Article December 17, 2018 Issue

Move past labels—with love

John Biggs

Originally published in The Christian Science Monitor’s Christian Science Perspective column, August 27, 2018.

I had the opportunity to travel to my uncle’s ranch in South Africa for a two-month visit. During this time, I learned that the staff who worked on the farm played a weekly soccer game against neighboring farms. I asked if I could join sometime, but they quickly said no, that it wasn’t possible.

Later, one of the men explained to me that they wanted to keep the games to just the Xhosa and Zulu workers as participants—it wasn’t personal, but they weren’t comfortable with me joining in. My cousin told me that I was excluded because I was white; this soccer game was something they could call their own, without having to share it with whites or with the boss’s family.

Since I knew the history of racial inequality in South Africa, my cousin’s explanation of what was really behind the decision to exclude me gave me perspective and much compassion. I wanted to show the staff the kind of person I really was and follow the Golden Rule of treating them as I would want to be treated. I strove to continue to treat them with respect. I knew this could only help lift any labels being put on me, as well as any labels the staff might have had put on them.

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