It shouldn't matter

This morning when I was volunteering, the director asked me if he could ask a personal question.  He said a lot of the other volunteers have been asking him what's wrong with me physically.  He said he felt like they thought he didn't care because he would just say he didn't know.  So I tried explaining that I was born like this and tried to detail what exactly was "wrong" on my body, and then I stopped and kind of laughed, saying, "Just tell them I got hit by a train."  Then on the way home I got really upset and crying in my car about this.

For starters, they are gossiping about me behind my back!  "A lot" of the other volunteers have been asking?!?  Another thing, they're not in elementary school where you whisper and stare at someone who looks different than you -- these people are adults and should know better!  Another thing, the biggest thing, these people are supposedly Christians working for a Christian nonprofit company.  It shouldn't matter WHAT I look like or HOW I walk!  It shouldn't matter!  Asking what's "wrong" with me makes about as much sense as asking Oprah why she's black.  God made me like this.

I've been reading this book by Brennan Manning called Abba's Child.  There was a real eye-opening line in there about prejudice.  "Prejudice is a defense mechanism against loving."  Wow, think about that.  When you shrink back from someone because they're tall, loud, Chinese, heavy, smart, deformed, blonde, etc., you're giving yourself an excuse not to love them.