My three year old loves to dance. She loves to watch others dance and tries to copy their movements. One show we watch together is So You Think You Can Dance. It's fun to watch it with her as she tries to mimic all the diverse dancing on the screen.
On this week's show, the two dancers pictured above were paired together for a jazz routine. As I sat and watched the technique and musicality of the dancers, my daughter saw something else...
"That like Uncle K.C. and Cici" Lily said as she pointed to the television. Yes, my brother and his wife are of two different races. She of Guyanese decent and my brother a mix of German, English, Irish, and American Indian decent. The thought of them compared to this couple never crossed my mind, but to my three year old, this was just like her uncle and aunt. She was happy that she made this connection. She was happy that this young, beautiful, and talented girl reminded her of her Aunt Cici.
"Her hair in tie like Cici. Same like Cici, Mommy." My daughter's eyes glimmered with affection for this dancer as she moved across the television screen. Though I originally thought about color as her motivator to compare, I was now taken to a different place. A more innocent place where she may have seen the difference in the color of their skin, but was more enamored by the fact that this girl, this dancer, has similar hair to that of her aunt.
Now if we could all see through the innocence of a child's eyes, the world would be a more beautiful place.
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