I rushed out my door hurriedly, headed for an important appointment, but when I pressed the switch, the garage door would not lift; my car was trapped in the garage. My husband and I tugged at the cord to manually lift the door, but we were unable to manage it.

Fearful that I would not be able to make my appointment, I ran through the neighborhood knocking on doors for help. I rang three doorbells, and then at the fourth house, a nice man with dark skin opened his door. When I explained the problem, he did not say, “No, I’m Black and you are white, I can’t help you.” He very quickly answered my call for help, followed me home, and lifted the garage door. Several years later, this nice man is still a very good neighbor.

Recently, my husband and I were jarred by the most irritating sound coming from our smoke alarms. It was time to change the batteries, and until we did, that awful sound would continue and we knew we would have a hard time sleeping that night. My husband and I are unable to climb ladders to replace batteries, so we always need help with this. I mentioned this to my next-door neighbor, who also has beautiful ebony skin. She and her kind husband came over after their work-day, wearing their masks. They climbed the ladder and changed out three alarm batteries.

We love our Black and white neighborhood. I recently spoke with another Black neighbor who is Meridian’s very capable, acting police chief – a man of good character and wisdom, heading up a competent police force. Police officers deserve our respect; we must never take them for granted. They perform an often dangerous and thankless job. My prayer for them is that God will give them courage, strength, protection, resources and wisdom.

For many years, I have worked closely with two Black women in the Good News Jail and Prison Ministry. Fay and Mamie and I are very close because we actually have the same spiritual Father – Jesus is our Savior. We work and pray together as we minister to a group of racially mixed incarcerated women in our local jail.

For over 30 years, my pastor has encouraged people of all races to join us in worship at Church of The Way. Several years ago, our pastor, Rev. Jack Giles, organized a group called “Love United.” Until the pandemic, we met once a month with Black churches, taking turns meeting in a predominately Black church one month and in a white church the next month. There again, this is because we all have the same Father – the Heavenly Father.

I write these things because I believe I am describing the average American experience where people believe that skin color does not matter, but that in God’s eyes, all lives definitely matter. There will always be racial prejudice in our world – it is a matter of the heart. There are evil hearts that cause death and destruction. But there are humble, kind hearts, and there are brave hearts who through the years have worked to right the wrongs.

Dr. Benjamin Carson recently said, “We, the American people are not each other’s enemies. The enemies are those people behind the curtain jerking everybody’s chains and trying to divide us up by age, by race, by income.” I believe this is true.

In “Praying for America,” Dr. Robert Jeffress wrote: “May we know our history and learn from it. Our forefathers often humbly cried out to God in times of trouble, and the Lord heard their prayers. Other times they acted foolishly, and our nation suffered. Help us to learn from the great men and women of our past. May we honor them.”

Virginia Dawkins is the author of a newly published book. “Please, God, Help!” is available at Amazon.