The problem is that there is a gaping hole in our gospel. We have preached a gospel that leaves us believing that we can be reconciled to God but not reconciled to our christian brothers and sisters who don’t look like us – brothers and sisters with whom we are, in fact, one blood.
– John Perkins
To the individuals who through their actions create the reputation of the rest of us.
As I travel through different countries I have noticed that all over the world conversations start very similarly, regardless of the language. Here is a common exchange:
“Hello, my name is …”
“Hi, my name is …, nice to meet you”
[everyone smiles]
“Where are you from?”
Maybe there are some questions before that but, at the end of the day, we want to know where people are from.
And some people keep it general- just a country. Some people like to give the percentage that they have in their background – I’m 40% this, 12% that and I’m pretty sure I’m 48% something or other.
And the next part of the conversation is what I want to talk about today.
After these simple sentences are exchanged the conversation can take two ways: the road of celebration or the road of belittling (for the sake of using a politically correct term).
And the only reason the conversation can go the latter route is because that person someday had an experience with ONE individual from that different culture, and that ONE negative act establishes the expectations for the rest of us.
Have I been scared of other cultures as a whole because of ONE act? Yes. Was I correct? No!
But because one group or person impersonated fear/dishonesty/lack of education etc, we still do not reserve the right to generalize.
That’s the danger we all face, because the danger is not the all, it’s the individual.
There are groups, religions, communities and nations who are connected to bad words, to bad feelings, to bad actions.
“They are dangerous”
“Those are cheats”
“Them (scoff) they are evil”
In media, in politics, in our brains, in our communities WE GENERALIZE.
The truth is if we didn’t get to that question “where are you from” we would learn SO MANY OTHER COOL THINGS before the judgement and fear kicked in…
“You built your own business?!?!”
“You learned to cut grass to support your family?!?!?”
“You found opportunities in hospitality because you speak so many languages?!?!?”
“You work at the nursing home no one wants to work the third shift at?!?!”
Wowww.
And yet, because of one person, those sentences above are unimportant because of where they might be from.
I write as a common receiver of the latter. I write not for you to pity me. I write for you to join me, join me to promote the all, not the one small part.
Evil is fast spreading, but goodness is worth it.
Let’s not allow individuals to ruin the all.
Let’s silence those who put fear in us.
And let’s celebrate diversity, and talents and skills, wherever in life we might end up.
