The reason I brought up this subject at all is that Deacon Lib was cutting my hair Friday evening and we got talking... For one he is full blooded Maya. They are of short stature. He is an educated, ex-military man with electrical experience. That is his trade. When he works at Spanish Lookout he can tell them a simple procedure. They look at his stature and Maya features and try to seek a second opinion. He naturally would have a tendency to get upset, especially since he is one of the only government licensed electrician on this side of Belize. He lets them play their game and waits it out. That is one of his biggest hurdles in landing the jobs that pay. He is waiting for more government codes to put all the jack leg competition out of business.
Race has become quite a mediocre subject to me as time goes by. I think less and less of it. The only time it gets to me is when one constantly has to tell you what color a man is for their story to make sense. That gets old. America tries to stereotype everybody to the point where you have to talk about Mexicans, Blacks, Whites, and Chinese like they all think and act exactly alike in there type.
My experience has taught me that racial problems stem from ignorance and the refusal of not wanting to look at the other side of the coin. Selfishness and covetousness can also be a factor. “Those people stand in the way of my prosperity and happiness“. “They are taking away our jobs.” “They make me sick the way they live.” If they would just go out there and work maybe then I could tolerate them” People with a low self esteem also like to take an advantage of putting some one else lower to lift themselves higher. (These are the militant ones.) Our feelings show in different ways and are natural.
Compassion teaches us to look at the other side of the story. A lot of people in this world are happy just to have a fraction of what you own or earn. There is an increasing amount of people growing up that haven’t experienced developmental love that you have been blessed with and instead have been rejected or abused as a child. Unless you have been in their shoes you have little idea how emotionally damaging it is. It becomes a challenge to overcome even the simplest tasks. It takes years even after conversion to overcome this kind of trauma never mind if your not even open to God. A lot instead turn to alcohol, drugs, and immorality and this only complicates their problems. Living in a ghetto is also a depressing, life sapping affair that chains you to a hopeless way of life that will not let you go. Unless you, as a Christian, are willing to see the other side of the coin you’ll suffer prejudice. It’s as natural as carnality and human nature. It needs to be nailed to the cross just the same if we are to carry the light of Christ in us.
Anyways Lib and I decided God made a variety of races and cultures to teach man about love, patience, and acceptance which is able to cross boundaries and overcome differences. Being raised in Nazareth, Jesus knew all about these pressures. They had the Samaritans, Jews, Greeks, Romans, and various other so called heathens rubbing shoulders on a daily basis. Their Galilean accent was a joke to the Jews from Judea. What good can come out of Nazareth? They make it just about sound ghetto, if it wasn’t. Though Christ’s message was to the Jew first he had compassion on the Gentiles and complimented their faith in him. It is a test of the Church to cross cultural boundaries with the true love of Christ.
Even opposite personalities compliment each other. When a Christian works with another man that he can’t get along with, he will do well to find out all that man’s good points and try to focus on appreciating them. That holds true on any social level. God made differences to test us and give us the challenge of overcoming those differences. That’s the beauty of being submissive to one another in the brotherhood. The Spirit of Communion embodies this principal. There will be differences to overcome, but its workable. We have just to wash one another’s feet.
Marriage is also one of the biggest examples of harmony and selfless giving. Books can be written on this subject. I appreciate the leading of God that has been allowing all the recent intercultural and interracial weddings that have been taking place in the church. It is a sign of maturity. It is a true gauge that our faith is open for all to partake. It shows that the love of God is able to melt away differences to make a stronger alloy. It is not just a family affair. We as a people shouldn’t have to be worried about marrying too close a relations by accident.
We are all trying to get to heaven. There is many challenges that we will face that are guaranteed to tax our resources to the outmost. So, why wouldn’t you want to have a group of counselors and supporters that can see all the sides of the coin. The more the better. The spiritual activity level in the Church and the love of the brotherhood is directly related. There is a gold mine before us in the form of our brotherhood; let us develop one another to our best potential appreciating our differing talents. The radiance that comes forth from this spiritual relationship will draw lonely souls from all walks of life. Let us draw in our ranks and reach out to all that thirst for true fellowship.
J.L.T. 3.2008
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