So I’m not an avid politico by any stretch of the imagination. The general discussion of politics leaves me angry and frustrated, so I’ve decided to avoid them as much as possible unless it touches my daily life.

However, President Obama’s Beer Summit this week couldn’t help but to capture my eye in relation to our own little racial issues we have in the hospital.

I call it the Mattel-Hasbro Summit.

The majority of the employees in our hospital are African American. All the way from the line staff up into upper levels of administration.  Our patients are typically a pretty even mix throughout the year.

However, we have had in the past few weeks one very special little boy with us in the hospital. He is autistic, speech impedimented, and knows exactly what he wants at all times. He will tell you if he wants to talk to you, he will tell you to go away if he doesn’t, and he will tell you to leave him alone and let him play with his “men” when he wants to do that. We’ll call him David.

David comes equipped with varying toys of all shapes and sizes, but the most preciosu of all are the army men. David’s army men consist of GI Joe dolls and Ken Barbie Dolls in various states of undress and several with taped on body parts or tape clothes.

The first time David came to us, othe than the tape, all of the army men were in normal, as produced, working order.

When he came back to us, half of the dolls had been colored head to toe with black magic marker.

One of our nurses decided to ask, on a day that David was in the mood to talk, why he colored some of the army men black. His response, in the harsh honesty of children, was this:

“Because the black people take care of me”.

And it’s true. The majority of the staff in the hospital that actually showed compassion and understanding for David were black. In this child’s life, his mother couldn’t handle him (he said this himself), his father wasn’t around, and the teachers at his school would take his toys away even though he paid perfect attention while playing. He came to us and was understood and allowed to play by the ‘black people’.

I’m glad to say that by the last few days of his visit, after several hours of allowing him to play with his dolls during music groups, I joined the ranks of the black people by being given hugs and being told he loved me. He even allowed me to sing to him and hold his hand.

So, I raise a beer to a small child’s voice in abolishing racial gaps, and recognizing that love is love, no matter what color the source.

Also, totally unrelated, but another David-ism.

“GI Joes are girl dolls. BI Joes are Boy dolls.”

Tags: autism, beer summit, boys, dolls, loves, obama, play, psychiatry, race, work, young