Will the poor always be with us?
by Bryant Myers
SojoMail 6-15-2005

One sometimes hears Christians, tired with the news of poverty and exploitation around the world, try to deflect the news by reminding us that Jesus said, "The poor will always be with you." This is offered as a way to stop the conversation.

Did Jesus say this? Yes. Does it mean what it appears to mean? Not really.
So what does this troubling phrase mean?

The unforgettable woman
Jesus' statement comes in the context of a story that really has nothing to do with the poor directly. It does have to do with a woman whom Jesus said we would all remember as long as the gospel is proclaimed.

Late in Matthew's account of the life of Jesus, just before the Lord's Supper and his arrest, we are told that a woman, whose name we do not know, poured expensive perfume from a jar onto Jesus' head and worked the perfume reverently into Jesus' hair.

Jesus knew that the woman was honoring him by mimicking the preparation of the dead for burial. She understood before most of the rest of Jesus' followers that the cross is where Jesus was headed.

The disciples, full of self-righteousness, criticize this act of devotion. What a waste of money, they say. The perfume could have been sold and given to the poor.
Jesus' reply is withering: "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me."

Jesus understood the meaning of her act and considered it a wonderful gift. Perhaps we are to remember her because of her insight into the future sacrifice of Jesus and her costly sacrifice to her Lord.

It is at this point that Jesus says, "The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me," referring to Deuteronomy 15. Only he and the woman seemed to understand that Jesus would not always be with the disciples.

The mistaken activist
There is an important lesson here for Christians who do relief and development work among the poor. Too many Christian activists are ruining their health and destroying their families while justifying the zeal because of their commitment to the poor.

In the name of the poor, activist workaholics suffer from poor health and burnout, and they damage their spouses and children.

This is not a gospel stance. This is not what Jesus asks us to do. Our devotion must be directed at Jesus, not the poor themselves.

While we certainly are supposed to love our neighbor, especially our poor neighbor, we are to worship only Jesus. The woman understood this and the disciples did not.
Getting your spirituality and worship right is key to sustaining one's service to God and the poor.

The unintended poor
By now you've probably figured out that I am not comfortable with the way some Christians take this statement of Jesus out of context.

But my disappointment is deepened by the fact that a little curiosity as to where Jesus came up with this statement reveals a rich and challenging understanding about God, his people, and the poor.

The section of Deuteronomy that Jesus refers to begins with a complete contradiction of the claim that the poor will always be with you. "There should be no poor among you," states the law in Deuteronomy 15:4.

Really?
This unambiguous claim is followed by the reason why this is so. "For in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you."
The land that God is going to give Israel has more than enough for everyone. There are to be no poor because there will be enough.

And more than enough. "For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none" (Deuteronomy 15:6).

There will be a surplus, a surplus that can be traded with the nations of the world.
I can believe this, because I believe that the loving, caring God who created the world for humankind could never have intended a world of scarcity. The God whom I worship would never place humankind in a land that was unable to provide for life and life abundantly.
I can believe this before I can believe that God intended that the poor would always be with us.
But there is a condition to the promise. "He will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today" (Deuteronomy 15:4–5).

The blessing and abundance of the Promised Land are dependent on the faithfulness of God's people to God's commands.

It is at this point that an apparent contradiction enters the text: "If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend to him whatever he needs" (Deuteronomy 15:7–8).

How can this be? We've just been told that "there should be no poor among you," and then we are given instructions as to what to do if there is a poor person. Did Moses get confused? Is this a contradiction?
I don't think so.

The ones who failed
There will be poor in Israel, not because God's Promised Land failed to provide, but because human beings were not faithful to God nor to each other. There has to be provision for the poor in the Promised Land, not because God failed or intended it, but because Israel failed.
And so it is today, I suspect. It is a fact that there is enough agricultural production today to feed every human being on the planet. Yet people are dying of hunger, and children are stunted because of chronic malnutrition.

It is not that God's planet cannot provide; it is that we do not follow God's commands. We neither love God nor love our neighbors.

What Jesus really meant
So what did Jesus mean when he said, "The poor you will always have with you"? Did he mean that poverty is something we should tolerate because it is just the way things are? Was Jesus asking us to tolerate poverty?
I don't think so.

First, Jesus was making a point about worship. The only reason Jesus brought the poor into the conversation was in response to the self-righteous misreading of the devotion of a woman we are never to forget.

Second, Jesus was being ironic. By referring to the passage from Deuteronomy, Jesus was reminding the disciples that the only reason there are poor in God's abundant creation is because of human sin and self-centeredness.

The disciples did not care about the poor as much as they did about trying to make points at the expense of the woman.

