Color & Character

One Red, one Yellow, one Black, one Brown, one White.

Which do you choose?

If you were told you could live in a home that would be yours to keep forever the only catch was that all the houses are fundamentally the same on the outside except for their color. All you had to do was choose one. Which one would you pick?

Before you answer let me give you some more information.

Inside one of these houses, it is frigid cold beyond comfort and everywhere you went you could not get warm. One house is filthy and crumbling with decay everywhere inside and there is no place that’s not in need of some repairs that seem endless; one is hell itself haunted with pain, turmoil and chaos and unbearably hot; and one is just empty inside, just a shell with a facade or phony exterior. It’s so unbearably lonely there too. It provides neither comfort, shelter, warmth, or really anything.

Ah, but one house, this house is special and beautiful inside. It has everything you could want. It is warm when things are cold and cool when things get too hot. It is comfortable all the time and provides a feeling of safeness and well-being that envelops you when you are there. It is just a joy to live there.

So, what house do you choose? The last one of course, but you do not know which one is the best one for you just standing outside.

Would you not want to know something more about the house you are choosing or have a hint about what is inside those so differently colored homes that are very different inside before you make your pick? Maybe get a peek inside a front window before you spend significant time there in that wrong place?

Alternatively, maybe spend some time sitting on the back porch swing looking at the foundation more closely to see if you can notice cracks or flaws you could not live with.

Ideally, you would probably want to try to sit in the living room for a while, examining the floors and ceiling, looking for leaks or water damage, things that you know will cost you significantly later.

Would you not do all of this before making such an important choice and investment?

Of course, you would, because even though you might be very fond of the color because it is familiar, the inside is much more important, isn’t it?

The character of those buildings inside is more important than what is painted on the outside.

Let us look at something else. Replace houses in this example with people. Would we treat people differently than in these houses?

If we were going to choose a friend, business partner, salesman, fraternity brother, counselor, pastor, or lover to spend a significant amount of time with us and invest in them sharing a portion of our lives, isn’t it infinitely more important that we get a peek inside that person?

Should we not take the time to get to know them, examine them, so to speak, character-wise? Should we not scrutinize their conduct before making rash decisions about spending time and resources on a person based exclusively on the color of their skin pigment or the perception that one color is better than another.

It seems like a no-brainer, yet some knuckleheads still choose the color option. 

Over fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” The inside is what matters the most, folks.

One Red, one Yellow, one Black, one Brown, and one White, and many others mixed and varied. Which will you choose?

Be more concerned with the internal, not the external; if not, you are just guessing and maybe acting prejudiced.