Contrast - a Picture Perfect theme

I know this may be considered cheating ; ) but... well... psh! I'm entering one here too. This photo was my first choice for an entry, but it is a very personal choice, so I elected to not put it on the PP site.

As many of you know, I am South African... proudly so. Unfortunately, according to many, I am on the wrong end of South Africa's very varied colour spectrum. The 'stigma' of my colour was not only apparent back in SA where our small farms were targeted - white farmers were unwelcome - but followed me here where, on learning my country of origin, I have been called a racist, a label which makes my hackles rise.

I fail to see why my skin colour automatically makes me a racist. I was taught as a child to respect, even love, people of all colours and nationalities. The 'love thy neighbour' was not just applied to my own 'race'. I raised my daughter with the same principles. I have an extremely low tolerance for racial jokes and racial slurs... regardless of the nation or colour involved. Why I have to pay for the faults of an old government and its laws is beyond me.

Pictured above is Tatiana and her friend Minky. Tatiana - of Dutch/German/Lithuanian heritage, pale, blonde, bubbly, outgoing. Minky - Xhosa, native South African, chocolate brown, black curls, shy, sweet, mischievious. Friends, regardless of the contrasts of their skin and culture, with their mothers watching, sipping coffee and talking of things peculiar to mothers.