Today I found myself sitting on the sideline watching my little sister's soccer game: the epitome of the American Dream. Nearby, a parking lot full of shiny gas-guzzling SUVs proudly displaying political stickers on their bumpers glistened in the mid-morning sun. I wondered how many hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on that specific advertising effore alone, and how far we could have progressed in the way of "fighting the war on terrorism" if we had devoted even a fraction of those funds to the education of boys and girls in Afghan refugee camps in Peshawar.
I listened to the coach, who happens to be a deacon at my church, SCREAM at the nine-year-old girls on his team. What? I mean, WHAT? It's soccer. They are nine. Keep your pants on, dude. It's October. It's sixty and sunny. Enjoy the day (and forgive me, but I've had a year to think about it, and the Love I share with the Living God cannot be likened to a baseball diamond by any stretch of the imagination).
To be fair, I was experiencing these events while reading the story of the first girl in Baltistan to receive an education beyond the fifth grade level. Her name is Shakeela. "I'd like to become a doctor, and go to work wherever I am needed," she says. "I've learned the world is a very large place and so far, I've only seen a little of it." My sentiments exactly, Shakeela.
After listening to the team mom pressure the couple sitting next to me into signing their daughter up for a tournament in Dahlonega next month when he'll be out of town on a business trip and she'll be struggling to find someone to keep the kids that night during her shift at the Ronnie Green Heart Center, I made a commitment to myself, the Lord, my future family, and a group of children not yet born on the other side of the world. I will abstain from participating in this portion of American culture.
So don't be surprise if I peace-out on the U.S. for a while after I finish school. The opportunity for an excellent education has been freely handed to me. I didn't have to fight for it, and nobody told me that a woman's place is to work in the fields - that it's a waste of time to fill my head with knowledge that I will never put to use. It will be a joy to see that others, less fortunate than myself, benefit from that gift: Grace.
"If you really want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate girls." -Greg Mortenson
2 comments:
I'm not crazy about switchfoot, but you should listen to their song "american dream," or at least read the lyrics to it. I think jon foreman says a few interesting things that agree with what you've said here, like, "I want out of this machine / It doesn't feel like freedom," in reference to the way we do things here. I think the most problematic part of recognizing the flaws in the american dream is merely abstaining from it, and not allowing oneself to judge those who participate in it. good entry kirby.
mostly i just judge
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