We’re living in a profoundly important moment in history in which our understanding of the natures of men and women are evolving to a deeper truth. This awakening is not only liberating women, it is also liberating men. I’m visiting Johnny, one of my nephews, and meeting his sweetheart Kara in Southern California for the first time. Johnny is a nurse and Kara is a private equity investor. They’re both in fields with considerable pressure that require high levels of professionalism. I suspect that for the majority of people in my generation, who grew up in the fifties and earlier, the very word “nurse” still has a feminine connotation. Perhaps the exception would be men and women who were in Vietnam or other war zones. But the rest of us are a little more likely to assume a nurse is a woman and a financial advisor is a man. And yet as I write this post my sweet and kind nephew Johnny is at work giving his highly skilled care and comfort to people in pain and fear. Their very lives depend on his professionalism and his attention to detail. Kara is also at work as I write these words but she’s probably at home in her office, her computer in front of her and her phone beside her. She’s analyzing financial, mathematical, big picture economic trends, currents, market forces, and I don’t know what other kinds of arcane obscure data. That stuff is obscure and difficult for this old man, but my wicked smart niece Kara eats that data for breakfast, and the future financial health of her clients, the opportunities for their children, and even the underlying cultural ethics of our future, will be affected by her professionalism.
And here’s another important detail that delights and fills this old man’s heart with love. Johnny’s racial lineage is northern European mongrel with blond hair and blue eyes. Kara has exquisite dark brown skin, black curly hair, brown eyes, and, well,.. I don’t know her racial background. I’ve been so lost in my love for her in the short time I’ve known her that I haven’t gotten around to asking her about the details that are part of who she is. Where was she born? Does she have brothers and sisters? What’s her racial lineage? Does she like Mexican food? Sushi? Thai food? Meatloaf? Are there any holidays that she thinks are just too lame to celebrate? All I know at this point is that she’s really sweet, wicked smart, and gorgeous. But don’t stop reading, there’s more! Johnny’s equally white younger brother, Pat, has partnered with an equally gorgeous and intelligent young woman, Anitha, who has equally beautiful dark brown skin and black hair. Her parents are from India and Anitha is first generation American. My nephews and nieces are all swimming in happiness in their love and trust and in the passion of their journeys of truth. The riches of my family are astounding!
So now here I am and I’m so grateful and humbled as I watch the next generation of my family moving the evolution of our culture forward. I love and I am deeply proud of my strong white nephews and I love and am just as deeply proud of my new strong brown nieces that have agreed to be their partners. Pat and Anitha, Johnny and Kara, I take every breath with my arms around the four of you. I am a profoundly lucky old man to be breathing love and joy with every breath.