Sign-up woes

I often prefer to be alone, though I want to have friends. The problem is that I do not know how to get friends. I wish that there was a sign-up sheet where I could place my name. Under it, someone would write theirs and that would signify friendship. No worry about introductions. It would be nice, if we had something in common, but is that really necessary. This sign-up sheet would have a way for you to end the friendship. Just scratch your name out. And then sign under someone else’s name.
On second thought. . .
The sign-up sheet! Ubiquitous. Everywhere there is a form, a list, a cause to join. I want to participate, but, do I have to sign? The physical form, hanging on a bulletin board may be ok, but once it was put them online, it has become a complicated, exercise in futility.
At the top you are told to print your last name first, then your first name last. I do not use my first name. So now what? Do I use my first initial, and then my middle name, or do I write in my middle name, as if it were my first name, and just leave the middle initial blank. Does anyone really care?
I cannot imagine that there is someone with nothing better to do than to confirm that the name indicated is, in fact, the correct name!
Some sign-up lists end there. But others go farther. They become intrusive. “List three people who have known you for more than a year”.
Really. I was going to include my friend, Roy, who I just met while standing in this line.
But they do not want just those friends name, but their title, their phone number and address, and their relationship to me. To be honest, I do not have that many friends, nor even acquaintances. Of the friends that I have had, learning their name was one of the last things I did. Sometimes, I found out someone’s name by looking at their mail.
You see, I strike up a conversation, and begin talking. I do not ask their name, even if they ask me. Whenever I meet, I say “hi,” or “Hey” or something like that. I am good at faces, but names. Never really cared, so, when the form asks, I am tempted to make up a name.
Wong Fu. Everyone needs a Chinese friend.
Wong Fu and I go way back, we are close. But, you see, he has no address, nor phone. He works here and there. I could put him as reference, for he would vouch. But, technically since he doesn’t “exist”, the people in charge of the form would not approve.
Some forms go farther; they want you to write in a very small box, why you are interested in this position, or spot, or what your views are on a particular subject. I like to write---on paper, but not in a box. I do not know what to say.
On a computer I can write something somewhere else, then, paste it onto the little box. Yet sometimes it does not fit. Just the facts are all that they want. The box is very limiting. . .
Then there will be a sentence that reads, “ if you have anything else to add, include on a separate sheet of paper.”
Oh, Good; time for more indiscriminate writing. As if anyone will care. Don’t they understand I want to finish this form, not expand it? Are these the same people who yell, “ me first”, when volunteer assignments are sought?
Then finally the end of the sign-up sheet is reached. All that is needed is a signature. But first, you must read this disclaimer. Here is where lawyers have had too much free time.
The disclaimer, usually at least a paragraph long, and written in obtuse legalities, reminds you to be truthful in all your previous answers. If you are found to be in error, then the terms of this sign-up are voided, and so on. Now, they want you to sign your name.
Shouldn’t this disclaimer had come first, before I spent my time filling out this form? That now seems like a lot of pressure. I wanted to join this club, and now, because, my friend Roy, who I have known for only five minutes, gave me the number to the local beer joint instead of his home phone, I may be ineligible. Often you do not know that you have something wrong, or omitted, until you hit the “submit” button. Then it is too late!
I do not want to re-type everything because I got one thing wrong.
So once again the sign up has left me vanquished. It won. I slink away. . . Perhaps I’ll play Text Twist—at least I do not need a form. . .

The Semi-possible Dream

The Semi-Possible Dream

One of my favorite songs is The Impossible Dream, from The Man of LaMancha. It is very inspirational and uplifting. For a moment, I feel as I am at a great opera house singing along with the recording.

I like to think that I too can achieve the high ideals that this song entails: “to try when you’re arms are too weary . . . to reach the unreachable star.” Yet often I seem to mire in the mundane; to get lost in the daily trials; to stop short of the goal.

What is it that causes a dream to become achievable? Or, more to the point, how can a dreamer- - who has high goals and objects, who desires to reach as far as is capable—make the dream come true?

                Daydreaming by adults is frowned upon. We are to be at work, living rationally within our means, neither flighty nor chasing after novelty. But dreaming produces vision. And as the world knows, true vision is often missing or distorted.

                On a personal level as well as on the public level the routine pervades our days. The news is full of stories of distress where people just move from one event to the other—disconnected and uninspired.  It is hard to see how dreams can come true.

                And then there are those skeptics—the ones that tell everyone that life is to be endured and suffered. That this is all there is. These exist within the church, the school and throughout the land. They are unhappy and do not dream.  And so, they want to squelch dreams.

