Let’s be judged by how we’ve changed

Who am I today? It is a question that must be pondered by countless Canadians in this election.
Am I the same person who did not feel comfortable to be around gay young men in high school who were frightened to come out and let schoolmates acknowledge their differences or am I now the person who now accepts gay and lesbian people and same sex marriage?
I grew up, went to university and discovered that several of my friends who I played with in the neighbourhood were in fact gay, and in knowing them and others, my thoughts and feelings changed as did my attitudes.
Just as Barack Obama’s opinions on the LGBT community and same sex marriage evolved, so did mine.
We constantly learn and our understandings change.
Judging by the attack on our prime minister who used black face at an Arabian Nights costume ball to raise funds for the high school he taught at, one cannot change their understanding of how culture was and what was thought acceptable in the past.
But we can learn from our mistakes of the past and change.
I give thanks that cameras required film and photo developing before we could share them. It is not like today where every cell phone can record and photograph every mistake we make in our lives.
Maybe we lived in a much more innocent time and didn’t recognize the hurt that we delivered with snide remarks and innuendo?
But returning to Justin Trudeau, should we be judging him for the costume he wore in a high school musical that included black face makeup?
Or should be question why the staff overseeing the musical chose to have him sing is part in blackface?
How many students today would question the judgement of their teachers overseeing a musical?
There was a time in elementary school, that the penny candy store referred to a type of jelly candy with a “N” word.
Those candies disappeared and if I were to be asked if I had ever used the “N” word, I would have to admit that I did in choosing a type of penny candy.
Was it racist then?
The answer would be “yes” and yet it was the descriptor for the candy.
Did I see it as racist when I was eight or nine years old?
No, but later in life I grew to understand how offensive the word was and how hurtful it was.
Can we be judged for the things we did 20, 30, 40 or 60 years ago?
Hopefully, we will be judged by how we have changed over those periods of time.