Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Asia (02/26/09)
-
TITLE: Never been there | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ed VanDeMark
02/27/09 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
I drive a Subaru. I watch television on a Sanyo, and I remove tags that read made in China. It’s a bit like shaking the hand of a man who shook the President’s hand. I’ve never been to Asia.
My oldest son served a year in Afghanistan and I’ve looked at the pictures in National Geographic’s. I go to the movies, and watch the travel channel, and I like water chestnuts but none of these are Mt. Everest, or China’s Great Wall.
I go to the mall and I see oriental college students traveling in groups of six or eight and hear them speaking a language I’m unfamiliar with. The news brings me video and stories of volcanoes erupting, violence in the streets, tsunami devastation and plane crashes in places I didn’t know existed. I’m told about cultures, customs and religions that seem strange to me and I see images of people who do not resemble my northern European ancestors and I form mental images and opinions.
When I was a boy my Uncle Pete married Aunt Joan. She was from Brooklyn. Her nephews and nieces came to visit our small upstate New York community. They were surprised to find our streets were paved and our sidewalks were slate as opposed to the wooden ones seen on “Gun smoke”.
Until I got to know Aunt Joan and visit her family in the city I had mental images and opinions about Brooklyn and its people. It took a trip to the city to begin the process of adjusting them into a realistic view.
My youngest son is engaged to Vera. Vera is originally from Laos. She speaks two languages and serves food my taste buds are unfamiliar with. The decorations in her home are similar to those I see in the “Home Goods” store but not those sitting on my coffee table.
We’ve grown to love Vera and little by little we are adjusting our world view with regard to her Asian culture. I may never have the financial means to travel to Vera’s home land. My horizons are however expanding and with those expanding horizons my love for a people who heretofore were easily dismissed and whose needs were casually set aside is also growing.
Noah’s three sons settled in three separate regions. Cultures developed regionally and in time we began to appear as foreigners to one another. Distrust and hatreds developed and wars were fought. Now I see these wars as civil wars with brothers killing brothers. Yet I also see our great God reintroducing us to our brothers and sisters one relationship at a time. He is a God who loves all of his children and seeks to have us live not just in tolerance and harmony but with true compassion for each other. I’m speaking about the same self sacrificing compassion that sent our Savior to the cross for us while we still viewed him with distrust and even hatred.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
