We've all heard the term "rose-colored glasses" and know it means the person wearing them sees the world as better than it actually is.  It can be interpreted as a positive, optimistic interpretation of the world, or just a state of denial that things are not so bad. 

So let's imagine a world that is always cloudy and often raining.  If you live in such a climate, you would naturally leave home with an umbrella on most days.  Let's say that you get so used to carrying an umbrella that you barely notice the clouds or the rain anymore.  In fact, this umbrella is so special that when you look up through it, it makes the sky look sunny and beautiful. 

But one day you look around and realize that a lot of people around you don't have an umbrella, and certainly not one that makes the day look sunny.  They are always getting wet.  Your white friends have umbrellas and you don't understand why the rest of the folks just don't go get one too. 

This is the world we live in, where white people have a privilege to carry a rose-colored umbrella and Black people don't have the right to own one.  White people don't get wet, not even knowing that they would be wet without this privilege, because they can't see the rain clouds overhead.  Black people constantly get wet, while knowing that white people don't understand why.

Racism is the clouds and the umbrellas.  Finding ways to eliminate the clouds is the path to fixing it. But first we have to understand where the clouds came from, what they are made of, and what causes them to rain.  Just giving everyone an umbrella is akin to the famous declaration that those without bread should just eat cake.  

You have done a lot of work for the past 21 days to be able to put down your umbrella and see the clouds. That takes a lot of effort and self-reflection to learn how attached you are to your umbrella, and if you are ready to see how the rain is affecting all the wonderful people with skin darker than yours.  

Your practice today is to reflect on these lessons and think about the ones that were the hardest for you.  Why was that?  What did they spark in you that is still present today?  What couldn't you believe?  What made you mad?  What do you need to do to reconcile those feelings? 

In the next course, we'll move beyond Awakening to tackle Awareness.  We'll explore each topic in a little more depth to bring you more information to fill these gaps and resolve these conflicts.  You may already be taking some action, or may just be paralyzed at the notion of how overwhelming these problems are.  But you are moving forward, and the more foundation you lay under your ownership of the problem, the stronger you will be to help make changes.   You are a small part of the problem, but can be a big part of the solution as you grow towards being a race ally.