COLOR BLINDNESS

by Barry David with an assist from Liz

My 7-year-old granddaughter Lakshmi and I went miniature golfing. Kids love that, especially when they beat Papa; albeit their scoring needs attention.  This outing was so successful that I promised to take her to the golf driving range some day and give her a lesson in “hitting them far.”

Kids don’t forget promises.

So, a few days later, we took my clubs (I don’t play golf, I play “at” golf!) and her older sister’s clubs to the range.

We unloaded our clubs and picked out a couple of spots with open mats.  She was very interested in this new experience and asked me many questions.  Among them, “Who comes here to hit golf balls?”  I explained that people come to practice their swings.  A few minutes later, she came over to tell me she saw Tiger Woods a few positions down and “he really hits them far.”  I responded that “I’m not sure he practices here, but let’s go see.”

We saw some people driving golf balls very well.  All genders, races, colors, sizes, shapes; couldn’t tell their religions.  It was simply a Norman Rockwell American scene.

She took me over to see Tiger, who she was watching, a good golfer swinging away; however,  he was not a black golfer.

Turns out this was the first white Tiger Woods I’ve ever seen.

I merely said, ”Great swing, but I don’t think that’s Tiger.”  We continued the lesson I was giving her.  She does very well at sports and enjoyed our day, especially since we stopped for ice cream after.

I got to thinking that night about the song from South Pacific that goes “you’ve got to be taught to hate and fear…” She was into golf,  a good golfer’s swing, not color.

I wonder if there is hope that she and her generation will change the dynamic and, as they grow up, open our hearts and minds to create a world that is color blind and fully inclusive.

That would be a hole-in-one!