You may know that Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play

major league baseball. In his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers,

Robinson faced hostility nearly everywhere he traveled because of his

race. Pitchers threw fast balls at his head. Runners spiked him on the

bases. Brutal epithets were written on cards and shouted by players in the

opposing dugouts. Even the home crowds in Brooklyn saw him as an object

ofreproach.

During one game in Boston, the taunts and racial slurs seemed to reach a

peak. To make matters worse, Robinson committed an error and stood at

second base humiliated while fans hurled insults at him. Another Dodger, a

Southern white man by the name of "Pee Wee" Reese, called time-out. He

walked over to Robinson and, with the crowds looking on, put his arm

around his friend's shoulder. The fans grew quiet. Robinson later said

that arm around his shoulder saved his career. Later, Jackie Robinson went

on to become one of baseball's all-time greats.

An arm around his shoulder made the difference. It said to the crowd and

anyone who cared to notice, "We are one."

Though we have made headway, race still divides us. As do religion and

politics and ideologies. And, though we are learning better how to "put

our arms" around people who are different, our global community is not yet

unified.

I like a poem by Dr. Jim Walkenbach, titled "Freedom."

Freedom,

Soaring,

Unshackled,

Untethered,

Not bound by beliefs to an earthly domain.

Rising high on the updrafting currents of knowledge,

The spiritual being remembers its Source.

Cast aside are the forms that anchor the earthling,

That cause judgment and fear and anger and death.

To think that one's color, one's nation, one's religion,

Are reasons for hatred, belies who we are.

All souls are the same as the water in vessels

Not defined by containers, but each part of the Sea...

Whether your vessel's a bucket, crystal vase, or a chalice,

The water's the same, if you look with eyes that can see.

Let the energy of Love be the Sun to your water.

Let it lift it like vapor once again to be free.

Let it rise and co-mingle with all water vapor

Uniting as one and reforming the Sea.

I believe Father Taylor got it right: "There is just enough room in the

world for all the people in it, but there is no room for the fences which

separate them."

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Steve Goodier