It has always been interesting to me that we live in society that is always contending for equality, but yet there are still “others.”
The “others” are those in society who live in a different reality than what should be “common” in the human experience. Social-cultural biases cause people to unintentionally take jabs at them that they still must dodge. Intentional or not, the jabs do fly.
In the Marvel TV Show “She-Hulk,” the attorney Jennifer Walters has her life flipped upside down after now being seen as the “She-Hulk.” While her cousin, David Banner, the first Hulk, is guiding her through what reality will be like, now having these super powers, she makes some powerful statements that can go unnoticed. Banner, explaining what it will be like to now be treated as an “other” fails to realize that she has been living as one, being an attorney who is a woman.
I’m sure I was not the only one who caught that.
This made me pause to think of all the people in society who feel like “others.” Recently I had a dialogue with a guy I met who was born with CP. I was overwhelmed hearing his story as he shared what life is like living with a permanent disability. He shared about how he was promised he would be healed when he was kid, and he was brought on stage to be prayed for. When he had hands laid on him, and he did not fall out on the floor, he was tripped. Then when he stood back up, he still had CP. The minister then said to him that God healed him spiritually not physically. He even shared about how when he was a pastor at a church, someone stood up and said that people with disabilities should not be allowed to be pastors. Through his pain, he birthed a ministry entitled “Limping for Jesus.” He said to me that truly everyone is limping from something. Be it a mental illness, a physical challenge, or even just the new reality of walking as children of light after having encountered God. So whether someone has been diagnosed with CP, or any other challenge, the most important thing is that we do it “WITH JESUS.”
I’ll tie back to the others soon…
After living several years with this condition, he said something that shook me. He said that one of the reasons why he is not seeking healing on this side of eternity is because the first person that he wants to see when he is fully healed is Jesus. So he’ll continue living as one of the “others” as he walks in his purpose.
I wonder how many other people in society feel like an “other” whether it’s because of their gender, race, or disability. I wonder if at times I make people feel like an “other” unknowingly.
Lord make me aware of my cultural biases that can make people feel less than or as an other in my community and sphere of influence.