My skin is white because my parents were white.  I did not choose the color of my skin. I also did not choose where I lived growing up, the religion I was told to believe, the food I was given to eat, or the stuff I was taught in school. Like you, my parents and the society in which I was raised tried their best to mold me into who they wanted me to be.

Of course, I rebelled. Some children stop asking why as they grow up. I may have stopped asking out loud, but inside WHY is always in my heart. I learned early in life to filter my thoughts, experiences, other people’s opinions, through the love in my heart. To do so I had to ask WHY because I was NOT going to be racist. I was NOT going to be judgmental of people who did not look like me. I was NOT going to condemn people who did not go to the same church I did. I was NOT going to discount people who did not believe what I was told I must believe. I was NOT going to live in fear. Or be controlled. Or tolerate injustice, inequality or negative status quo.

From a young age I was uncomfortable with anything but love, and believe me I experienced so much that was not love.  But I chose to ask why, to question everything and everyone who did not align with the positive behavior of love. That is how I learned to walk my LOVE talk. I taught myself what it means to lead with my heart by asking WHY of all that does not feel good and right to my soul.