"The poor you will always have with you," was a rebuke to Jesus' disciples.
The passage in Deuteronomy closes with a command. After the verse, "There will always be poor people in the land," we find this: "Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land" (Deuteronomy 15:11).

I think God knew that God faced a profound contradiction. God's world is productive enough to meet the needs of all. Further, human beings created in the image of God are creative and productive enough to make it so.

Yet the sin in the human heart and the curse of a fallen creation means that God's world will not be what it was created to be.

Even though God never intended that there be any poor, he also knew that there would always be poor people as long as there are sinful people in the world.

Jesus' statement about the poor always being with us is intended to shame us, to remind us that this is a true statement only because we have failed. Jesus never intended to justify tolerance for the presence of poor people in the land.

The message for us
What can we conclude from all this?
First, Jesus was not excusing the presence of poor among us. He knew full well that his Father provides more than enough through his creation.
Jesus was reminding us, with some considerable irony, that the poor are here because we have failed to keep God's commands.

Second, the real lesson from Deuteronomy is that unrighteousness — of those who are not poor and of the poor themselves — is the cause of poverty. At the most fundamental level, sin distorts our relationships with God, with each other, and with our world.

Our relationships do not work for our well-being, and the result is poverty, racism, and other expressions of injustice. Poverty was and is not part of God's intention.

Third, to tolerate poverty by excusing it in Jesus' name is an insult to our Lord who so consistently extended his affection and touch to those who were poor, sick, and suffering.
It makes a mockery of Jesus' statement of his mission in Luke 4:18. God's commands in Deuteronomy regarding the response to the poor among us are clear.

Finally, our response to the poor is to be openhanded. Moreover, we are to enjoy sharing what God has given us. "Give generously to him (the poor) and do so without a grudging heart" (Deuteronomy 15:10).

The result of this attitude of sharing is that the "Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to." Caring for the poor is good for us!
As long as we live in a fallen world, we are to be openhanded, to lend freely, and to do it without grudging. If the loans are not repaid after seven years, we are to write them off. The goal is caring for our family, not running a business.

After all, if we were doing our job, there would be no poor. It's our fault, not God's.

Bryant L. Myers is an author and the vice president of international program strategy for World Vision International. This essay appeared in the May 2003 issue of World Vision Resources.

incase you were not aware...
bono was on meet the press sunday.
for a half hour.
w/ tim russert.
the other guest was donald rumsfeld.

he's a heavy hitter that bono.
his legacy won't simply be a man who pushed the envelope musically;
but also as a man who did something honorable w/ his namesake.
you should watch it.

today's chewable vitamin
what happens to a dream deferred?
does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
or fester like a sore--and then run?
does it stink like rotten meat?
or crust and sugar over--like a syrupy sweet?
maybe it just sagslike a heavy load.
or does it explode?
~ langston hughes

a-i
#c-d
:)

c. i thought about posting how i seemed to of hit a emotional threshold and can't handle discussing current events w/ people that may disagree w/ me.

d. i thought about posting about why that might be.

c.
so i wrote a post about the sudan,
and i called some important people bad names.
it wasn't purty- let's just put it that way.

i don't like myself when i get that way. i don't want to be a know it all- and i don't want to be perceived as one. the internet is an odd bird for me. as one of my astute, enormously intelligent and whitty friends pointed out- it can be an easy medium to be a smart ass and raise a bunch of guff in a fairly unproductive way.

this is not a commentary on the importance of what is happening in the sudan. it is important. it is important to talk/ write about. it is important to have more dialogue.

for me, the bottom line is that at some core place; while i find people at that are opinonless about politics, foriegn affairs and the like a bit dull (which is not the case for my blog peeps)- what is even more of a challenge is to engage in a constructive way people that think differently than me (which happens on occassion w/ my blog peeps). sorry if that was a run on sentence.


d.
the reason why a threshold was crossed for me? well- many factors. but the easiest and most clear explanation is that i have begun to identify more closely with the problems in sudan, and africa and more broadly.

this is coupled with how the argument of the u.s. government's action/inaction can be rationalized with, 'what's happening in darfur is a complex situation'- just does not compute for me and sends me over the edge. the factors that contribute to genocide may be complex.

history's account of the genocide around the world over the last century alone- do not factor in the finer points of complexity and bullshit. history accounts the bottom line. numbers of innocent people killed or displaced b/c of the color of their skin, religion etc- who were the perpatrators and players, who intervened, and who watched it happen.

today's chewable vitamin:

"no u.s. president has ever made genocide prevention a priority,
and no u.s. president has ever suffered politically for his indifference to its occurrence.
it is thus no coincidence that genocide rages on...

despite graphic media coverage, american policymakers, journalists, and citizens are extremely slow to muster the imagination needed to reckon with evil. ahead of the killings, they assume rational actors will not inflict seemingly gratuitous violence. they trust in good- faith negotiations and traditional diplomacy. once the killings start, they assume that civilians who keep their heads down will be lift alone. they urge cease-fires and donate humanitarian aid. "
~ samantha powers
(courtesy megan who is reading
a problem from hell: america and the age of genocide.
i get first dibs to borrow it after she's done. so back off.)

