Hoodie hi!

Have you been following the 'hoodie' controversy?

  'Hoodies' are tops  (with hoods surprisingly!) that are popular with young people.  Young people have been banned from wearing  hoodies by the Bluewater Shopping centre because shoppers feel threatened by young people who wear these with the hoods up.

  A number of people, including the Prime Minister, have expressed support for this move while others have complained that it is stigmatising young people who are following this fashion and are totally innocent of any wrong doing.

  As a result of the media coverage, we are now being drawn into thinking whenever we see a young person wearing a hoodie that they are a potential thug and someone to be scared of.

  While groups of noisy young people milling around can be intimidating,  I doubt the wisdom of associating one piece of clothing with this sense of threat and fear.  Marking out hoodies is to look only at an individual's appearance and to jump to conclusions about them.  We see the clothing and fail to see the person wearing it.

  This superficial approach to others occurs in other areas of life too.  The person in a wheelchair is seen as a ‘wheelchair user’ before they are seen as the person they really are, with their God-given personalities and skills.  People of an older age are seen as 'pensioners', without recognition being given to the value of their life experiences, gifts and skills. 

  In many walks of life, we are guilty of looking at only the appearance of the person and drawing on our prejudices and on generalities to decide what they must be like!

  Grey hair is not a sign of senility.  Youth is not an automatic sign of a carefree attitude to life.

  Each of us is made in God's image.  Each person, therefore, is unique but, at the same time, reflects something of God himself.  If we just look at people’s outward appearance and make rash conclusions about them, we are failing to look for that God-given uniqueness.  We are failing to see even a glimpse of God that is in them.  God does not treat us in this way.  He loves as the individuals that we are.  He doesn't look at our appearance and make a snap assumption about us (see Psalm 139).  The Lord said to Samuel: 'I do not judge as man judges.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart. (1 Sam 16:7)

  If God treats us this way, shouldn't we seek to treat others the same way, looking for and celebrating the real person - whether or not they are wearing a hoodie?

by Graham Clarke.