A dialogue between some SM3 students and CFers took place yesterday and we discussed on the topic race and prejudice. Several incidents related to this topic occurred this year ( - for you to find out ).
On one hand, we can say that emotions got the better of a handful. They exploded, went out of control, were not culturally sensitive or conscious about the role they play in society. And yet, as we analyze these little little things that cause the build-up, we should identify that bit of imperfectness in ourselves, be it Singaporeans, foreigners or mankind in general.
Today I came to the passage of Exodus 23. Verse 8 says this.
" Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt. "
My initial thoughts were that we, Christians of this era, lack the experience that these Israelites had. We certainly were not enslaved in Egypt. And what comes after is that the absence of this "foreigner" experience will not bring us to "know how it feels to be foreigners".
But on second thought, don't students like us go for exchange and become foreigners for a short period of 6 months? Do my initial thoughts still hold in the light of reality and scripture (Matt 7:12)?
In a culture where we default to making everything all about ourselves, do we bother to consciously, put ourselves in another person's shoes and think, "How will I feel when others do this to me? How do I want others to treat me?"
Or perhaps we should start by asking, why should we even bother to do so? Are we convinced that we should?
May the Lord help us to love others and embrace diversity in a way that pleases Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment