 1960's this was not very well accepted, and unfortunately my Mom and Dad even lost social invites and church friends over their decision to adopt coloured kids. In a world where biracial children and families were actually frowned upon, they were unconditionally accepting of us, and I will be forever thankful for my parents' tangible expression of how God sees us, not by the colour of our skin, but through the love and grace He has for His children.

"♪...red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight...♫"