Rant Of The Day: RACISM

I don't want this blog to become a negative place, full of meaningless rants on stuff I can't change anyway, but today something really bothered me. It started last night when I read a post on my friend Jeremy's blog. It was called "Native Americans Are People Too". You can read it here. It's a pretty long post, but well worth the read.

Now it's not that I've had my head in the sand, but after reading his post last night, I noticed stuff at work today that made me sick.

I am a hairdresser.

Or at least people seem to think I am. Because they sure seem to enjoy telling me just about everything (and about 95 percent of it has nothing to do with what they want to buy). After hearing a racist comment from a customer less than ten minutes into my shift, I decided to keep track of what I heard during the day. Here's the list:

4 comments about aboriginal people
2 comments about German immigrants
3 comments about Mennonites (not counting 'cheap' comments about Mennonites made by Mennonites)
1 comment about Hutterites
1 comment about French Canadians

11 racist, stereotypical comments. One day. Eight hours. And most of those came between 12:30 and 6 o'clock. Boy, it almost looks like we hate each other or something. And to come up with comments like these would seem to suggest that we ourselves are perfect. Whatever happened to "Love your neighbor as yourself"? When I think of racism I think of problems in the deep south in the US...KKK, whites against blacks, lynchings, the kind of stuff the media likes to jump on. But we've got our own brand of hate up here, that's for sure.

The saddest part is there's no solution for it. The governments have been educating us for years...all the way through school...they create equal opportunity legislation...advertisements always have to have people from different races and cultures, etc. But what good has it done?

As a Christian maybe it's a little easier to understand. I know that without God's help, I can barely love my friends, never mind my enemies. I guess it's crazy to expect someone who isn't a Christian to love people the way God intended.

Lest I get carried away at pointing the finger, I must confess that at times I have made these comments myself. In school it was always so easy to make jokes about Aboriginals, and Mexican immigrants. I was too much of a coward to stand against it, and actually believed a lot of it. What a moron I was. If I could take it back, I would. That's the thing about words though...you can't take them back. You can apologize, ask for forgiveness, but the damage has been done. We often make a comment and then say "just kidding", or "I was just joking", but what we say is just the evidence of what we're thinking. Jesus said "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks". (Luke 6:45)

Thankfully God has softened my heart over the last few years, and helped me see people for who they are. One thing I've noticed though...when I'm tight with God, things like loving people come so easy, and when I drift from God, it's so easy to slip back into the garbage.

So that's my rant. Chose love, not hate. And don't put up with it when those around you say it. Not sure what to say? Well, today after hearing one guy complain about Aboriginals for a while, I said "so....what's wrong with you?" He said "What do you mean?" I said "well you just told me everything that's wrong with them, are you telling me you're perfect, or you just don't want to talk about it?" He turned beet red and said "yeah, I guess you're right". Maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea in every situation, but I think God expects us to do something.

I'm not sure this all came out the way I wanted it to. I was thinking about it all day, but I find it so hard to put it into words. Never been a real eloquent speaker...or a writer for that matter. I'm almost embarrassed to think that my friends and family actually read this stuff. But while what I say might not make sense, and I ramble somewhat aimlessly, God's Word always says it perfectly. So I will leave you with Luke 6:37

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged.
Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Give, and it will be given to you."

It's here!

Spring is here! Summer even! I saw it with my own eyes! Tasted it with my own lips! (Or taste buds I guess :) Yup, good times are here again. Yeah, I know what you're thinking.."Warren's fallen off his bike again and hit his head too hard"...yeah I know I should wear my helmet. But no, this time I'm not crazy...I'm not over-reacting.








WARKY'S IS OPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!







So after today's training session at the lake I purchased some of the finest health food available...a large Reese Peanunt Butter Cup Twister. Oh man. I cried tears of joy.

Ha ha, I'm such a drama queen ;)

But really...it is getting nicer.

Ideals?

There was this guy Steve talking at Celebration Night. As he was speaking, I was thinking "man, how am I going to remember this all...I better not play volley ball or anything, so I can remember it until I can get home and write it down". Well, I played volleyball. And do you think I remember anything? Actually I do...a bit.

His talk was about truth, but for a while, he talked about ideals, beliefs, etc. He mentioned how as young people, we are often very idealistic. We think we know what other people are doing wrong, how we would do things differently, and we are rather stubborn in our beliefs. And yet we very quickly change our ideas, or sacrifice them for the sake of convenience, fun, pressure, or whatever. He told us about the "True Love Waits" campaign. Remember that? I do...it was pretty big in the '90s. I remember seeing videos at youth, and at any concert or big event. Heard numerous speakers talk about it, and apparently there were millions of teens who signed commitment cards. I signed one. A survey was done somewhat recently of twelve thousand of the then teens who had signed the cards...pledging themselves to abstain from sex until marriage...well 88 percent of them didn't keep their promise. Eight eight percent. There is something seriously disturbing about that. Now I don't know all the details of the survey, and naturally I'm a little skeptical, but the fact remains: we have all these ideals, dreams, and rock solid beliefs, but when push comes to shove, we give. The stuff he said really made me think. 'Cause I know I am so like that...idealistic that is. I don't always realize it, but I am. Not so much that I think every one else is doing it all wrong, but I can be both stubborn, and a bit of a dreamer. If I had lived in the sixties, I would have been a hippie for sure. Growing up, I always wanted to be one. Maybe minus the drugs and sex, but definitely the rock and roll, the sweet VW vans, the long hair, and the sweetest clothes ever. Yeah. But how many of those hippies are still hip? How many of them are still fighting "The Man", fighting for peace, living out of a van, keeping it '"simple"? Not too many I'd guess. Nope, they eventually gave up some of those "ideals" to settle down and "bring home the bacon" as Steve was saying tonight. I wish I could bring bacon home with me.

