Seeing with Closed Eyes

I remember her telling me to close my eyes and listen with my heart to all the similarities. ~ Jhe T

Unity with diversity. We are one.
We may not look the same.
Some are homeless, dressed in tatters,
dirty, uneducated. Others are professors,
with strings of degrees, published papers renowned.
Some dress as fashion-plates, others clash,
plaids and stripes of garish hues.
Skin tones from ivory to taupe, bald pates,
cornrow braids, unruly tangled waist-length hair.
Scowls, rolled eyes, sarcasm telegraphed by gestures.
Movements that some other person, somewhere else,
used and tainted their meaning in our thoughts.
People who answer the phone and say, "This is she"
beside someone who mangles the mother tongue.
It's easy to judge the inside by the outside.
But it's the inside that counts and the outside lies.
Close your eyes. Listen to the words, the emotions,
the fear, the hope, the love. Close your eyes
and learn who you're with.