For this blog, I want to make some cross cultural comparisons that have helped me while I have been in India. To me, it seems hard pressed to find a people that do not hold on to some sense of honor and adoration. Most of the Indian adoration seemed very foreign to begin with. For instance, a lot of houses have one of the gods, like Ginesh, on the fences of their house or just enshrined by the gate. I don’t know what all the symbolism means, but I think at least to some small degree it provides a public icon to some kind of love and affection the Indians have. In America, I have seen lots of houses that have some kind of sports team banner hanging in front of the house or even high school mascot cutouts with kids’ names on them. I may be stretching too far for a comparison, but most of the time, I tend to think people are the same everywhere with just a little different flavorings.
There is more to this thought, however. I am amazed at the ceramic and gold statues that are put up in every town of people who are now gone. You see public officials, religious leaders like Gandhi and Mother Teresa, and people I presume to be national heroes. In Amarillo, we have statues of Rick Husband in other places of soldiers, fireman at ground zero, and of an empty saddle in Dalhart, TX.
While I have been here, I have been reading Gandhi’s autobiography. I have never really known that much about him, but it has been fascinating to read about him. What is impressed on me about him is his ethical conscience. While arguing with merchants, the merchant tell him that business is all about making money and religion is for religious days. Basically the merchants say that there is no such a thing as ethical practice in business; the only goal being making money. Gandhi abhorred this thought and spent the rest of his life bringing ethical truth to all aspects of human life. As I said before, Gandhi is an honored hero in India. We also have to argue to get a fair price for a cab every day.
The point of this thought is to point toward the reality that even though we honor and glorify great men and we put their statues and crosses up in our homes we don’t often strive to become like these great men. We go about our day and are more pressed to make a buck or just make it through than we are to live in the stream of faith that we esteem. Maybe you have never noticed the symbols in your house and the icons that give you some sense of love and adoration, but take a moment to look at them. Are they just pieces of wood, and metal, and brick? Or does the heart of their meaning guide us to be better every single day?
P.S. Lots of love from India! Word of the month: Wandanalu (means praise God in Telugu).