So yeah...not sure where this is going...I guess believe in something worth believing in...something worth fighting...worth living for. And don't sacrifice them for nothing. If you're going to call yourself a Christian, then find out what it means to be one...what Christ himself called you to be, and then spend your life living up to that. Move forward. Be idealistic, but with the things that matter, and not with a "better than thou" attitude.

He said something else that was kind of cool too...something like if you feel like you've got too much head knowledge, and not enough action, ask God to change one area from knowledge to conviction. Without conviction, you can try all you want to make changes, but they won't last...you'll give up. Without conviction, we're lazy and spineless. It's the people with conviction who change the world. Not the ones with courage, strength, education, money, whatever...it's the ones who have come to believe in something so deeply, that they cannot exist without acting upon it.

Three Strikes, I'm Out

Ok...three posts a day is way too many, but I just read this article, and I really like it. So I thought I'd share it with you all. It's another article from Relevant (I've posted a few already...good stuff).

Relevant Magazine - A Deeper Walk: "A Story" by Stephanie Gehring

And So It Begins.....

Training that is...for this summer. Loaded up the pack and took a little hike at Lake Minnewasta. Tried out the new trekking poles. Wow do they ever make a difference. Way more stability...walking is more fluid...climbing and descending is way easier...especially with the extra weight of the pack. Only downside to them is that they put a pretty good workout on your arms and chest, and mine are...to put it mildly...not exactly ripped :)

Decided while I was hiking that I'll only do the Maah Daah Hey trail once this summer...I was talking about hiking it once with Heinrich, my uncle Paul, and Richard, and then doing it once on bike...but then I have no holidays for Sonshine Fest. And although I had talked about not going this year, I have come to realize that not going is a ridiculous suggestion.

Josh and I are also planning a one day attempt at the Mantario trail. It's a crazy-rugged trail through some prime Canadian shield near the Manitoba/Ontario border. It's a tough 40 mile hike, but Josh said he met someone last year who was attempting to do it in one day. So if he can do it, we're gonna give it a shot. Should be fun...uh yeah.

"I wanna be among the living
Not just, not just getting by"

- Bleach "Living"

It was absolutely gorgeous at the lake this afternoon. I over-dressed a bit and had to keep taking off layers...took my gloves off and had no problem...the sun was so warm. You could just about feel spring trying to come up through the ground, and fall from the sky. It won't be long now.

Went to The Vault this afternoon to see if they were going to have the new Bleach CD in tomorrow. Turns out they have one copy already, but she wouldn't give it to me today...I was like "c'mon, what's 24 hours?". She didn't go for it. But she did let me reserve it. Yesssss.

Project

So Liane and I have been memorizing a bunch of verses, and the other day I was going over them, and I made a list of all the uhhh, I don't know what you'd call them...qualities...character traits...whatever they are...you'll get the idea when you see the list...it's all stuff from the twenty verses. And I asked myself how I ranked on each of these things...pretty sobering. So I think my project is going to be to take one of these things at a time, and for a week, or a month, or however long it takes (I think some will take a lot longer than others...some likely take a lifetime) I'm going to try to make a conscious effort to work on it. So anywhoos, here's the list:

Love
Power
Self-discipline
Holiness
Righteousness
Faith
Peace
Endurance
Gentleness
Patience
Kindness
Humility
Happiness
Compassion
Forgiving
Loyalty
Determination
Courage

I think the first one I'll pick will be self-discipline. I happened to be reading about it in a book this morning, so it seemed kind of fitting. It's something I've always struggled with. Every time I've wanted to train for something, be it a big race, or whatever, I always start off strong, and then get pretty slack. And that's training for something I love to do...should be easy.

I used to procrastinate so much...it has gotten a lot better, but now, instead of just putting something off, I tend to forget it completely. It's kind of weird. I don't do it intentionally, but somehow I have trained myself to forget. Maybe it's because I've got so many things going on at once. Life is busy. Too many hobbies, too much to do. But it's really no excuse. Maybe I don't concentrate enough when people tell me something, or we're making plans. Which would really boil down to just not caring enough about the other person. At any rate, here are some areas that were mentioned in "Against The Wind" where we need to exercise self discipline:

Time Management - it's not that I don't do stuff with my time, but there are so many good things to do, it's all about prioritizing...what's good, what's best.
Prayer
Studying and Learning
Finances
Maintaining Relationships - this has only become more difficult now that I'm dating Liane...it's inevitable, but not impossible...just takes a conscious effort to spend time with other people.
Work Ethic
temperament
Developing Gifts
Stewardship
Conversations - was reminded of this at college and career last night

Should be enough to keep me busy for a while anyway ;)

Stacey, Liane, and Ellie
photo by Warren Thiessen Copyright 2004

two hundred and fifteen feet. over twenty stories high. no ropes. no harnesses. we didn't get to ice climb due to a group rental, but this was pretty cool too. I'm not scared of heights, but this was almost crazy enough. and once you got twenty feet off the ground, it was so windy you had to yell at someone who was only five feet away. the tower was swaying pretty good in the wind too. good times. good to know I'm not too old to do stupid things every now and then ;)
photo by Warren Thiessen Copyright 2004