Fading Pickup Culture

As I was driving to Loyola yesterday (now a week and a half ago) I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed a Chevy pickup truck closing in on me with an urgency that suggested I better get out of the way or else... I calmly switched on the blinker in my Versa and pulled over allowing the charging rhinoceros of the auto world to barrel on by, thus avoiding miles of unending tailing. I then began to think about pickup trucks and how I am seeing less F-150s, Tundras and Silverados and more Focuses, Yarises and Aveos. Could it be true that just like the raging T-Rex found itself stumbling towards extinction so too the mighty pickup truck must fall?

In my mind the pickup truck is a status symbol and a cultural statement. By owning a pickup you prove to others that you are a "real" man and that you don't mess around (of course I am generalizing and stereotyping). It means instant acceptance to the world of the blue collar middle class. A pickup truck proves to others that you are a "can do" person and that you won't back down. It really does personify part of the North American cultural value system. We are hardworking, tough, and mean business. Sadly, at least in part, in a world ever increasingly technological there seems to be fewer and fewer places for the pickup trucks and the culture it represents.

While our parents were able to support a family as tradesmen and laborers, those days are quickly fading. To belong to the middle class we now require education and skills training. No longer are you able to arrive merely through hardwork and good values. As part of the middle class we are forced to constantly keep improving our skills and education to stay one step ahead of the person who is looking to take our place. While I am only partly fond of the pickup culture, I am sad to see it leaving. I appreciate those who work hard and have good values. They help society run effeciently and generally provide ethical grounding. I believe in equality and desire for anyone to be able to succeed, despite their level of education. I certainly hope that the determination and hard work exemplified by the pick up culture remain in the fabric of our society.

Yet, part of me is glad to see the pickup culture fade. With an increasingly smaller world and global immigration there is little room for a culture that primarily looks out for number one. The pick up culture believes that it is the best, the way the world should be. As we have seen with terrorism and oppresion in the past decades cultures that uphold a view that their way is the only way to be tend to be dangerous. There is much fear and hatred in a culture that views itself as the epitome of civilization, whether it be the elites, the middle class or the poor. The pick up culture has little room for tolerance, you either speed up or get out of the way. Soon the time will come when they will have to accept the Focuses and the Cobalts, then also the Versas and the Yarises. The line between the middle class and the poor is blurring. No longer are hard work and good values able to grant you a life of dignity and relevant prosperity. The passage to a middle class life is predicated on your education, your race and the status of your parents. The values personified by the pick up culture are no longer a guarantee for entrance into the middle class. In todays world those who understand other cultures and the global society, as well as those trained in technology have a better chance of fighting their way into the middle class.

So, good bye gas guzzling behemoths. We will see less and less of you, but we must evolve. The world no longer has the resources to support you, and your cultural characteristics, which helped propel you into the middle class, are becoming more and more outdated and irrelevent in an increasingly global and crowded world.

Scripture as experience

I have recently found myself enjoying reading scripture. Well, maybe enjoying is the incorrect adjective, perhaps I have been challenged, changed, or moved. I have not been reading large amounts of scripture, rather I have found myself reading portions, here and there which are now intertwining themselves into my psyche. There seems to me an unnatural power in the word of God.

There are three different levels on which scripture speaks to me. The first is purely descriptive and factual. Thou shalt not murder holds a pretty apparent message and speaks to my mind and perhaps even to my conscience (I am not claiming to have murdered, it is purely hypothetical). Sometimes we view the Bible, and I must admit this is my least favorite way of viewing the scripture, as a textbook. This is what you should do to be a christian, a follower of Christ, a participant in the kingdom of Heaven. With a textbook there is no room for misrepresentation. What you say is what you get. I do believe there are portions of scripture that fall under this category, but they tend to be my least favorite. They also tend to be the least effective in producing growth in my spiritual life.

The second way scripture speaks to me is on a metaphorical / allegorical level. The Bible is the story of God, of His kingdom. It is a description of the christian journey, of humanity's relationship with God. The Bible speaks in metaphor and allegory to draw our attention to the truth and speak to our emotions and our heart. Facts generally don't speak to the heart and very seldom are an agent of change. A story, allegory or metaphor, on the other hand, contains a changing power. Merely stating that a person died in the current Iranian revolution is not as effective as a story about how they died and even still less effective than a video or images of the person dying. Through the story we are able to understand something or someone outside of ourselves. God's story found in the Bible moves my emotions and spurs me on to action, changes the way I think, and opens my mind to the possibility that maybe I am not the central character in my own story, that there is something much bigger of which I am a part.

