Last month in San Sebastian

Something happened last month that I never blogged, but I've really
wanted to, and although it happened about 6 weeks ago, when I was in
San Sebastian with Vi, it's still fresh in my mind as if it happened
yesterday.

We were in a bar, checking out the selection of pintxos that San
Sebastian is renowned for. While we were trying to decide between a
yummy looking salmon thing or a yummy looking something else, a man
with a young child in his arms stood next to us. The man, very
sweetly, came up to me and explained that his child (I'm still not
sure whether it was a boy or a girl, but definitely toddler-age, maybe
2 years old or so) had never seen a Black person and the father wanted
to show him (or her) that there was nothing to be afraid of. I was so
touched. He gently touched my hand and held his hand next to mine and
encouraged her (or him) to touch them both, and see that it felt the
same and that the only difference was the colour. The child was shy
and a bit scared, and didn't want to touch my hand, and the man was
sad, and very apologetic. He didn't force anything on the child, but
was very encouraging. They went and sat down and we got our pintxos
and sat next to them. Vi was also very cute and kissed me on the cheek
and touched my hand to show how much she loved me and that I looked
different but was still loveable. It wasn't any more than 5 minutes of
this, and the little kid was still a bit shy, but it was so touching.
Sweetest of all was the man's sadness that his child could grow up
being afraid of black people and his willingness to overcome his own
shyness and approach me to help him to show his child that it's okay
to look different. I don't know for sure if anything was accomplished
as far as the child was concerned, and whether or not this will be
remembered, but I think if his/her father remains as willing to help
overcome the prejudice that comes with ignorance, there's a lot of
hope....