11.11.2005
A Concise Update
I am taking midterms this week, as well as seriously considering the Amish lifestyle.
10.27.2005
"Grace for the Village People" by Tiff
This is an essay about how I deal with where I work. At first glance at the title, you may think my clientele are a bunch of old people who wear plaid and leather, refusing to give up their glory days of disco dancing. But for those of you who do not know, the place I work, Boys’ Village, is actually a treatment facility that treats adolescent male sex offenders (juveniles). Some people might think of my job as taking a risk, a waste of time, or simply a bad resume builder. Some would even go as far to say that working with these kids is inhumane and sickening. In other words, not a job one would say...when I grow up I want to be a child care worker.”
However, I choose to see my job as a responsibility and an opportunity to reach out in a unique way. No day is the same at Boys’ Village. Each day brings new challenges and obstacles. Especially when you are a young female working with high levels of testosterone! Although I have to say that boys are easier to work with than girls…trust me!
Everyday I go into work I wonder what obstacles I’m going to face, whether it be just a petty argument or a full out fight that I have to breakup by restraining one of the boys. Although it is not the perfect job (what job is?), I choose to go into work everyday realizing that I have an opportunity to change the young criminal minds before they become REAL criminals. I try to see my job as a privilege to work with these mentally challenged kids because I have the opportunity to teach them something valuable that they may not have learned elsewhere. Many of these kids come from broken families and have been abused themselves. In fact, one becomes a sex offender because they have been offended first. Sad, but true. This is reality folks.
Here’s some disturbing stats for ya to ponder…
- One in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before reaching age 18.
- One in five children is sexually solicited while on the Internet.
- Less than one in 10 children will tell.
- An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse live in America.
*Statistics from the Akron Beacon Journal, “Abuse of Daughter Spurs Woman to Act,” September 7, 2005.
So what you may say, this is our world today. Whether we realize it or not, we have some control in this. As Dan said in his last writing, we have a choice – we can sit back and watch people fall through the cracks or we can build a relationship and mentor them. I am choosing the difficult path, facing my fears, and going against reason to make a difference and to give grace to these troubled boys. Most people would say they don’t deserve it, but did we Christians deserve the Grace Jesus so abundantly gave us? Check out Matthew 18:23-35 (The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant) and ask yourself what it means to be a good steward of His grace. This is why I go to Boys’ Village everyday.
Let me hear what you think. What does it mean to be a steward of grace? Is it right to hold a society accountable for the problems of individuals therein? In what ways are each of you out there showing grace to others?
However, I choose to see my job as a responsibility and an opportunity to reach out in a unique way. No day is the same at Boys’ Village. Each day brings new challenges and obstacles. Especially when you are a young female working with high levels of testosterone! Although I have to say that boys are easier to work with than girls…trust me!
Everyday I go into work I wonder what obstacles I’m going to face, whether it be just a petty argument or a full out fight that I have to breakup by restraining one of the boys. Although it is not the perfect job (what job is?), I choose to go into work everyday realizing that I have an opportunity to change the young criminal minds before they become REAL criminals. I try to see my job as a privilege to work with these mentally challenged kids because I have the opportunity to teach them something valuable that they may not have learned elsewhere. Many of these kids come from broken families and have been abused themselves. In fact, one becomes a sex offender because they have been offended first. Sad, but true. This is reality folks.
Here’s some disturbing stats for ya to ponder…
- One in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before reaching age 18.
- One in five children is sexually solicited while on the Internet.
- Less than one in 10 children will tell.
- An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse live in America.
*Statistics from the Akron Beacon Journal, “Abuse of Daughter Spurs Woman to Act,” September 7, 2005.
So what you may say, this is our world today. Whether we realize it or not, we have some control in this. As Dan said in his last writing, we have a choice – we can sit back and watch people fall through the cracks or we can build a relationship and mentor them. I am choosing the difficult path, facing my fears, and going against reason to make a difference and to give grace to these troubled boys. Most people would say they don’t deserve it, but did we Christians deserve the Grace Jesus so abundantly gave us? Check out Matthew 18:23-35 (The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant) and ask yourself what it means to be a good steward of His grace. This is why I go to Boys’ Village everyday.
Let me hear what you think. What does it mean to be a steward of grace? Is it right to hold a society accountable for the problems of individuals therein? In what ways are each of you out there showing grace to others?