There is one more way scripture speaks to me. Over the past several weeks as I have been reading scripture, I feel (dangerous word, I know) as though I have been experiencing the word of God. Let me clarify. It's not that I have been reading about the fruits of the Spirit and then someone was kind to me, rather that as I sit in my chair, staring at the words etched in ink, and as my mind processes the symbols then puts together their meaning there is a change or movement that occurs in my soul. At the moment I am not even sure what is changing or moving, all I know is that my soul has been affected. I know of nothing else that has this affect on my soul, in fact most of the time I am highly unaware of my soul. Perhaps it would be akin to experiencing the death of a person in the unrest over the Iranian election rather than merely reading it as a fact or reading / viewing it as a story. There is much I don't understand, all I know is the word of God is alive and active. We cannot view the word of God as a textbook, or even a mere story. The word of God is a dynamic, living, and active entity ( I don't like using the word "entity," but am at a loss for a better one) which affects us on a level that most of the time we are unaware exists.

If , as we have been discussing in our church community, the christian life is more than salvation, but a transformation into active participants in the kingdom of heaven, then the word of God as a dynamic and interactive presence in our lives constitutes a means of changing the old to the new. I am fairly certain that I would find it hard to change my soul, that is change the essence of my being, but, here we go with this word again, I feel that God' s word has a chance, and a fairly good one at that.

Transitions II

I'm stuck on transitions. Deep down inside I wish for things to stay the same. I have been very slowly reading the self-help classic "The Road Less Traveled" by M. Scott Peck. Besides being a work of psychological art, it also offers insight into humanity and worldview. Recently I came across a passage that detailed the relationship between change, suffering, and mental illness, for which Scott gives a very general and I find very inclusive definition. He describes the ability of emotionally and psychologically healthy people to grow out of their world view, generally through suffering and depression, into a new and more appropriate world view that enables them to interact well with their community. Those who are unable to realize this change, to go through suffering, are those who suffer, at some level, from mental illness, and will never realize their potential as emotionally and psychologically healthy people. Sometimes I hate the truth.

I find myself very bothered by this description of health, probably because it eludes me. Change comes very slowly for me. I want things to remain static. My best technique for remaining unchanged is isolation. I very easily bury myself in my studies, hide behind walls of silence, and quench signs of emotional health with my fear rejection. I find it very easy, like I am sure most people do, to remain the same. To have the same fears as I had five years ago, to think the same way as I did in college, to interact relationally as though I were still single and not a husband or a father. While it is harmful to prescribe "appropriate" behavior, there are standards which we need to meet as we walk through life if we want to be healthy. If I am to successfully be relational at my job, my church, with my wife and with my children there has to be movement into and then out of world views.

So here I am. What do I desire more: health or familiarity? Or in my case what do I fear more: being unhealthy or having to change? The thing about staying the same is that you get left behind by friends, co-workers, family, spouse and eventually children. It is as unfair to them as it is to you. Put that way I can't give myself a choice, I refuse to let my family outgrow me and leave me behind. I want to be with them more than on a merely physical plane. So, here's to change, may God grant us courage.

Cultural adaptability

I grew up with a crutch of false information. I always thought I had a disadvantage because I grew up in two cultures. It has been called TCK, MK, and a variety of other labellings. The intention of the labeling, the seminars, the books, the retreats, and the college clubs is to create a place or an environment where these "multi" cultural beings would be able to feel at home with those who were "like" them. This perception of "otherness" proved detrimental to me. Perhaps its my innate pessimism and my introvert self, but I began to believe that I didn't fit in anywhere. I thought that my experiences were so drastically different from others experience that I would in some way always be different. You can imagine what effect this plays in the psyche of one who has always been naturally socially uncomfortable.

