Each day in a new place is filled with a variety of experiences to which you have little of your previous life experience to compare. A plate is sat in front of you, and you gratefully eat, experiencing the new tastes and textures. Your eyes are constantly open, much like that of a baby child in the first weeks of life. You take in everything you can. This is a sort of thing that I relish, and Diriá gave me an opportunity to dive into a different culture and experience it in 3D.

   I eventually emerged from my private listening session to eat some breakfast and take a walk about the town. Cobblestone streets are lined with houses, many of which are offering various goods  — ice, fruit,  tortillas. With nearly no industry, financial survival in Diriá is a day by day process. In fact, despite the famly-owned shops selling everything from coca-cola to internet connections, the only sign of people working was a crew of men who were installing a sewer in the streets.

   That morning, we had a meeting with the mayor and talked about the 70% unemployment rate. She asked about the unemployment rate in the United States. Embarrassed, I explained about the “financial crisis” and the astronomical 8-something percent rate here. We laughed together at the absurd disparity. All that day, in every person I met, I would go on to notice items — worn and used– which were made elsewhere, imports made by someone else, somewhere else , while most the families of Diriá scrape by a cordoba at a time.

   Now, to be fair, Diriá is not a poor place. While they acknowledge their struggles, they do not appear to be beaten down by them. In fact, only once did I see the look of poverty, that familiar face which I saw so often in Ethiopia and on the streets of U.S. cities. It was the “santo” or holy day of San Jose de Los Remates. Gun shots had signaled the arrival of this day, and the community sprang into motion, preparing for a day-long commemoration which began with prayers, coffee, and pastries around an icon of Jesus encased in glass. A mother brought her two children, looking for the bread. Her look reminded me of what I expected to see.

    Yet, this is one of the things about poverty. It is relative. It is pervasive. It is often under our noses and we miss it. When we expet to find it, we don’t. It is multi-faceted, and impossible to understand from afar. In fact, it’s impossible to understand from up close. In Diriá, I was reminded once again of the complex nature of poverty, politics, and struggle, and the tremendous responsiblity that we have to do something, or perhaps better — to be something in response.

It was Saint Patrick’s Day, and my red head was hopping from plane to plane on my way to Central America. As my thoughts drifted high above the clouds somewhere between Wichita and Managua via Memphis, Atlanta, and Miami, I reflected on the giant unknown that lie ahead as I prepared to enter by myself into a country in which I had never been —  with an undefined agenda and a wealth of uncertainty dangling from my shoulders. I had read about Nicaragua for months—history, literature, poetry, and academic articles–  but this was my first date with the country, and I was nervous. The next nine days were my initial opportunity to get acquainted with the country of poetry, poverty, and the shadow of Sandino.

As the last of my four flights landed skidded down the runway to applause, I descended the jet bridge to see the outline of the ever-present Sandino giving “Bienvenidos” to all. Incidentally, the first impression of the Agosto Cesar Sandino International Airport was as expected—functional, but unimpressive. However, in leaving the same airport, you are launched into a high class shopping mall—assaulted by the smell of perfume and persistent advertisements to buy duty free rum, coffee, and cigars. It looks more like Fifth Avenue than Managua. The unwritten message seems to be that it is better to be leaving Managua than coming.

After making my way through immigration, I sauntered towards the large glass doors, pressed with masses anxiously looking for their relatives and friends. In the midst of this sprawl, I found the words “Mr. Kirk” on a sign just beyond the glass doors. Holding the sign was Octavio, the main worker for Books for Life in Nicaragua and my guide for the first days of my journey. We soon loaded the car and began the 40 kilometer drive past markets, small towns, and countless pedestrians en route to the community of Diriá, chatting in Spanglish along the way.

Diriá is a small, rural town along the main “highway” between Managua and the colonial city of Granada. A little more than 9,000 people share the 189 square kilometers of the municipality. As in many places in Nicaragua, Diriá’s population is dominated by young people — many of which attend one of the community’s schools – and by poverty.  Jobs are remarkably hard to find with over 70% unemployment. And despite this, Diriá is a proud place, famous for its gorgeous “Laguna de Apoyo”, a remarkably clear lake formed by an ancient volcano.

After driving for about an hour into the setting sun, Octavio made a left turn into the easy-to-miss community of Diriá. We navigated through the dark streets and came to a stop in front of a row of doors. There I met Nydia and Daniela, my host family for my time in Diriá. Octavio waved goodbye, and I was alone–  a solo red-headed gringo in this rural Nicaraguan town. Saint Patrick’s Day was winding down. No one seemed to be celebrating. Nydia and I watched the United States play Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic until I could stay awake no more. I was led to my nice bed in a large internal bedroom and swiftly drifted asleep.

