READY Unit Part 3

So this Sunday's video and discussion was perhaps a bit harder than the previous, and I want to take a moment to remind you all of something I think is VERY important to remember, but that I perhaps don't stress as much as I should:

I don't expect you to have all the answers and I don't expect you to 100% understand everything we discuss.

I really, really don't! We talk about some deep things in youth group BECAUSE I don't expect you to have spent much time thinking through them before this- though I always offer the opportunity for input if you already have. These are things that all of us will spend the rest of our lives trying to puzzle out. The point of faith is never to feel like you understand every nuance and every possible outcome of a situation or a question- the point is to be engaged in it, searching for God in every moment of your life. And the beautiful thing is that you WILL figure some things out, and that God won't leave you to plateau with that revelation. He'll give you some new insight to puzzle over; you get to keep growing your entire life, or at least, as long as you're willing to grow.

So we talk about these things to give you a start, to help you think, to help you explore- what are the impacts of your own life? What are your passions and what are your gifts and what are your struggles? Sunday was a discussion of struggle- and when we pick up again in a few weeks, we'll go over our strengths and explore ways that others have contributed to the overwhelming goodness of God's kingdom on earth.

So. The struggles. And particularly the struggles we don't want to see- the ubiquitous human condition called "Willful Blindness." Otherwise known as refusing to acknowledge what's right in front of your face. Missing the forest for the trees. Sticking your head in the sand.

These are not the areas of darkness we have no clue exist. Willful blindness is first and foremost WILLFUL. Intentionally ignoring something because we don't want to admit that it might just be true. Knowing there might be an issue and refusing to do anything about it. And we all of us do it- for better or worse, it's a coping mechanism. So why do we do it?

• Fear of having to change jobs, relationship status, routines, homes, etc.
• Fear of retribution or personal danger (i.e.- the number one reason people don't call out the mob)
• Apathy
• Disbelief/Overconfidence in humanity- no one could really let things get like that!
• Analysis Paralysis-  conflicting areas of concern may make you feel so paralyzed as to how to react that you simply ignore them both
• Distraction- having too much on your plate may make it easy to jump to another, more pleasant idea or simply force you to think about the next most urgent thing instead
• Lack of knowledge- feeling like you don't know enough to do anything; usually combined with other issues (such as distraction/lack of time to research or fear of what more information might call you to do)
• Lack of integrity- not caring whether your beliefs and your actions/lifestyle are in agreement
• Disbelief in equality of persons- "Who cares what happens to them? They deserve what they get."
• Personal state of mind- when you're overwhelmed by something else in your life, you may be incapable of dealing with any other issues

Once we know why we choose to not explore an issue, and we recognize that not all of them are personal moral failures, we can start to explore some of those areas that we've been intentionally ignoring. It's important to note here, though, that you can acknowledge areas that you've been willfully ignoring without feeling like you need to tackle all of them at once. That would be horribly overwhelming and your burnout would do even less good in the end! Better to start acknowledging one (or two or five or...) and then pick just one issue to explore. If you find that it leads you into another area of blindness, and you have the energy to explore that, then continue on! But also feel good that you've started, no matter how quickly you move forward.

With that mindset of new beginnings, we started our list modeled after the El Salvadorian subversive cross- things that we know are problems but might be willfully ignoring. Our list is ongoing- I want you to keep adding to it as you see issues, any time you feel the urge. Whether or not you can take action on the issue at this moment of time, simply writing the word for others to see might just encourage and inspire them to take a stand (for an example of this, click on the video below). Recognition is always the first step forward!

If you'd like to do a bit more exploring on the subject of willful blindness and the positive pieces of this challenge, I invite you to watch this short clip from an interview with the ever-brilliant Margaret Heffernan. She does a great job of explaining how tackling the challenges might not be as hard as we think!

And, as always, I invite you to get together with me outside of youth group to go over things we that you have questions about, want more information on, or simply need a set-apart time to process!

5 Minutes of God Time: The Cave by Mumford and Sons

READY part 2

We left off last week with a video that showed a white man asking some personal questions of a stranger, an Asian woman, and then attempting to "bond" with her through his impressive cultural knowledge (which, of course, consisted of having eaten at a Mongolian BBQ place and knowing a phrase in Korean). Her response was unexpectedly similar (though a bit exaggerated) to his line of questioning, and it brings us to a question:

What were his expectations for that interaction? I'm guessing he thought he was being worldly and open-minded, and he planned to impress her with his awareness of a culture different from his own. He thought he had her pegged. She, on the other hand, had MANY phrases about the English culture to throw back at him- and rather than be impressed that she knew so many cultural references, he was weirded out and kind of disgusted. A bit of a double-standard, don't you think?

As we ponder this, I'd like you to watch this clip of a TED Talks video featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, a Nigerian author. She tells the danger of a single story, but she's far from alone in recognizing the potential outcomes: John 8:1-11 also tells what can happen when we have only a single story (what did the Pharisees think defined the woman?). And even Hitler's propaganda about the Jews can show us what happens when we decide that a person or a group can only be defined by one narrative.