My tendency now is to withdraw completely. To pretend like I really am different from the rest of the world, that I don't fit in and that I don't have to because I am a TCK. This is one of the biggest lies I have to which I have fallen prey. I have an innate need to belong, but have learned to isolate. It isn't that others are so different from me. With a world quickly giving way to globalization, the variety of culture in any given area is incredibly diverse, forget mentioning the different cultures caused by socioeconomic and regional geography. All of us are now in some way or another multicultural, unless you are a complete isolationist. We will all experience a variety of cultures and belong to a variety of cultures through out our lifetime. Many people have been able to find stability amidst the changing and the shifting. They expected it and dealt with it. Not me. I believed that I was different, that somehow I would always stand out because of my background. I am beginning to realize that all people are innately the same and if we can teach our children that others are more similar to them than they are different, then we will provide them with a framework of stability and self-confidence.

Conservative Talk Radio

I am a talk radio junkie. There are times when I revert back to the music stations, but it never lasts for long. Inevitably I find myself switching to the AM station, the same way I reach for the coffee beans on the top shelf of my pantry every morning. Although I am not on the right politically, I enjoy listening to the conservative talk show hosts, particularly since Obama became president. The rage of the entitled who have lost their privilege amuses me.

This morning I heard an advertisement for an event which supposedly will analyze the first one hundred days of Obama's campaign. In the advertisement it made negative mention of Obama shaking hands with Chavez and "skipping out" on the National Day of Prayer. Of all the things Obama has done in his first hundred days in office, these are two very trivial points to mention. I find it very difficult to take anybody, or any radio station seriously, who rallies behind these two points. They are merely media spin which are used to incite the conservative faithful to hate Obama because he has betrayed their country and their belief system.

In reality, Obama is the farthest thing from a traitor. In the first hundred days he has worked tirelessly to keep the country afloat and to repair our relationship with the world. Obama observed the National Day of Prayer. If he preferred to do so privately, like many godly Christians I know, let him do so. He is not betraying the Christian belief system, rather he is choosing humility. Let's not forget the difference between the pharisee and the penitent sinner in the eyes of God.

Latin America could be and should be the United State's greatest ally. It is bad enough that our corporations, and at times our government, have ravaged the land and the people. Do we really need to continue to make enemies? We are much more of a threat to them than they are to us. Latin America is merely waiting for their recognition on the world stage. They want and should be considered equals. Let's not look down on them because some of their governments tend towards socialism and the redistribution of wealth. We could learn from their thirst for social and economic equality.

If you are going to criticize Obama's first hundred days, please find something worth criticizing. You are doing yourselves, your listeners and society a disfavor by trying to characterize the President as a traitor to our beliefs and our nation.

Bernarda Alba and inhibitions

I find my life ruled by my inhibitions. There is a strong case for inhibitions, in fact they allow society to function efficiently, giving order to an otherwise chaotic world. They go hand in hand with the "que diran" so strongly described in the work of Garcia Lorca. The main character of his play "La casa de Bernarda Alba" is governed by a fear of what her neighbors might think. She rules her household with an iron fist, squelching any hint of independence or indecency from her daughters. Bernarda's inhibitions create a highly oppressive environment where her daughters burn for any show of genuine uninhibited self-expression. The plot hinges on the daughters uncontrollable thirst for freedom and self-determination with a complete disregard for the opinion of society.
Sometimes I remind myself of Bernarda. I try to control how others perceive me, hiding who I really am and revealing a fake self. Just like Bernarda's household I find parts of myself seeking freedom and self-determination. When I am unhappy it is usually because I feel my "self" or created "self" threatened, yet my moments of happiness are found in moments where I overcome my inhibitions. In the play the only character who has a moment of happiness, albeit fleeting, is Adela. She wears green when the others wear black and courageously defies Bernarda. There is something to be said for the courage a person has to self-express. They tend to be the most magnetic. There is a certain attraction to a person who is able to express themselves freely, with few inhibitions.
So I sit here and wonder. How do my inhibitions affect my life? Why do I insist on wearing black when there is a whole array of colors to choose from? Identity and self-determination are very easily lost for me in my futile, although persistent, attempt to control the impression I have on others. It's a shame society, at all levels, is oppressive and still more a shame that I struggle to find the courage to push back.

