Ronnie was the first and only African American sheet-metal worker at his job. His boss was racist and let everyone know it. 

Ronnie received guidance from his seniors in faith. They told him that his boss must have a Buddha nature. Ronnie thought his boss must be the exception to the rule. His leaders told him that he should do his best to prove the boss wrong about African-Americans. He was instructed to chant for his boss's happiness. Ronnie found the last guidance too hard to do, so he chanted for his boss to die, or go somewhere else. 

Nothing changed for 8 long hellish years. 

One morning, Ronnie was chanting and thinking about the guidance he received to chant for his boss's happiness. "Why should a racist be happy?" He wondered. The thought of a happy racist horrified him. Ronnie thought about the concept of "human revolution" and decided to go against the grain and chant for the happiness of his boss. 

It felt weird. It felt liberating, like he was able to control his own feelings. 

Around the sheet-metal shop, the racist boss was nicknamed "God," because he was always right and everyone else was always wrong. The same morning that Ronnie chanted for his boss's happiness, "God" himself came up to him and asked his opinion about an aspect of sheet-metal work. His boss had never done that before. It almost floored Ronnie. It was the talk of the shop. 

After that Ronnie could do no wrong. He got compliments for everything that he did. 

When Ronnie started his own business, his boss begged him to stay and said that if the new business did not work out, he was always welcome to come back to the old job. This gave Ronnie a good comfort level. 

They continue to talk. His boss now has many African-American people working for him. 

Whenever a particularly good worker comes along, whether white or black, the boss says, "He reminds me of you." This is the highest praise from Ronnie's formerly racist boss. He can now look beyond skin color to see ability. 

Ronnie is now a Vice General Director of SGI-USA. 

[I heard this experience at the Men's Division General Meeting, Aug. 24, 1999.]