Spring can really hang you up the most
My situation is not unlike waiting for spring, when all kinds of things are happening under the surface before there is any outward evidence that the plants and trees will be coming to life again. I'm hoping that things are happening with my visa application and that I will soon be able to return to Brazil, but thus far I have no concrete evidence of any progress. Actually, I do love spring, so maybe this is a gift--getting to see the cherry blossoms, daffodils, tulips and other elements of the spectacular change of season.
Staying in one place for the past two weeks, I have developed a routine, but like reading a good book or seeing a good film more than once, each day I'm trying to notice something new. One of my favorite things is going to the U Street Metro Station where the mural "Community Rhythms" by Alfred J. Smith adorns both sides of the hallway. As a music and dance fan, I love picking out some new detail each time I pass this vibrant work of art.
I think I'm currently learning about hospitality by being the recipient of so much of it. Each of my hosts has been so generous and kind, making me feel at home. For someone who really enjoyed living alone for many years and didn't like to share my space, this is significant. I can imagine that I might be a grouchy host if the same guest was coming back to my house every month for a week or more, but they all have been very warm and inviting. The Bible has a lot to say about hospitality, and I think it's because it's one of the major ways that we share a part of who we are. There's no better way to get to know somebody better than to live with them.
I've experienced a tension here that seems to run just beneath the surface of American society. Several times on the subway system, I've heard people snap at innocuous comments made by strangers. It's like people are waiting to have a legitimate reason to argue or start a fight with somebody. In Brazil, I had the feeling that strangers are usually friends until proven otherwise, but here, the opposite seems to be true.
In all walks of everyday life, I've noticed that so many people talk to their loved ones in such angry or aggravated ways. They may think that it doesn't mean anything, but I can't believe that after speaking at each other in such aggravated tones for years, you don't begin to feel aggravated with each other most of the time. I know that's what happened in my teenage/young adult relationship with one of my brothers. I don't understand why when we have a choice in what we say and how we say it, we often chose the less-than-kind path. And I say we because I do the same thing...
I'm curious about the difference between people that follow the rules (I am usually a zealous rule-follower in most things) and those that don't feel that they need to. What goes on in the mind of people that break the rules? Do they believe that they are so special it doesn't matter? Do most people break only rules in certain areas of their life (e.g. driving, taxes, etc.), following the other rules, or do they break rules all across the board?
Last Sunday, I attended worship in a huge church that I passed by several times when I lived in Washington DC but never noticed. It was quite a jump to come from my home church that doesn't have a building and rents space to worshiping in something similar to great churches I've visited in Europe as a tourist. I realized that I should be a tourist also in my own country, to go into unfamiliar churches, to see the museums, to appreciate the architecture, and most of all, to appreciate the people.
I feel like a tourist as I visit the various neighborhoods of DC, seeing so much economic development that has taken place over the past five years. Places that used to be dangerous and filthy are now trendy places to live with sky-high rents and home prices. In a way, it's nice to see neighborhoods revitalized, but I worry about the people who can no longer afford to live there and have been displaced. There is clearly a boom in the upper-end of the housing market, but I'm not seeing any new affordable housing to take in the displaced.
This is a country rich in resources, and I wonder how much further society can get sucked into and hung up on money and things. Will there be a reckoning for straying so far from what we are called to do and be?
Staying in one place for the past two weeks, I have developed a routine, but like reading a good book or seeing a good film more than once, each day I'm trying to notice something new. One of my favorite things is going to the U Street Metro Station where the mural "Community Rhythms" by Alfred J. Smith adorns both sides of the hallway. As a music and dance fan, I love picking out some new detail each time I pass this vibrant work of art.
I think I'm currently learning about hospitality by being the recipient of so much of it. Each of my hosts has been so generous and kind, making me feel at home. For someone who really enjoyed living alone for many years and didn't like to share my space, this is significant. I can imagine that I might be a grouchy host if the same guest was coming back to my house every month for a week or more, but they all have been very warm and inviting. The Bible has a lot to say about hospitality, and I think it's because it's one of the major ways that we share a part of who we are. There's no better way to get to know somebody better than to live with them.
I've experienced a tension here that seems to run just beneath the surface of American society. Several times on the subway system, I've heard people snap at innocuous comments made by strangers. It's like people are waiting to have a legitimate reason to argue or start a fight with somebody. In Brazil, I had the feeling that strangers are usually friends until proven otherwise, but here, the opposite seems to be true.
In all walks of everyday life, I've noticed that so many people talk to their loved ones in such angry or aggravated ways. They may think that it doesn't mean anything, but I can't believe that after speaking at each other in such aggravated tones for years, you don't begin to feel aggravated with each other most of the time. I know that's what happened in my teenage/young adult relationship with one of my brothers. I don't understand why when we have a choice in what we say and how we say it, we often chose the less-than-kind path. And I say we because I do the same thing...
I'm curious about the difference between people that follow the rules (I am usually a zealous rule-follower in most things) and those that don't feel that they need to. What goes on in the mind of people that break the rules? Do they believe that they are so special it doesn't matter? Do most people break only rules in certain areas of their life (e.g. driving, taxes, etc.), following the other rules, or do they break rules all across the board?
Last Sunday, I attended worship in a huge church that I passed by several times when I lived in Washington DC but never noticed. It was quite a jump to come from my home church that doesn't have a building and rents space to worshiping in something similar to great churches I've visited in Europe as a tourist. I realized that I should be a tourist also in my own country, to go into unfamiliar churches, to see the museums, to appreciate the architecture, and most of all, to appreciate the people.
I feel like a tourist as I visit the various neighborhoods of DC, seeing so much economic development that has taken place over the past five years. Places that used to be dangerous and filthy are now trendy places to live with sky-high rents and home prices. In a way, it's nice to see neighborhoods revitalized, but I worry about the people who can no longer afford to live there and have been displaced. There is clearly a boom in the upper-end of the housing market, but I'm not seeing any new affordable housing to take in the displaced.
This is a country rich in resources, and I wonder how much further society can get sucked into and hung up on money and things. Will there be a reckoning for straying so far from what we are called to do and be?
posted by Christine Piggee at
9:32 PM
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