Red and yellow, black and white

There was a Sunday School song that we used to sing in the pre-PC (Politically Correct) days. It went like this:

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world;
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Later on we became a little more PC and inserted “brown” into the song – that is – “Red, brown, yellow, black and white.”

This last weekend one small branch of the family had a reunion and as we looked at the pictures we admired our beautiful great nieces and handsome great nephew, as well as the adorable great-grand nieces and nephews. One of the reasons they are so beautiful and handsome, I think, is because they have a mixed ethnic heritage. One can find Japanese, Native American, Irish, Swiss, German, Romanian and who knows what else. I didn’t include others on my side of the family that bring Korean, Swedish, Norwegian, Welsh, African American and English to the mix.

When we look at Mmmm’s side of the family, we have Swedish, East Indian, Hispanic, English, Irish, French, Samoan, Dutch, and a mixture of other nationalities. I don’t think that the Jews are considered a nationality because there are Sephardic Jews and Ashkenazi Jews, but Jewishness certainly brings its own cache to the pot and we are blessed to have people who are Jewish in the family. We are so enriched by all these genes to plus the traditions and stories to say nothing of all the wonderful food that comes from these different backgrounds. Without Selso would we all play dominoes as we do? Without Gary would we all salivate over the thought of crab cakes? We enjoy eating Borscht (Russian), Kuchen (German), Mose (German), Rivel Soup and poppy seed rolls - and these are just the foods my mother made! Brother-in-law David was a great cook and made Sauerkraut Soup, tamales, pasties and clam chowder to name just a few dishes. One of my sisters makes Lefse for her half Scandinavian boys. Kyoko brings Mochi (bean paste delicacy) to family parties. We learned to eat (and enjoy) edemame (soy beans) and sushi.

We love our families and think of Psalm 68:6 - ”God sets the lonely in families,” and how lonely we would be without the families that God has chosen for us. The words of the little chorus are true – Jesus loves all the children of the world – and all the grownups too.

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