(and no smarty pants- i don't have any forgiveness issues w/ my three yr old niece)

today's chewable vitamin
Jesus prayer was, 'Father forgive the; they know not what they do.'
aprayer born in death, writhing with pain.
a prayer risking faith, facing sorrow.
a prayer living in hope, seeing the future.

my prayer was, 'God, how can i forgive them? the do know what they did.'
a prayer saying, 'it still hurts'.
a prayer wanting vengence.
a prayer seeking direction.

my prayer became, 'God help me forgive them; they know what they did.'
a prayer saying, 'theywere wrong.'
a prayer wanting reconciliation.
a prayer seeking courage.

my prayer became, 'God forgive them; they know what they did.'
a prayer that wresetled w/ justice.
a prayer that acknowledges weakness.
a prayer that found hope in God's love.

my prayer remains, 'God forgive them; they know what they did.'
because forgiving recreates life from death.
because forgiving cleanses the healing wound.
because forgiving build the bridge of freedom."

~ jared pingleton from the role and function of forgiveness

a-i
#b :)

b. i thought about posting about how sad i found the coverage of the michael jackson trial to be.

i know all the hooha has quieted down a bit and this is old news. but i only write about it to fulfill my commitment. i hope this doesn't sound elitist; but i get impatient w/ how low brow and decadent our country's taste in what makes the news.

june 14th: michael jackson was declared innocent of being a sex offender.

also on the same day...

democracy a bad word for Chinese bloggers.
approximately 6000 people died of AIDS in africa.
1000 congolese died in the civil war there...

things that also happened that day(and in history) that were more noteworthy.

1811 june 14th: harriet beecher stowe's bday.
she authored a history changing book- uncle tom's cabin.
1940 june 14th: nazi germany marched through the arch of triumph in paris for the first time.

last week in history:

1862 :the u.s. congress outlawed slavery in the u.s. territories.
1971: thurgood marshall was the first black judge nominated to the supreme court.
1996: the USSR held their first democratic elections. boris yeltsin won.
1996: ella fitzgerald died.

today's chewable vitamin:
"it dawns on me more and more how trivial and short our lifespan is. it is like smoke; like a butterflyÂ?it passes so quickly, flying away. nobody, no one can bring back wasted years. one wishes that one would have always lived with eternity in mind."
~ emmy arnold

a post about my friends...

today's chewable vitamin:
"... i think, often so great and so firmly based that each member of the circle feels, in his secret heart, humbled before all the rest. sometimes he wonders what he is doing there among his betters. he is lucky beyond desert to be in such company. especially when the whole group is together, each bringing out all that is best, wisest, or funniest in all the others. those are the golden sessions; when four or five of us after a hard day's walking have come to our inn; when our slippers are on, our feet spread out towards the blaze, and our drinks at our elbow; when the whole world , and sometimes beyond the world, opens itself to our minds as we talk... who could have desrved it?"
~ c.s. lewis

+++

"where are they today?"
a thru i

a. i thought about posting about some of my favorite people from the past ten years and where they are today.
b. i thought about posting about how sad i found the coverage of the michael jackson trial to be.
c. i thought about posting how i seemed to of hit a emotional threshold and can't handle discussing current events w/ people that may disagree w/ me.
d. i thought about posting about why that might be.
e. i thought about posting my top ten off the beat and path things to do in columbus and ask that you share yours.
f. i thought about posting my top five favorite passages in scripture.
g. i thought about posting about congress and how they apologized this week. but then i remembered c-d.
h. i thought about posting a story about when i learned how to drive a land rover defender near the serbian border and how it totally kicked ass.
i. i thought about what i might write in relation to the 10th step experiment.
j. i thought about posting my favorite images from art (across period).

today's topic
a. i thought about posting about some of my favorite people from the past ten years and where they are today.