10.17.2005
Culture Wars
As he brushed by me on the heavily trafficked sidewalk, my automatic response was vigilance. I wanted to keep my eye on this man, to make sure he did not pull any suspicious moves. However, after he brought food over to his wife and children, interacting lovingly with them, I was deeply disappointed with myself.
You see, under normal circumstances, I am extra alert when someone in a crowd makes any sort of bodily contact with me. I see myself as an equal-opportunity kind of guy; I don't trust anyone, no matter what color they are. But something unique about this man made me watch him with heightened suspicion. Maybe it was the turban on his head, or his long beard; perhaps it was his golden skin. Either way, I was confronted with my own depravity.
Our brilliant friends in the media and in Washington have programmed us to view Muslims/Mid-Easterners as prone to violence, creating an internal response that would allow a fair-minded human to watch another with suspicion. It's the same treatment they gave German-Americans during World War I, as well as Japanese-Americans in World War II, even the ones that wanted nothing to do with the conflict.
To those of you who have heard the arguments against Islam, the arguments which caricature a power-hungry, anything-goes militarism, I would say, "Be careful." If you use this argument against them, it will come right back at you. Consider this entirely hypothetical conversation between a white conservative evangelical American and an Arab Muslim from Saudi Arabia:
American: "You people have no value for a human life! How could you take your women and children, and strap a suicide bomb to them?"
Arab: "For the same reasons that you rape yours."
Some points to consider:
-Every culture has its sins. While we hear of bombs going off everywhere in some parts of the world, our own sexually-charged culture has fanned the flames of an ugly epidemic right here in America.
-Just because some sins run rampant within a culture, we cannot assume that ALL within that culture follow suit. All Muslims are not militant any more than all Americans are rapists.
-There are problems within our own contexts with which we need to deal. This involves more than simply showing up to an abortion clinic with protest signs. That accomplishes NOTHING. What we need is more support for those good causes that keep people from falling so far through the cracks that they have nowhere else to turn. It involves supporting Crisis Pregnancy Centers. It involves building relationships with and being a mentor to people who do not have a good example, who may possibly turn to these sins if we sit back and let them.
-Profiling, though supposedly justified by the FBI, has no place within our private lives. We in this country have a problem getting along with people from different backgrounds. It's time we stop doing those things that cause separation and start doing those things that foster understanding.
You see, under normal circumstances, I am extra alert when someone in a crowd makes any sort of bodily contact with me. I see myself as an equal-opportunity kind of guy; I don't trust anyone, no matter what color they are. But something unique about this man made me watch him with heightened suspicion. Maybe it was the turban on his head, or his long beard; perhaps it was his golden skin. Either way, I was confronted with my own depravity.
Our brilliant friends in the media and in Washington have programmed us to view Muslims/Mid-Easterners as prone to violence, creating an internal response that would allow a fair-minded human to watch another with suspicion. It's the same treatment they gave German-Americans during World War I, as well as Japanese-Americans in World War II, even the ones that wanted nothing to do with the conflict.
To those of you who have heard the arguments against Islam, the arguments which caricature a power-hungry, anything-goes militarism, I would say, "Be careful." If you use this argument against them, it will come right back at you. Consider this entirely hypothetical conversation between a white conservative evangelical American and an Arab Muslim from Saudi Arabia:
American: "You people have no value for a human life! How could you take your women and children, and strap a suicide bomb to them?"
Arab: "For the same reasons that you rape yours."
Some points to consider:
-Every culture has its sins. While we hear of bombs going off everywhere in some parts of the world, our own sexually-charged culture has fanned the flames of an ugly epidemic right here in America.
-Just because some sins run rampant within a culture, we cannot assume that ALL within that culture follow suit. All Muslims are not militant any more than all Americans are rapists.
-There are problems within our own contexts with which we need to deal. This involves more than simply showing up to an abortion clinic with protest signs. That accomplishes NOTHING. What we need is more support for those good causes that keep people from falling so far through the cracks that they have nowhere else to turn. It involves supporting Crisis Pregnancy Centers. It involves building relationships with and being a mentor to people who do not have a good example, who may possibly turn to these sins if we sit back and let them.
-Profiling, though supposedly justified by the FBI, has no place within our private lives. We in this country have a problem getting along with people from different backgrounds. It's time we stop doing those things that cause separation and start doing those things that foster understanding.
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