                Yet these are ultimately just obstacles. Dreamers dream. That part within us does not conform nor grow weary. It is our oxygen-- our fuel that keeps us going.  To stop dreaming is to stop living.

                My dreams may appear impossible—no doubt some are. I doubt that everyone will travel with jetpacks strapped to our backs. But many dreams are possible, if persistence, patience and humility continue. Thus dreams may not be Impossible, but rather semi-possible.

               

               

 

 

Christians in Nigeria

Information on World Christians

Nigeria

Bullet points

1.       Out of nearly 175 million people, 40% or 80 million are Christians. The rest are Muslim

2.       Most Christians are in South

3.       Christianity arrived in the late 19^th century, from European and American missionaries

4.       The nation has potential to be economically strong, but over 60% live in  poverty.

5.       The violence is between Muslims and Christians, but has roots in colonialism

6.       Boko Haram, the main terrorist group means “Western education is a sin”. They are based in Nigeria.

 

 

Nigeria is one of the most important nations in Africa.  With a population estimated at 175 million, approximately one out of four Africans is Nigerian. Based largely on petroleum, the nation has the second largest economy on the continent, behind only South Africa. It is one of the top ten oil producing nations, and, therefore a large trade partner with the West including the United States.  Although independent since 1960 – an early date for most of the nations of Africa—Nigeria has retained cultural ties to the United Kingdom, its former colonial power. English remains one of the official languages. 

Despite impressive oil revenues many Nigerians remain impoverished. According to the US Government, over 62% of the nation lives in extreme poverty. Corruption and graft are high. Typical of African nations, a large number of tribes and ethnic groups contest for space and power in Nigeria. Economic and cultural inequality is largely dependent on historical affiliations and geographical location.  Culturally there is a stark difference between the southern port cities that prospered under the British and those groups in the interior that were largely overlooked. This geographical divide can be seen in religion.

In regards to religion, Nigeria is evenly divided between Christians (48%) and Muslims (50%).  Over 75 million Nigerians are Muslim. Islam entered Nigeria from the north as early as the 9th century, as a result of conquest from invading tribes and inter-regional trade. Over time it spread west and south throughout the region, usurping local customs as it developed strong cultural ties.

Today the majority of Muslims in Nigeria reside in the north where economic and cultural inequality is greater. Partially as a result of long held hostilities between northern and southern tribes, Islam has become more polemical.   Nine northern states have recently incorporated Sharia Law into their legal system.  The terrorist group Boko Haram, which means, “Western Education is a sin”, was founded and is located in Borno, the northwestern most state.

Countering this are the more than 80 million Nigerian Christians of which nearly 18 million or 40% are Roman Catholic. The remainder is Protestant or adherents of new indigenous denominations such as the African Church.  Because Christianity was introduced by  colonial missionaries arriving  within the past century, it has been viewed by its critics as imported and no part of the traditional African experience. However, the church has thrived as nearly every denomination is present in the country, with Baptist and Anglican among the largest. Lutherans though on their 100^th year remain a relatively small denomination, although they are expanding and are building a seminary.

Currently there is much strife in Nigeria. The reasons are complex but seem to be largely based on past colonial associations and an historical animosity between ethnic groups. Politics and religion have become the interwoven into these old arguments that occur throughout the region. Africa, as Nigeria shows, is at a crossroads between Islam in the North and Christianity in the South. It is also struggling as a continent to recognize its place in the world, and to that end, determining if Westernization provides the best path for success, or whether it needs to shed the cultural traits of its past colonial oppressors. African Christianity then for some is seen as vital and a unifying force, while for others it remains a symbol of the cultural West.

Brave. ( A poem for all of us)

 

I know someone who is really quite brave;

Someone who has withstood a lot, who underwent pain.

Others would have complained more.  But often alone, this one endured.

 

Brave does not seek fame, yet neither does it coward away.

It takes what life has to offer with an open palm.

 

Brave does not give up. It muddles through, somehow, someway.

It never admits that “it can’t”, but neither does it boast that it needs no help.

 

Brave !

 

Like a buggy driver

Like a buggy driver.

For Eight years I have worked as a toll collector. That job is ending this week. Technological advances in the form of high-speed cameras and computers, are making my job obsolete. The new toll roads do not need humans to record transactions.  People either pre-pay with a little device mounted on their cars, or they are sent a bill in the mail. This bill comes from information gleaned from the car’s license plate.

The upside for the consumer is that they do not stop and pay toll. Everything is automated, so the toll road becomes like an interstate highway, with high speeds and no stopping. People, in theory, should arrive at their destination sooner.