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This is the first in a series of posts documenting my travels in Nicaragua during March 2009. Subscribe below to get email updates when the next post comes out. Gracias!

My question is this:

How do you feel about abstinence-only sexual education programs and their effectiveness? What approach would you suggest?

Your email:

 

•  the longest, most expensive political campaign in US history resulting in the election of Barack Obama to replace the Bush regime…we learned that the impossible is possible, but that politics is a dirty, expensive game
• the wax and wane of armed conflict around the world from Darfur, Sudan to Afghanistan to Somalia to Colombia to Gaza…we learned that war is unfortunately not gone out of style
• the global economic meltdown following consistent deregulation of financial markets and rampant greed…we learned that we do have limits after all

Yet, my thoughts this morning are not nostalgic about this past year, but directed, rather, into an unknown future. I am optimistic and hopeful about what lies ahead. I believe we have the opportunity to make wonderful changes for the common good. Yet, I’m afraid that we may fall back on our own habits of the viscious cycle of Western thought that fuels an inequitable world focussed on “me” rather than “us.” The key will be how active and engaged we become in our communities. Will we remain on the sidelines, leaving the future to the “powerful”? Or will we embrace the power that WE have and pursue a better world together?

I’d like to share with you two meditations that I have read this morning. The first is from the Christian devotional writer, Oswald Chambers:

“Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistable Future with Him.”

Of course, for Chambers, the “Him” is God. But, regardless of what your belief may be, I was astounded by these wonderful adjectives. Our past truly is “irreparable” and must be left behind. But is the progress towards the future “irresistable”? Is this future tide a wave which must be ridden and not conqured or reversed?

NExt, I ‘ll share with you the Odu Ifa meditation which is spoken on the last day of Kwanzaa.

Let us not engage the world hurriedly.
Let us not grasp at the rope of wealth impatiently.
That which should be treated with mature judgment,
Let us not deal with in a state of anger.
When we arrive at a cool place,
Let us rest fully;
Let us give continuous attention to the future;
and let us give deep consideration to the consequences of things.
And this because of our (eventual) passing.

Perhaps this is the key to our realization of future dreams: to give “continuous attention” and “deep consideration” to each action we take, again considering not just the personal impact, but the communal (i.e. the entire worldwide ecosystem–biological, spiritual, relational).

I just finsihed a reading of Dick Meyer’s “Why We Hate Us” in which he exposes the loss of social capital and collective self-esteem in American culture. In the last chapter, Meyer moves beyond indictment towards a suggestion of action. In this he describes authenticity (the goal of his vision) as a mountain which must be climbed. Yet, he is quick to point out that we must not focus too much on the summit:

Think only about the climb, about making decisions for authentic reasons. Those will, in turn, be unselfish decisions. Think about climbing well and being a good climbing partner to others. Don’t fixate on the summit.

We face innumerable challenges as we enter 2009. Tempers are flaring and bombs are falling all over this planet. Ice caps are melting and species are dissappearing. Communities all over this world are struggling with poverty, racism, sexism, malnutrition, mistrust, and fear. Yet, we must not focus on any of these big issues or we will be overcome with the persistent doubts and fear which lead us to the old habits of inaction and forfeiting of power. Rather, we must go with the tide of the authentic, carefully pondering each step, and doing so together, linking hands to reach the irresistable future together one step at a time.

Happy New Year!

I also recall watching “Charlie Wilson’s War” a few weeks ago. This film displayed the ability of the United States to buy weapons for the Afghani rebels, but failing to pay for schools or infrastructure in the aftermath of the victory. The result? An Afghanistan taken over by the Taliban, turned into a fertile ground for terrorism and the launching pad for the 9-11 attacks, and the subsequent loss of over 600 American Service men since 2001 with more troops on the way.

It seems to me that we must always be careful or today’s friend will become tomorrow’s enemy or visa versa. When we act out of bounds, violating international law and moral decency as we did in both Nicaragua and Afghanistan, the aftermath has tremendous repercussions which continue to this day. I find it remarkable that we criticize and vilify the Iranians for their support of Iraqi insurgents, which this is a tactic they learned from us. It appears we are doomed to make the same mistakes, moving from an ideological Cold War against Communism, to another ideological War against Terror. As engaged citizens, it is our responsibility to temper the activity of a near-sighted, arrogant government for the sake of generations to come both here and throughout the world.

