A Thought on Rebound

I'm working hard to fill in the gaps that still exist in this blog, and hope to have it all done by Monday. But I just had a thought, not about the past month, but about the future.

One thing I did while I was here, somewhat unconsciously at first, but with a growing sense of purpose, was to act as a bridge. The concept first really cemented itself when I interviewed Pastor Ohm in my attempt to connect the fund-raising efforts of Mocha Club with its actual application in Cape Town. The idea then extended itself to the rest of my visit, as I realized I was doing the same thing on a more intimate basis, connecting the people I met with other people from where I was coming from. I will then come home and tell stories the other way around.

I just found an article on my school's website about how just this week on January 12 we had more than 65 foreign diplomats, traveling with the U.S. State Department's "Experience America" project visit SMU and the Meadows Museum of Art. The reason for this, apparently, was that diplomats have commented that though they work between countries and represent foreign presence in America, many of them have only seen DC, New York, and various capitols relevant to their work.

This made me think... wow! Diplomats who haven't even really experienced the culture of the country they're visiting! How is that even possible? Now I wonder if these people, many of whom have doubtless been brought up to be what they are, trained for many years, do they even have a sense of the real people of their own countries? (Especially now they've been in America for however long?)

It's clear to me that the world is in serious need of bridges. Bridges have to have solid foundations of either side of the divide they cross.

I don't know where that little revelation will take me, but it sure feels important!