Psuedo-Update

I was crossing the street yesterday and this guy was riding his bicycle and was singing the chorus to that wuthering heights song. It was really weird and random.

My parents and I are now finally somewhat on the same page about my tentative plans for next year. ALL BEND TO MY WILL EVENTUALLY. (just kidding.)

I'm kind of intrigued about the upcoming election. Jessica is convinced that if Obama gets elected there is going to be a slew of racial violence that is going to take place in the deep south. Conversely, I think that if he doesn't get elected, black people will probably never vote again.

On that note, we had the most amazing speaker at IV this past week on racial reconciliation. It was really cool because there was such a wide range of people who were touched by what she had to say. She told this story about this African-American pastor that she worked with who bought a house in the deep south with a white pastor and they moved their families in and lived together for 13 years for the express purpose of working together to serve the oppressed and figure out what racial reconciliation really is. And that is the difference between diversity and reconciliation.

I have experienced diversity my entire life. It has been interesting, it has at times been incredibly awkward, and often entertaining. But it has never been real. In this sense, I mean diversity that brings people together for the purpose of having different people together or because we're supposed to want to have friends who are somewhat different than us. Seriously, if you think about it diversity as its usually sought has no purpose. The only thing it is working towards is a nebulous sense of how we should feel. There's no real connection necessary. For example, I spoke to a friend of a friend last week who made a series of mildly offensive comments. And I wasn't upset because it was like hey i know this person means well and they're not my problem. Basically, I didn't care about them enough to deal with possibly making them upset even if that's what they need.

In contrast to this attitude, an attitude of reconciliation is different. It requires a level of vulnerability that I usually don't have. It requires actually articulating the things that really hurt, both myself and others. It means saying and hearing stuff that is real and honest and sometimes ugly. Quite a calling and i'm not really sure what to do with that.....