My question is this: How do we do that? As residents of an increasingly Orwellian government, how should we oppose the persistent arrogant colonial bullying of our government towards the enemy of the day? As always, I look forward to your responses and the discussion that ensues.

I don’t write about spirituality too much anymore, and rarely will I quote “scripture,” but today I’ll make an exception. For the season of advent, I’m doing prayers through the Book of Common Prayer. It’s a nice prayer rhythm that I find is helpful. The BCP is rather heavy on Scripture readings, but does give you a snippet from various portions of the Bible and can be modified as you wish. So, this morning, I happened upon this juicy morsel from the Hebrew Scriptures, attributed to the prophet Isaiah:

“Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land! The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing: Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but
one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah. ” (Isaiah 5:8-10, NRSV)

 

It seems to me that this is an admonition to the greedy CEO’s and the Walmarts of our world. It’s a critique of unbridled capitalism in which the rich get richer and the disparity between the rich and everyone else continues to grow.  And could we suggest that, as we find ourselves in the midst of a recession that was the creation of unregulated greed, that our fields are not yielding as they should and our “houses are desolate.”

Last week, my friend Josh made a great point about the timing of prophetic voices. He suggested that it is in times of economic inequity and social injustice that prophets appear. My question was simple: “Where are the prophets?” And my question here is simliar:

1.  Where are the prophetic voices which preach sanity in the midst of our system? 

2.  What are you doing to be prophetic in your own life and oppose the tyranny of unchecked corporate greed?

This week we enter our holiday season with the celebration of two American folk holidays. The first celebrates the legendary gathering of Pilgrims and Native Americans in a feast to give thanks to God for their sustinence. The second pays homage to the capitalist God of consumer American greed, reminding us that no matter how much we have, it is never, ever enough.

This week we will flip on the television on Thursday morning to watch corporate propaganda fly by in the form of balloons and marching bands. We’ll injest food and occasionally look up from the newspaper full of ads to acknowledge the presence of family and friends. Yet, this day is just a warm up to what has become the greatest holiday in the insane, unsustainable American economic system:  Black Friday.

This week we will be told that if people do not shop and buy more than they did last year, than our economy is in peril. We will be enticed by coprorations to do the “patriotic thing” and spend our money on Tickle-Me-Elmos and laptop computers to “stimulate” the economy. We will be told that for the season of advent to be special, it must be expensive, and particularly more expensive than it was last year.

And we will offset our obvious greed with unprecedented, isolated acts of generosity. We will watch news reports about turkey dinners, new toys, and good deeds done for those less fortunate souls around us whom we ignored the last 11 months.  Uncontrollably, we will be moved to realize those that are left out of this economic whirlwhind, yet few of us will stop to ask how much better off these folks would be without the whirlwind in the first place.

I would suggest that it is time for a new holiday. If Thanksgiving must be relegated to a simple pre-festival day of commemoration (i.e. Christmas eve), than let it precede, not the insane, unsustainable practice of Black Friday, but the life-sustaining realization that we can Buy Nothing and be just fine.

What do you think?  Will you be shopping on Friday? Or will you take the Buy Nothing challenge?

But, I wonder if we can change this discusison by considering, not what is expected or normal, but what is possible. One of my favorite Buddhist authors, Thich Nhat Hanh says, “We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize?” So, my question this morning is rather philosophical, but perhaps practical in influencing how this week is lived:

What possibilities are you willing to embrace this week? What steps outside of the normal are you hoping to take? When this week comes to a close, how will your expectations be changed?

May this week open up many new doors of possibility for each of you.

The air is getting colder as we march towards turkey dinner. We’re another week closer, so without any further ado, here are my Quick Hits from around the web this week:

*  Gebrselassie for Prime Minister.The Ethiopian running legend has announced his desire to enter public office to “better the conditions of my people.” This man is the Ethiopian equivalent to Michael Jordan by a few times more. It’d be interesting to see if he could unseat the Meles government.

*  Mega-Church Pastor Sells his Church. Great article from Jonathan Brink on the Emergent Village Blog. How great would this be?

*  Two of my buddies have put out great posts this week. Ross writes about the idea of “gloriying” God, a phrase which absoltely drives me crazy. Steven posts a letter “To my fellow conservative friends” in the aftermath of the election.

*  Finally, from the God’s Politics blog, a quote from the amazing Emily Dickinson.  This may be the first time Emily has been quoted on this blog, but it should not be the last.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops at all.

- Emily Dickinson

 

Have a great weekend everyone!