Transitions

I have come to a realization: I am bad at transitions. Any interruption in my schedule, any unexpected event, any detour from the normal routine can really throw me for a loop. I used to think that I was good at transitions, that I was a chameleon adapting to any situation that I found myself in. Now, I realize that I don't adapt, instead I ignore. If things change I choose to ignore the problem or issue and wait for things to return to normal. My plan is flawed, because things never really return to normal. Here is where the problem arises because I want to meet every circumstance in the same way, with the same attitude and belief system. Yet things have changed. Yesterday is not the same as today, nor will it be the same tomorrow. Relinquishing control and learning that people and circumstances change turns into a daily struggle for me. I can control that which I know and am familiar with, I can't control the unknown. This is why I am horrible at transitions, because I don't embrace the unknown, I ignore it. So what do I do with the unending barrage of transitions that make up my life? Well... I usually hide. Sometimes I hide behind anger, stubbornness, withdrawal, and many other types of avoidance behavior. What should I do? I should pray, I should have courage, I should embrace the change, I should expect change. People and things in this world are in a constant state of flux, the sooner I accept it, the sooner I will be able to transition.

Fatalism and literature

As I was driving home from one of my last graduate school classes I began to reflect on the literature that I had read. We had finished discussing several stories by Maria de Zayas which described the oppression of the desires and liberties of women during the 17th century. Although they are didactic in nature, they leave the reader feeling hopeless about the plight of women in society. As I mentally ran through many of the other works of literature I had read during my course work I realized most of them dealt with oppression, discrimination or fatalism. This has had a profound effect on my psyche. While I feel more compassion towards the marginalized, more empathy with the oppressed and a stronger sense of social justice, I have also fallen into a fatalism which I find leading me, at times, towards humanism. Don Quixote dies a lonely old man without ever conquering Dulcinea's love, Horacio Quiroga's characters succumb to the power of an unforgiving nature, the Latin American dictator novels depict a world governed cruelly by madmen, and the list goes depressingly on. Still, in the midst of the cloud of fatalism which surrounds these works I have found a ray of sunshine.
One of the main influences in the work of Gutierrez, and in fact the recipient of the dedication in Theology of Liberation, is Arguedas. In his novel Los Rios Profundos he describes a world full of opposites. The Indian and the European, the town and the country, the poor and the rich, the master and the laborer, the soldiers and the peasants, Catholicism and indigenous mysticism, weave a portrait of a world dominated by opposites which are in continual conflict. Though discrimination and oppression are important themes in the novel, the protaganist, Ernesto, is able to find hope in the place where the opposites meet. The Spanish term for this juncture is "hibridez." More than a mixing of two cultures, "hibridez" is a new path, a new way, an alternative to the current social model.
Liberation theology reflects this desire for an alternative way living, one of the gifts that Arguedas gave to Latin American thought. Christ is the redeemer of both the oppressed and the oppressor, the saviour of the rich and of the poor, king of the master and the slave. Christianity presents each generation with an "hibridez." A model different from the world's in which we find that we are more similar than different. So now when I read how Don Quijote is cruelly used by the nobles for entertainment I can remember that Christ offers hope to Don Quijote and forgiveness to the nobles. When I find myself confronted with the atrocities committed by despotic regimes I can remember that Christ redeems the torturer and saves the tortured. It's a new way living hope. I not only have hope for myself and those like me, but Christ demands that I have hope for the person who is my enemy, who is completely "other" than me. I must now believe that all can be redeem and that gives me hope.

Chavez, Obama and "The Open Veins of Latin America"

I was not surprised when I heard Chavez had given Obama a copy of "The Open Veins of Latin America" by Galeano. The history of opression and colonialism is an integral part of the Latin American identity which continues to determine much of the political climate in the region. While many may view the gesture as an affront to the American way of life, I view it as a desire to be understood. The rise and fall and rise again of leftist governments in Latin America and the constant ebb and flow of power can best be understood through a recounting of its history. Chavez gave Obama, and apparently many other Americans, an opportunity to understand a difficult history, one which is very different from our own. While some suggest that Chavez is pointing out that the U.S. is an evil and vile nation, perhaps he is merely asking for a chance to be understood. While this may seem naive, it is also naive to ignore the role that European nations and the U.S. had in exploiting and oppressing areas of Latin America. Instead of pushing away Chavez and other Latin Americans, maybe it would be healthier to read Galeano with humility and understanding. We won't agree with everything he says and we probably won't understand much of it, but at least we should give this very important Latin American voice a chance to be heard without preconceived notions or prejudices. Then we can move forward together with the realization that "they" are not so different from us and desire basic liberties and freedoms, true American values, just as much, if not more, than we do.

Welcome

This is my foray into blogging. We'll see how it goes!