From a tender age, I have absorbed a great many lessons at the kingdom hall.
A memory of one such lesson...
A child approaches an elderette after the meeting...
Child: (shyly smiles) Hi Sister Elderette! That was a good talk, huh?
Elderette: (looks down at child) Why, yes, it was! The Song of Solomon is one of my favorite books of the bible.
Child: (beaming) Mine too!
Elderette: (chuckling) ...Although I think it's funny how some people think that the Shulamite maiden was black...(shakes her head)
Child: But she was black, wasn't she?
Elderette: No,no,no... She wasn't black! All the black people were slaves. You know, there's hardly any colored people in the bible at all, dear.
Child: But why does she say she is black then?
Elderette: (suddenly angry) She was not black! She was white! She was just out in the sun a lot! Working in the vinyards!
The child stares at the elderette's pale hands and rememebers how in field service, after being out in the sun a lot,
the elderette's skin always looked real red...but it had never turned black.
Elderette: (between clenched teeth) Who did your hair?
Child: (confused look) My next-door neighbor...
Elderette: And is your neighbor a witness?
Child: (hangs head down) No...
Elderette: (smugly) Well then, maybe your mother needs some reminders about bad association
and how we should NOT be having extensive braiding of the hair like that! (points to the child's head)
A small group representing a cross-section of the kingdom hall has gathered, listening to the exchange between the child
and the elderette. The child looks up at them helplessly. They quickly turn away.
Later, at home, the child stares at her reflection in the mirror for a long time, then
slowly begins to undo her braided hair...