But belittling someone's story down to the point of denying their humanity and their right to live can be an extreme example (though certainly one that's relevant!). What about the other, less extreme but still very dangerous outcomes? They might include insensitivity to differences, denial of opportunities (they're all criminals; they don't deserve it), ignoring someone's voice (it couldn't really have happened that way; they just want to rewrite history), negative emotions and reactions without basis, unwillingness to help (they should just help themselves), and low expectations (Astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson has a wonderful explanation of what the might look like).

So we know some of the dangers of the single story. We've started exploring how it might play out. Now let's look at groups for which we might have a lack of personal narratives: your lists may include African Americans, Native Americans, homosexuals, the 1%, transgenders, stay-at-home moms, businessmen, drug addicts, alcoholics, priests, welfare queens, soldiers, immigrants, the elderly, homeschoolers, public schoolers, etc. Single stories can be positive stories (ignoring any negatives) or derogatory, or even something you just haven't considered much (to help you clarify which is which, try to categorize Adiche's roommate's expectations of her). There is no one list for everyone. The only commonality is the low number of varying perspectives that you've been exposed to to help you understand the actions, motivations, and goals of the individuals within that group of people.

We ended with a question: What are you going to do about it?

5 Minutes of God Time: Multiplied by NeedToBreathe

READY part 1

We kicked off our READY (Revolutionary, Engaged, And Driven Youth) Unit with some questions about social justice and about our places in it.

We know the church is called to be in the world but not of the world- but what does that mean, practically, for us? Does it mean we don’t interact, that we are here only while we must be- but we will separate ourselves from the rest of society, much as the Amish have, in order to preserve the purity of our way of life and keep ourselves from temptation? Or do we follow along the lines of an impassioned naturalist and a certain wild-haired genius, believing that every decision we make every single day has an impact- and so not only can we not separate ourselves, to attempt to do so would condone that which we're avoiding?

It's a question we wrestled with as a group, and we will each continue to wrestle with for the rest of our lives- how and when and why would we get involved with things that will make us angry, make us sad, and make us sick?

Assuming there is a reason that we SHOULD be involved in issues of justice, it's important for us to take a look at what we have to bring to the equation. Each of us has a background that we've been born into, one that forms how we understand the world. We don't get to choose that background any more than we get to choose our parents or our hair color. It's our socioeconomic background, our race, our gender, our culture. Luckily for us, though, we aren't stuck with only that background any more than we are stuck with our original hair color. We can name it, unpack its nuances, and decide to explore the same process in others- combining our knowledge into a more rounded, integrated perspective of what it means to be human.

So where do we start? We start by asking ourselves some questions, to get a grasp of the limits and norms we've inherited:

• What are the books we read growing up? Who was the hero/heroine? Who was the villain? What did they do? What were the books about? How was selfishness, individuality, or loyalty viewed? How were different races portrayed? Were there different races? What about gender roles? Were certain locations featured more than others?
• What about the movies? Along with books and other stories, we often start to internalize the ideas presented in media as normal, right, and desired.
• How do our families “hang out?” Do they watch movies or play games? Do we go to parties or spend time alone? Do our families value museums, zoos, non-compulsory education? Again, these normalize what "people" do and how they behave.
• Who do our families hang out with? Do you spend time primarily with people who have similar backgrounds and interests? Do you have family friends of different economic status, abilities, races, sexualities? The people in your life either challenge or reinforce how you understand the world- which can be either good OR bad!
• What do you expect from your life? Will it be generally positive? Can you achieve the American Dream? Our experiences give us a glimpse into what's possible- are you constantly enveloped in the message that you can be anything? Do you hear that you won't amount to a hill of beans? Is life full of possibilities or disappointments?
• What do you think about when you hear the words:
• Poor
• White
• Immigrant
• Asian
• African
• Mexican
• Wealthy

To help us understand our preconceived notions (which, by the way, we have to have in some form or another in order to make sense of the world- though it's important to remember that that's no excuse to not seek out a greater depth to those expectations), we looked through some pictures:

 

 

We then watched a video and talked about where we thought the video would go at the beginning and where it ended up, our impressions of the video's "snapshots" and even our reactions to small things, like the main character's purchases. It's important to pay attention to the little surprises and expectations, as they give us insight into what our prejudices and preconceived notions are; they don't always match up with what we know consciously!

And finally, why is it so important to pay attention? So we don't end up like this guy.

On a more serious note, the things to ask yourself while watching the comedy video: Would I ask those personal questions of someone who looked like me? Why/why not? Would you expect a person of color to ask those questions of you? Why do you think she got so annoyed with his questions? Do you think she had heard them before?

And that was our day! Stay tuned for how our final video links to next week's topic!

5 Minutes of God Time: Heart Like You by Love and the Outcome