Why don't we?

This is the first harvest from our garden: a slightly green, not quite done growing, undersized tomato. Yet, when we picked it we celebrated!! My kiddos and I were thrilled that finally, after weeks of waiting, our tomato plant had born fruit!! It wasn't quite as big and plump, red and juicy, as we had pictured, but we celebrated. The kids told everyone, we took a picture, and we gave it a prominent seat on the kitchen window ledge to finish ripening.

Why do we do any less with people? Why do we cast aside those less than just as we picture they should be, less than close to perfect? We don't do it like in years past, in an institution where no one sees them, but still, many of us do it. We avoid all eye contact. We place ourselves in situations where we don't have to interact with "those kinds of people." We create our own little world where green tomatoes and "different" people don't exist.

We are each one different. We need to celebrate the way we each were made. Why don't we?