Having Love In Our Hearts For The People Who Hate Us

We all learn something new every day and what we learn has the potential to change us forever.

I’m currently in college and have only two more semester LEFT! I’m constantly learning new things and when I’m a teacher, I will still be learning. There won’t be a time where I will just stop learning something new. I truly believe that when we learn something that it is new to us, it changes our perspectives.

For one of my classes, I had to some research for a lesson plan I was creating. It was about historical figures and their contributions of having the characteristics of being a good citizen. For some reason, I came across to read about how a six year old girl changed the world we live in today. Her name is Ruby Bridges and she made a huge impact starting on November 14, 1960, in Louisiana. Ruby was the first person of color who attended an all-white school and the first child to integrate schools! Ruby had to take a huge test in order to go to this school and she passed it! This all happened four years before segregation ended (1964). There is a children’s book about Ruby Bridges and I found a YouTube video that does a read-aloud on the book, so you can just watch this YouTube video. With that being said, I’m not going to explain all the details about Ruby Bridges, but I will say one little detail that I love so much!

There were several people who disagreed with the government placing Ruby in an all-white school. They didn’t want her to go there and those people were angry. Every time Ruby would enter the school, mobs of people would be standing around waiting for her and Ruby also had to have the U.S. Marshalls guarding her. The thing that got me was that no one could ever tell that Ruby was afraid. She was so brave and she knew she had to do the right thing. She also said in the book about how every time she would see the mobs of angry people, she would stop and pray for them, hoping that the Lord would eventually forgive them.

I recently discovered Ruby Bridge’s story two weeks ago. I don’t even remember learning about her in Elementary or Secondary school.

What Ruby Bridges did and how she handled the situation so well by being brave no matter what, has truly inspired me. She definitely made a difference because if it wasn’t for her planting that seed of integration, who knows what the world would have looked like today. Ruby Bridges was the start of ending segregation.

What blows my mind is that Ruby was treated so horribly just because of the color of her skin. Let that sink in. I wish racism wasn’t even a thing.

I love the quote from Ruby Bridges about how we start with a clean heart when we’re born – we’re innocent, we know nothing about what the real world looks like and how it can be so corrupt, we don’t even know about racism, we just know to love everyone no matter what people look like. Then, we grow up and we start learning about racism. Teachers might even discuss it in schools and how people were treated badly because of racism. Now, we might even start realizing that it is happening in the world. We need to be the ones to end racism and not let children have a piece of it.

Ruby Bridges inspires me because her story made me think about my future students I will be teaching and I have always wanted to teach Kindergarten. I want to share Ruby Bridges story to my students to show them that one person can absolutely make a difference in the world.

Ruby Bridges is also an example to children and even us on how we need to treat others. Ruby never once fought back or said mean things to the people who hated her. She did and said nothing. The one thing she did was she prayed to God every single day she saw the crowds of people waiting for her.

I hope Ruby Bridges has inspired you, too. We need to always love everyone no matter what they look like and how they have treated us. We need so much love in our hearts.

If Ruby decided to fight back and say mean things to those people, the world would probably look so differently today. No matter what the people did or said, Ruby remained calm and didn’t say anything. We need to always be kind to our enemies and pray for them just like Ruby did for those people who didn’t like her.

When you find the time, please listen to “We Could Change The World” by Matt Redman.

Could we live like Your grace is stronger than all our faults and failures
Could we live like Your love is deeper than our hearts could fathom
Could we live like this could we live like Your name is higher than every other power
Could we live like Your ways are wiser than our understanding
Could we live like this
Could we live like this

Yes our God is
All He says
All He says He is
Jesus, in Your name we could change the world

Thank you so much for stopping by on the Kylie’s Corner & More blog! If you would like to, you can purchase your personalized, signed copy of Kylie’s Corner and a complimentary bookmark I designed, here! Kylie’s Corner is a devotional for anyone who is in High School and up – you can read more about Kylie’s Corner. I talk about beauty in God’s eyes, society, anxiety, and so much more in the Kylie’s Corner book. If God has someone on your heart that you feel the need to give this inspiring book to, please listen to Him. The individual may need to hear the words God put in my heart at the time when I wrote the Kylie’s Corners that are in this book.

I still have copies left of Kylie’s Corner!

We all need to be more like Ruby Bridges – being kind to those who hate us no matter what, praying for them, and having bravery.

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