Current Ponderings

It has been a busy week, therefore - not much photography or blogging going on. Between the AC breaking, working a few long days and trying to listen to the words of my heart that aren't quite coherent: life feels a little sluggish.

Here's a few ideas that dominate the landscape of my thoughts:

(1) The persona(s) displayed by the father and sons in the parable the prodigal son, namely the part where  "he sees his son still a long way off, and is moved with pity for him..." This is truly a gracious idea. The father's heart is for us. He sees us. He runs to us as we return to his home.

(2) This world and everything / everyone in it are completely subject to brokenness.This idea has changed the way I look at a lot of things; it is starting to free me from judgment of my brother. If I, and everyone with me, is subject to the brokenness of: our world, our systems, our governments, our schools, our agri-business, our global economics, our addictions..... We are all in the same boat. In the same fight. The words of Plato come to mind "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

(3) What does it look like to live freely in a country where, technically (by letter of the law)I am free, but in reality I am a slave to whatever has mastered me. So many things vie for my devotion: organizations, ideas, people, debts, commitments of all shapes and sizes. Sometimes I feel completely free, and other times I feel trapped. Not sure what makes the difference. Sometimes it is a fickle as what I ate for breakfast. I think this relates back to thought (1). If the father sees me, has pity on me and runs to me to celebrate my life and what it is to him, doesn't that truly make me free?

These are just a few of my current wonderings. The wife and I are getting out of town this holiday weekend to be free. Peace.

Commentary: Morality versus Incentives

Photo from Gizmodo.com

I don't follow much news these days, at least I don't feel like I do. I'm sure more headlines make it through my buffer zone than I intend and lately one of the stories that seems to be continually in front of me is the very sad case of multiple suicides (and even more suicide attempts) by wage laborers in the Chinese factory known as Foxconn.

Foxconn is located in Shenzhen which is less than 1 hour from where we used to live in Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong. A side fact: Shenzhen is where most Walt Disney World company paraphernalia is produced. And now I have come to realize that many Apple products such as the iPhone, iPad and iPod are produced there as well. It is unfathomable that this Foxconn company employs 400,000 people (nearly 10 times the population of the entire city that I live in), and that the facility operates 24/7.

To be completely honest: I'd really like to have an Apple iPhone. Although I'm sure once I start pricing monthly plans I won't want one as much, but they are an incredibly neat and handy device, not to mention well designed. Nonetheless I have been confronted with the reality lately that in so many ways I often support the very paradigms and institutions that in my gut - I stand wholeheartedly against.

Why is that I wonder?

In fact - how many ideals and paradigms do I support because the incentives are good for me and at the same time condemn these same ideals and paradigms in my morality? Let me see: the 40 hour work week, guilt tripping as motivation, consumer debt, the meat industry (actually we're pretty good at not supporting that one - being vegetarians and all), shame slinging, and judging by appearance just to name a few.

There is a chasm between the morality I wish to uphold and the incentives that drive my decision making. It was easier to take loans for college than to work my way though. I want and iPhone to support my life style so why should I care who in Shenzhen made it and what their state of living is?

One of the first ironies that come to mind is the comparison between who is being sold these high-tech devices and who is making them. Foxconn hires young adults generally between the ages of 20-30 (my age) to make the gadgets that I want to consume. Interesting.

Have you ever tried to remove yourself from the momentum of a social trend that you are very much a part of but are increasingly aware of its detrements? It is enourmously difficult. Like swimming against an undertow.

Growing up in Florida I can remember going to the beach as a child with my family, and as I would venture into the oceans waves to swim and play my parents would call out, "don't go too far - you'll get caught in the undertow." For me the undertow was always really hard to define becuase I would never notice it until it was too late. I was lucky that the undertow never dragged me deep into the sea, but what it would do is move me farther and farther down the beach as I tried to swim against it. So even though I was not getting totally dragged out to sea and beyond, I was being moved little by little farther from my starting point, or the place my parents had set up camp on the beach. The movements of social culture seem to be strangely similar.

All that to say: I find the situation in Foxconn to be incredibly tragic. It is unfortunate that such a high cost is associated with such neat devices. It seems to me that the social context of our economic incentives and morality will always be as invisible, deceptive and powerful as an undertow.

Commentary: Caught In the Middle

Sad stories like that of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from a BP oil rig never seem to hit home until I see a picture of a little animal affected by the mess. Like this Northern Gannet pictured to the left whose natural color, believe it or not, is white.

The human element is no less tragic. One story in particular makes us aware of the challenges facing the fishing communities of Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants. (Read it if you can.)

For some reason seeing the animals moves me differently. This is a tragedy that happens to them, not a tragedy caused by a means of keeping their world in motion. BP is a company that meets the needs which we keep them in business to provide, and there is an understood risk even if we don't stop to think about it until after a tragedy happens. (An interesting story with some different perspectives, not to mention some good facts and figures is HERE.)

I'm not in defense of the the oil companies. Neither am I on a quest to cause them to defend themselves. I'm caught in the middle. Caught between vindication and redemption. Between taking care of my own and rescuing others . Between greed and sharing. Between isolation and openness. Between being right and letting go. Between getting even and forgiving. Between longing for the redemption of all things and enjoying each moment for its unique beauty.

Caught in the middle is the nature of those who are on a journey through this land while at the same time seeing the Kingdom of Heaven in their their daily lives. I'm currently reading C.S. Lewis' book, "The Horse and His Boy." If you haven't read it, its a story about pilgrimage from a life of slavery toward a life of freedom. The horse in the story knows his citizenship is that of a Narnian even though he has been away for a long time. Time nor distance have separated him from his homeland he refuses to accept living in anything but the freedom of that kingdom. The boy on the other hand has never known such freedom but is willing to leave all in search of it.

Earlier this week I read on Winn Collier's blog a post reflecting on the Easter season. He writes, " We only need resurrection to go as much into life as our world has sunk into death." Its hard to believe that restoration will come fully to the gulf coast of Louisiana and Mississippi but like all things in this world - it will be restored. To those who are seeing the restoration around them, they will see even more of it. But to those who don't see it, they will continue to not see it in increasing measure.

To paraphrase Brennan Manning's thoughts about the old proverb "the eyes are the windows of the soul" - if our souls are cramped, threatened and filled with hurt, then that is what we will see in the world around us. But, if our souls are filled with hope, redemption and love then how beautiful the sights to be seen!