I have a song stuck in my head right now. This happens a lot. Sometimes it's annoying, but sometimes, like now, it's a really good song. Right now, I have dcTalk's "Colored People" running through my head. There are many reasons I love this song. In addition to the music, the lyrics have always resonated with me: lyrics praising God for the diversity of this world, and how through it all, we are all human and we all have something in common because of it. In the lead-in to the refrain, the first verse says this: "We've gotta come together and thank the maker of us all." The second verse says this: "We've gotta come together; aren't we all human after all?" I always thought that the repetition of this phrase, using slightly different words, had a certain musical impact: you expect the same words the second time around, and because they change slightly, the point is driven home that we are all human and thus need to come together. But tonight, those words are hitting me differently. I actually think that dcTalk hit the nail on the head the first time around. Tolerance, understanding, and seeing what we have in common as human beings aren't the end; they are the means to an end, and that end is praising God for God's creation. "We've gotta come together; aren't we all human after all?" is the first step. "We've gotta come together and thank the maker of us all" is what we are aiming for. Tolerance for the sake of tolerance - promoting a "live and let live" policy for those whose race is different from our own - does not praise our Creator. Thank you, dcTalk, for reminding me (10 years later) that the diversity in this world isn't just something to tolerate or understand. It's something to love, appreciate, and celebrate. It is one of many things in creation that points to our almighty Creator, who thankfully created this world in living color.