Mirrors and Diversity

I just heard an outstanding sermon by Matt Chandler the other day that I thought I’d share some thoughts on.  The sermon was about race so fair warning here.

He talked about how our natural inclination as humans is to veer towards mirrors versus embracing the beauty of diversity.  In sum, we are naturally drawn to people like us (mirrors), in the case of his sermon, like our own race.

I have realized since living here racism exists anywhere there are different races.  It’s not just in the states or some other country.  We’ll never be fully over it as a culture (in any country) either.  There’s a reason populism has been on the rise the world over.

Embracing the beauty of diversity is inherently difficult.  After all, diversity itself is acknowledging our differences, right?  He mentioned how he doesn’t like the whole ‘color blind’ idea.  He’s more than a white man, but he’s not less than a white man.  Others are more than a black man, but not less than a black man.  We lose something when we try to blind ourselves to our differences whether by skin color or economic situation or anything else that is part of us and where we find ourselves currently.

I find myself here as a foreigner to state the obvious.  The troubling part is I’ve found myself much more comfortable around the Spaniards than around the Moroccans.  I can use the usual excuses such as I don’t speak Arabic or I feel awkward.  As a friend pointed out to me though, they need practice speaking Spanish just as much as I do since they’re living in Spain.

So, here’s my challenge as was Chandler’s.  If everyone around your table at all meal times are “mirrors”, what’s the first step you can take to embrace the beauty of diversity?  It doesn’t have to start with a meal but I hope it would end up there for all of us.  

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.”  My dream for us is that wherever we are we can sit at the table of brotherhood with the ‘other’ that we so often fear.  

The ‘other’ can refer to any number of persons by the way, but I’d encourage you to think of the person who you would never eat with normally and make an effort to start a dialogue and friendship with them.  It starts with prayer.  Let’s do this Church!

Driving Myself Crazy

For some people it’s skydiving.  I’ve been 3 times and LOVED it.  For others it’s flying in a plane.  Done that more than 3 times and still love it.  While still others have it at even the thought of bungy jumping.  Did that off the world’s highest bungy bridge twice and had a blast.  Many people experience it at the thought of public speaking.  I happen to love that as well as I don’t mind being the center of attention (just ask my wife if you want to do a fact check  :) )

Sweaty palms, elevated heart rate, stomach full of butterflies, a general sense of anxiety.  These are the symptoms of a physiological response to a stressful situation.  What do I have a physiological response to?  Driving a manual car of all things.

Yep, you read that correctly.  I’m a 35 year old man and am just now learning how to drive stick.  I’ve taken many classes and still sweat sometimes.  Especially the last driving class I took.  I killed it going up a hill.  Followed quickly by going back down the hill and me all but freaking out.  Thankfully the instructor was calm and took over the controls until I had composed myself again.

How embarrassing though, right?  Stef asked me to practice driving today and my fitbit affirmed that yes indeed my heart rate had increased almost immediately (from a natural resting rate of 60 up to 91 in less than a minute!!!)  I had to psych myself up and essentially talk myself off the ledge just to get behind the wheel today.

Now, in my defense, I’ve been in 5 car accidents in the past - 4 of which I was the cause of!  I also used to drive in Florida where I certainly wasn’t alone in bad driving.  I am such a Nervous Nelly behind the wheel it’s borderline comical if I step outside my own head for a while.

Many people prefer driving to flying because they feel more in control.  Well, I happen to not only know statistical likelihoods but I also know people like me are driving!  Which means everyone else doesn’t have NEARLY as much control as they think.  I’m willing to bet everyone knows someone who is a great driver and yet has still been in a serious accident they didn’t see coming, right?

However, one foot in front of the other.  In my case, one foot dancing alongside the other until I get the kinks worked out.  Thankfully today I just practiced starting up a hill in a place where there are hardly any other cars.  I generally do fine but going uphill is where I need to focus a lot of time on.

Well, I hope some of you got a good chuckle from that little story.  Someone asked me a few years ago what I feared about returning to Yangon.  I said nothing and meant it.  Then I thought a minute and said I was scared about my friend’s driving (you know who you are Buddy ;) ).  

Perhaps this is God’s way of teaching me empathy towards others who have anxiety in situations I think are preposterous.  I cannot remember the last time I’ve had these types of nerves.  God help me.  In the meantime, how close are we to driverless cars again???  PLEASE tell me we’ll be there by the time my son gets behind the wheel  :)

Also, for those of you who might be asking the obvious question as to why I don’t just get an automatic, we have to pass the driver’s license exam here with a stick due to where we live and the driving schools not owning any automatics.  We also bought a manual because they’re significantly cheaper here in Espana.  For many people driving a stick is an absolute blast.  Maybe I’ll be there one day myself, that would truly be a miracle  :)