I love apples. Apples are one of my favorite fruits. When I think of apples several things come to mind. One of the first being often recited phrases and idioms such as:

• An apple a day keeps the doctor away,
• You are the apple of me eye,
• It’s like comparing apples to oranges,
• The apple never falls far from the tree, and
• How do you like them apples.

Of course I eat almost an apple a day and they definitely have not kept the doctor away, but I digress.

Another thing that comes to mind when I think about apples is the different varieties. While all types of apples are the same basic shape, the color and appearance of the apple may vary, and the size is not always the same. In addition, each type of apple taste differently. Even apples of the same type may a have a slightly different taste.

As I pondered over the word apples my thoughts suddenly turned to the subject of diversity. This is not a new subject for me. One of my previous posts, Engineered to be Weird, was about diversity. This time, however, my thoughts regarding diversity were focused more on skin color. They were bringing me back to a comment I made in my blog post from June 7, 2016 titled We the People. In that post I said, “I never met a person whose skin color is black and I have never met a person whose skin color is white.”

In general, in our society, people are classified as either WHITE or BLACK.

Examine the image below. These are the colors Black and White. I have never seen a person whose skin is truly white. Likewise, I have never seen a person whose skin color is truly black. In fact, I have probably met more people whose skin is closer to the color black than white. We are all just different shades of brown.

An interesting thing to note is that as I was writing this I was curious how the use of the terms white and black, when it comes to skin color, came to be used. There doesn’t seem to be any clear explanation or historical information on this. There are just different theories and ideas on this. Regardless, it doesn’t matter how it started.

Consider again the various types of apples that exist. They are the same basic shape. They are essentially round with various bumps or indents. Now consider the human species. All humans are essentially the same basic shape. We have arms, legs, eyes, ears, a head, brain, and so forth. In addition, apples, like humans may vary in skin color as well as size. Finally, when it comes to apples, the one thing that ultimately draws people to apples is not the skin color. It is what is beneath the skin. It is the flavor inside. The same goes for people. It is what is on the inside that truly matters, not the color of the skin.

We need to stop referring to people as black or white. We need to stop focusing on skin color and focus on the people. It is not what is on the outside that really matters. It is who that individual is, the choices they make, and the life they live. As the old saying goes, “Never judge a book by its cover.” The same goes for people.