Shades of Gray

Life is not black and white. There are gradations of all colors in all aspects of living. Nuances, some would call them. Nature is full of nuance. Look at rainbows. Inspect a couple of identical twins. Even cloned sheep are not exact when inspected closely. Even, sometimes, gender is not just male and female. This week we've been introduced to Caster Semenya and she has thrown our understanding of gender out of whack. We still don't know for sure that Ms. Semenya is fully female, or even female at all (though, out of respect for this individual we will consider her female). She may well be intersexed like many children born each year are. Your belief in God, or Buddha, or Muhammad, or any number of "higher beings" is irrelevant to this woman's plight. What is, however, is that there is question. There is question because she appears so ambiguous. Her "nuance" is not what one would expect in a black and white world.

In our American society there are those who only subscribe to the black and white. For them there is right and wrong, those who believe in their god and those going to hell. The case of Caster Semenya illuminates the gray in this black and white "reality" to which they adhere so strongly. You see, America is full of nuance. It is full of gray areas and full of "other" religions and non-religions. Because we are home to so many that believe in so much it is important that we extend respect for as many as we can.

In the public sphere this is not always easy. Those who only align with black and white wish to eliminate the gray. They wish to blacken that with which they disagree and whitewash anything with which they agree. Unfortunately this does not sharpen and enhance our world view but, alas, cheapens it and dulls the excitement we get from the experience of life. Those who embrace their own god and condemn those who embrace another short-change their own existence with blinders and rose-colored glasses. What they have chosen to see is not complete. Their experience is lessened. Cheapened.

Nature, however you choose to explain it, created nuance. Who are we to disallow it's existence?

Chuck