Chains

This is a topic that has been eating at me for a few months now, but I didn't quite know how to go about voicing it. I am taking a class this summer that goes about questioning the status quo and rediscovering what it is you really think- probably one of my favorite classes so far (yes... we are allowed to think for ourselves for once!). So this is kinda based on class discussion, but really based on what has been going through my head a whole lot this past year.

Opening our hearts and minds to differences is a hard thing to do. We have been rooted in many of our ideals for as long as we can remember, most of them coming from our parents/ guardians and society. It is a lot like Plato's Allegory of the Cave (http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html).

We are all prisoners of of the ideals we are told are truth (the shadows on the wall of the cave), but then someone breaks out of the chains that are keeping our necks from turning and our arms from reaching but so far, and they begin to move toward the opening of the cave. This prisoner leaves the cave that holds the truth they have known for so long, and they are introduced to a new truth. So now comes the time to choose- do they choose the truth that these shadows are their own and come from nothing? Or do they choose that these people outside are creating the shadows? Once the truth (the light) is accepted, the prisoner returns to the cave to help the others.

This is like our own world today. We have so many "shadows" we are still sitting and staring at, convinced that we can't do anything else but because of the chains that are keeping us there. These chains could be anything- rules, tests, parents, media, money, gender, race, religion, job... the list goes on and on. We are scared to break these chains because we have known these shadows for so long and may not like what we see behind us because it might CHANGE US. What a concept! We are so set on having absolute control of our lives, that we won't let go of something we have been told by someone since we were learning to walk, even though it is a new world. But what happens if we do break out of chains and look behind us to see what is really there?

Racism is still a huge problem, no matter what we choose to believe. While things are getting better, so many people are still set in the truth that people are not equal or should be completely separate, while others have broken the chains and moved into the world where race is not an issue. These old truths may be held onto because our generation doesn't want to make their parents or grandparents uncomfortable, and our parents and grandparents grew up with that truth so they do not want to be uncomfortable in the new truth.

Stereotypes are all around us. Let's look at jobs. If you flip burgers at McDonalds or collect trash every day, you probably dropped out of school, made bad grades, got involved with drugs... take your pick! But lets look at it this way... maybe that guy flipping your burger has a PhD, but realized he would rather help feed someone and be able to have lots of contact with the community than work in a lab alone all day. Or the person that collects your trash every week has a gorgeous house, 3 kids, and used to be a partner in some big company but realized that they wanted to help keep the community clean so they would collect trash. What if that lawyer we make fun of all of the time, isn't in the office because they just want money, but what if they truly want to help someone who is in trouble and they don't care about the money?

Religious persecution is everywhere, whether is to the point you see it in the news or not. What if rather than saying that our God is the only one that is acceptable, we take on the thought process that our God is right for us, but maybe someone else has a god that is right for them? What if we took time to listen to why someone has a belief different from ours, and we shared our story? Oh the things we could learn!

Maybe this is how we can reach that "world peace" that has become more of a joke than anything else. But we can't just talk about it, we have to go out and DO IT!

In January, I went to a college conference at Montreat and the theme was "God Without Borders". When God created us, he made us different, but he didn't put walls between us. He made us different so we can all have our own stories, so we can relate to each other on different levels, so we can learn to work TOGETHER (think Tower of Babel). We are the ones that have put these walls and boundaries up.

When you went on the last mission trip, wherever it was, where there boundaries? Probably. When I went to Mexico, we had a language boundary, culture boundary, gender boundary... but at the end of the week they were all gone. Yes, we still spoke different languages, came from different places, and were different genders but none of that mattered. We mixed and poured concrete together, we ate at the same table, and we worshiped together. We all came together as brothers and sisters in Christ and that is what our family was based on.

Whether or not you are in support of him, look at our president. For the first time ever, there is a black man in office. You cannot say that we are still in the world of segregation when you look at him. Our country, the same one that so many of us grew up in during segregation and then desgregation of schools, and the Woolworth's sit in, and Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr., elected President Obama to office. And guess what? It wasn't just black Americans that elected him... white, asian, mexican... Americans from all cultures elected him.

So what happens if we do start to work together?

Racism can finally be wiped out.
Stereotypes can be erased.
Religious persecution can finally come to an end.

It isn't easy, but it needs to be done. This is a new world! There is something behind us making those shadows... they aren't just there. So what is the real truth? I think this is about time that ALL OF US break those chains off of our wrists and necks, and turn around to see what is really happening. Once we do break those chains, why not help those around us that might not be able to do it as easily?

I am tired of wearing my chains... what about you?