Same Kind of Different As Me

I began reading Same Kind of Different As Me in January and finally finished it on Saturday. I have always loved to read but often my schedule during the school year does not allow for much leisure reading. So, I am very thankful for the summers! Let me just start by saying, I LOVE this book. It is AMAZING! Several friends had told me that I should read it but I did not expect it to be so good. And I certainly did not expect the Lord to teach me so much just through the lives of these two men! Basically, the book is about a white wealthy business man from Fort Worth, Texas (Ron Hall) and a homeless black man from Red River Parish, Louisiana (Denver Moore). These men definitely come from different worlds but the relationship that they develop is simply beautiful. I do not want to give all the goodness of the book away because I want you to read it, but this book has definitely challenged me to reach out to others and especially those that are different than me. I know we always talking about "reaching out to others" but I mean really stepping out of our comfort zone to love those that are way different than us and accepting them as they come. Please read this book! I promise you will not be disappointed! 

Below are two of my favorite excerpts:

Conversation between Denver and Ron before their friendship began:

"I heard when white folks go fishin they do somethin called 'catch and release.'"

Catch and release? I nodded solemnly, suddenly nervous and curious at the same time. 

"That really bothers me," Denver went on. "I just can't figure it out. Cause when colored folks go fishin, we really proud of what we catch, and we take it and show it off to everybody that'll look. Then we eat what we catch...in other words, we use it to sustain us. So it really bothers me that white folks would go to all that trouble to catch a fish, then when they done caught it, just throw it back in that water."

He paused again, and the silence between us stretched a full minute. Then: "Did you hear what I said?"

I nodded, afraid to speak, afraid to offend.

Denver looking away, searching the blue autumn sky, then locked onto me again with that drill-bit stare. "So, Mr. Ron, it occurred to me: If you is fishin for a friend you just gon' catch and release, then I ain't got no desire to be your friend."

The world seemed to halt in midstride and fall silent around us like one of those freeze-frame scenes on TV. I could hear my heart pounding and imagined Denver could see it popping my breast pocket up and down. I returned Denver's gaze with what I hoped was a receptive expression and hung on.

Suddenly his eyes gentled and he spoke more softly than before: "But if you is lookin for a real friend, then I'll be one. Forever." 

Denver talking to Debbie (Ron's wife):

"You was the onlyest person that looked past my skin and past my meanness and saw that there was somebody on the inside worth savin. I don't know how, but you knowed that most a' the time when I acted like a bad fella, it was just so folks wouldn't get too close. I didn't want nobody close to me. It wadn't worth the trouble. Besides that, I had done lost enough people in my life, and I didn't want to lose nobody else."

"Ever man should have the courage to stand up and face the enemy," I said, "cause ever person that looks like a enemy on the outside ain't necessarily one on the inside. We all has more in common than we think. You stood up with courage and faced me when I was dangerous, and it changed my life. You loved me for who I was on the inside, the person God meant for me to be, the one that had just gotten lost for a while on some ugly roads in life."