This is similar to what occurred nearly 100 years ago. In the early twentieth century the horse and buggy which had been the dominant mode of local transportation for more than 100 years, began to lose its status. The automobile was taking over. It was faster and more efficient. People involved in the horse and buggy business saw their opportunities dwindle. Customers wanted to travel in the new transports, electric streetcars, and automobiles—“horseless carriages”. They were fancy and cool. Horse and buggies on the other hand were old and boring.

Such it is in life. New technologies replace older ones. History books and popular culture embrace these changes as a signs of progress and advancement. Left out however, is the disruption that these new advancements create in the lives of those who were invested in the older technologies. Buggy drivers in 1915 would have seen “the writing on the wall” and, if able, would have tried to get out of that profession. Some would remain for a few more years, especially if they lived in certain areas. But all would know that eventually they would need to learn a new skill for the days of listening to the clomp, clomp, clomp of shoed-horses were quickly ending.

So, here I am 100 years later. My job is obsolete. Luckily tolls were not my passion. I can move to something else. Yet some of my co-workers are not as willing or able. They are driving over forty miles to work at one of the still-open toll plazas, hoping to continue making a living in this job.

 I understand that. I would have liked to have kept my job, for the liked the interaction with the people. But, that is not to be, so like the buggy driver of 1915, I must move on. Progress awaits.

This global desert- - - Lenten Poem

The world is dark

We stumble and fall

Into a deep pit

There we sit and wait, until

 A faint light is seen. . .

 

The world is sad

We hide and lament

Inside lonely rooms,

There we sit and wait, until

A happy sound is heard. . .

 

The world is numb

We ignore and withdraw

Within our own cocoons

There we sit and wait, until

The rush of beauty is felt. . .

 

 

It is the season of Lenten angst

When the world in darkened hues revealed:

A Global Desert full of want,

A place of fear and hurt.

 

Inwardly Questioning,

Yet Outwardly Observing

A Discipline of Sacrifice ensues.

For. . .

A life forsaken helps us know

The Grace that gently eases pain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflections on New Years Day-- though a little late. . .

Reflections on New Year’s Day

Two aspects of NWD that I find interesting is the relational nature of the day—in that it is experienced across the globe at different times—and that it is largely arbitrary. These aspects make the day special and unique.

   First: the relational nature of the NWD. Most people do not seem to pay much attention to the fact that the world covers 24 time zones, for they are focused on their specific locale. Rarely is much thought given to the fact that people in other parts of the world experience the day at different times. Perhaps this is most apparent when we watch sports from the west coast and wonder why they are occurring so late in the evening though it is still “prime time” in their local area.

   New Years Day and New Years Eve then allows us to recognize this phenomenon, for we notice that places like New Zealand and Australia have already “brought in the New Year” before we even get up, and that when “the ball drops in New York City”, it is still several hours away in Los Angeles or Honolulu. In fact, these are among the last major cities to welcome the New Year. Thus for the many, New Years Day allows us to feel connected to the wider world, for like our counterparts in Asia and Europe, we are waiting our turn to greet the New Year. A sense of community even if short-lived and largely obligatory exists, for we all celebrate the arrival of a new year.   

The second issue—the arbitrariness of this date—is likewise intriguing. January the 1^st was chosen by decree from Pope Gregory, who sought to modernize the church – and by extension the calendar. Over time the world accepted the Pontiff’s new reckoning and began using the Gregorian calendar for religious as well as civil matters. Centuries have passed. So, that today even civilizations using older calendars than Europe, such as China, embraced the Gregorian calendar at least for commercial purposes. The same likewise is true for Eastern Rite Christians who unlike their Western counterparts, failed to recognize Papal authority, and kept as part of their religion the older Julian calendar. Like modern Chinese however, contemporary Old Russian Believers celebrate New Year’s Day, from a civil standpoint as January the 1^st. It has become standard.

   Yet for most people the decision to begin the New Year on January the 1^st is unknown and unimportant. Gregory could just have well placed the beginning of the New Year in March or April, when the plants and animals are reborn. Additionally for the vast majority New Years Day seems to have no religious or spiritual significance. It is a time to celebrate and reflect, but not necessarily in any dogmatic way.

   Thus January 1^st is New Years Day because years ago—and far away- a Pope decided that it would be so. As  if on cue, people throughout the world celebrate. The fact that this day begins on January 1^st, which for many is in the middle of winter (for others it is in the middle of summer), appears to have no significance.  Stores and restaurants are open. Airplanes fly. White collar professionals and students are off. The world does pause—but not stop—and celebrates without context, a day that could have been picked other than in the middle of one of the four seasons. At its core, as practiced today, New Years Day is arbitrary and ordinary. Somehow though, it still becomes special. Maybe it’s the floats.