Monday, August 8, 2016

Take a Minute: Love This Place

I left for India from a nation with its flag at half mast....There's a fire station in Madison that I always drive by where you can't help but notice the flag pole out front. The flags on it stand out so vibrantly against the dark building so it's always easy to notice if our country is in mourning that particular day. On the morning I left for my trip, I glanced over as I always do, and for what seemed to be the one hundredth day in a row, the flags lifelessly hung halfway down the pole. I remember being somewhat glad I was leaving the country. With all of the chaos that had been going on, I felt that the rest of the world was possibly safer than here. "This place is falling apart," I disgustingly thought to myself.

We flew from Atlanta to Amsterdam and spent some time touring the city because of our long lay-over. It would be an understatement to say that I fell madly in love with Netherlands. The air there is so cool and clean to breathe, it's like you can't get enough of it. It feels so good filling up your lungs. The people are so friendly, and the shopping is incredible. And you know those few foods on earth that, even if you're being healthy, you just don't give two flips of guilt about eating because they're so good. Let me tell you that I ate a chocolate croissant the size of my face in a bakery there that made it okay for me to go ahead and die after I finished it. It was that good. I was actually upset that it melted so quickly in my mouth. On another high note, my history-loving heart was immediately stolen by the Anne Frank house, and all at once I found myself happily one hundred percent infected with the travel bug. However, Amsterdam in all of its European glory still didn't feel like home. And as I found myself traveling and loving every inch of the world I had never laid eyes on before then, I found even more love in knowing that when it was all over I got to go back to my house, to my home.

Despite my jet lag, I was then ecstatic to hop on the plane in Amsterdam and jump off in Dehli, India, our destination.

FEMINISM

One of the first things I noticed when I arrived in Dehli was a taxi with these words written on the back: "This Taxi Respects Women." (Most things are written in English in India because of their being under English rule for so long. No grandma, I did not learn Bengali while I was there.) I remember thinking, "Well that's good, I guess that just means that the driver is nice to women when they get in the car." However, I quickly found out that this phrase on the back of the taxi referred to the taxi actually stopping if there was a female in the road. How crazy, right? Who wouldn't stop for a human being in the road just because of their gender? But a week prior to our arrival, a ten year old girl had been hit by a bus and actually died from the accident, solely because the driver of the bus would not stop for her because she was female.

Listen, I get it. America has feminist issues. If I was in the same job as a man and did not get paid the same amount, I would be really upset and confused, but while we are pushing ahead to solve more issues like this one, may we also be really proud of our progress. We have a woman running for president for crying out loud! Not so sure she's the best girl we could come up with, but that is about as big an act of feminism as it gets. The reason I want to bring this to attention is to say this: Next time a man holds the door for you, or pulls out your chair, or a waiter asks your drink order before the males out of respect, please notice and appreciate it. It's hard to understand how good we as American women have it until you're in a country where a car won't stop to avoid hitting you just because of your gender.

POLICE

When I got back to Amsterdam, my heart broke as I heard about all that had happened in America while we were away, the largest incident being the Dallas Shooting. I don't know what happened in the incident to spark it because, to be completely honest, I wasn't there (and neither were you). All I know is that I have been taught my whole life to respect authority and be honest with them. However, I also know that in every profession in this world there are twisted employees, and there always will be. That doesn't mean we need to eliminate the entire human race. That doesn't mean that anyone has to right to take out any innocent group of people.

The reason that this incident especially touched my heart is that I realized such a love and honor for the American police while in India. Some Indian girls, caught and forced into the Red Light District, have pretty much only one hope, which is to somehow notify the police. (The Sex Trade of India is "illegal" there believe it or not). Nonetheless, most of their police are so caught up in the trade themselves, they never do anything about it, even if they do get a report or phone call. Sometimes, they pretend to not see the girl when they arrive to search the building, or they just ignore the situation completely. Can you imagine? Picture you get taken in America, and you get to a phone and call the police. You have a long conversation with them, and then they never show up to rescue you. Or they show up and pretend not to see you and leave, and suddenly your last glimpse of hope is obliterated.....I have full faith in our police officers that if I were ever in trouble and could stay on the phone and explain where I was and what was happening, I would be rescued, no question. And so would you. Don't ever take that for granted or disrespect that protection while the rest of the world has to try to survive without it.

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I'm not writing you all of this to persuade you that America is not as bad as it seems in the news. I do believe we're at war, and I do believe we have large issues we must handle to move forward as a civilization, but I am writing this to tell you that I've been to a place where the police are truly not on the civilians' side--and it is not what you want. It is frightening and unnerving and makes it hard to fall asleep at night. I've also been to a place where women are truly treated like dirt, and it is nothing like our culture.

So, next time you hear of an incident and want to take to Facebook, dogging the country you live in, don't. This culture has told you, screamed at you, that you deserve to be heard. You have to share your two cents on every problem that falls across your path, but God whispers something different. In the book of James, God makes it really clear that he isn't about all the complaining and empty chatter. It's actually where the phrase: Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk, comes from. James talks about how someone as a Christian should go from hearing about an issue, to doing something good in return. Never does he mention, "and in between, share with all of your friends your complaints and how stupid you think the world has become." God knows this one truth about the planet we've been put on: there will always be: an ISIS, lying, cheating, gossip, hard Presidential Elections that divide groups of people, sickness, death, SIN. But hasn't life has always been about the test of what you will do with what has been dealt? Whether it's a country-wide issue or a personal one...did you add to the world's dark chaos and empty chatter, or were you different and making others different, too? Let's appreciate what we've got. Let's appreciate this place.

Let my actions outrun my words. Let my life outrun my song.

Infinite X's and O's,
Claire