"where are they today? "

tricia d.:
i became friends w/ tricia working in the residence halls at ohio state. we were both r.a.'s and we were both new christians. we severed ties w/ many of the same entanglements and wanted to impact our friends for jesus. i always felt like tricia was kinda over the top for jesus. it honestly kinda scared me. in hind sight- i know this to be a great goal for me.

tricia is living here in columbus and married to a guy she dated towards the end of college. they have two little girls moriah and seylah. i feel like a schmuck friend b/c i have yet to meet their youngest daughter.

carrie w.:
i like to tell people that i lied to carrie the first significant conversation we shared (this was during a time in my life when i was so profoundly dilluted-i didn't actually know how to tell the truth). i love carrie so much it actually hurts to think about it. i actually grunt sometimes thinking about it. we met and became friends one month after i gave my life to the Lord. let's just say i was a bit of a mess. i had a mouth like a salior (still a work in progress) and i was just completely undone by the direction i had taken my life. she also told me that it was not my responsibility to produce holiness in my life. she explained that my responsibility was to submit to the holy spirit. she loved me- and her love was the first realization that Jesus loved me. i was changed b/c of the expereince. she is a life long friend.

carrie moved from columbus last year to direct the u.s. staffed campus minitry for campus crusade. over the years- we've traveled the world together, lived together and cheered eachother on.

lori a.s.:
lori reads this here blog on occasion. lori and i became friends on a missions trip and our bond was laughter and an east coast accent. her's was authentic and mine was not. lori and i lost touch after college and over the last two years have been back in touch. lori walked w/ me through one of the most pivitol times in my life. infact she helped orchastrate a weekend that helped me flesh out my followership of Jesus. the content of the weekend was that i really got- for the first time- that i had no other choice than to forgive and love my enemy. i got for the first time that this was key to following Jesus.

lori and her husband live in dayton with their two children laniee and johnathan. we i.m. late into the night and those conversation often prove to be the relational highlight to my week.

karen b:
karen was one of the first christians that i met after i became achristian that i felt really 'at home' with. i identified closley with her life expereince and she talked frequently about Jesus in a way that seemed very intimate and attractive to me. she talked about how Jesus was healing her heart. i would listen to her and part of me would think, 'what the hell is she talking about' and the other part would really long for the same experience. she also introduced me to life at vineyard. back in the day when that creepy mime guy was part of worship. we have remained close friends over the years. she has been so great to me and loved me through many different stages of life and friendship.

karen lives here in columbus, is active at our church and works w/ troubled kids.

alana r:
alana and i met when i was a junior and she was a freshman. she was my first jewish friend. she had alcohol poisoning and i took her to the emergency room. i got to share about my expereinces w/ alcohol poisining and how i didn't have to drink every day anymore and how Jesus got the credit for that. later that year; she started calling me in the middle of the night to tell me she couldn't stop reading the bible and how she was staying up all night reading about the life of Jesus. she began to not only like Jesus but love Him. it was very cool to witness. over the next couple of years- we were inseperable.

alana works in the cinicnatti area for an insurance ccompany. i'm not in regular contact w/ her- but i miss her tons. she taught me what it means to count it all as loss compared to the surpassing greatness of Jesus.

marsha h.:
marsha and i both lived on south campus and became friends through crusade. somehow- being friends w/ marsha changed my outlook on what was really important in life. our friendship helped to realign me to what Jesus thinks is important. marsha has a wonderful heart and i really appreciate her candor and outlook on life w/ Jesus. she has no pretense to her and it continues to endear me to her.

marsha lives here in columbus and sometimes drives home w/ us after church on saturdays.

the albania years...
john w.:
was an unrequited love who i was paired with to help lead a team for one year in a small east european country named albania. basically- it was hell on earth- emotionally atleast. but knowing john gave me a mold and aspiration of the kind of qualities i decided to pray for in a husband. he was a wonderful friend to me during a very difficult year.

john and his wife live and work in east asia w/ college students. they have a boy caleb and one on the way.

kyla d:
annette a.:
these were my beloved roommates while living in albania. we almost killed eachother. we were the only english speaking women within four hours drive through hairpin turn- mountainous- bunker dotted dis-repair of a country-albania. if there was something to disagree on- we did. but by God's grace we resolved to bring our conflict to a close each time- and these two women and i have formed a friendship that has been tried and will remain. to this day; i consider tham my green baret friends. they would do anything for me and me them. we are in sporadic contact w/ eachother and count one another as friends of a different grade.

kyla and her husband michael moved from chicago after seminary to work in boston at a church. they have two munchkins.

annette and her husband will live in the indianapolis area. they work on a project called the b.u.v. project to help give the three fouth's world a reliable and cost effective way to transport goods to aid in economic viability.

kristen d:
kristen was like a relational life preserver in albania. she lived fourteen (i think) hours from me in a country the size of new jersey. she served to be a wise and willing sounding board for many of the trials and tribulations that i experienced that year. everytime we saw eachother we talked non-stop. she married a guy on her team (dave- who is also my friend) and they lived a number of years in columbus afterwards. we saw eachother often and remained pretty involved in one another's lives. she was so supportive during my dad's illness.

kristen and dave and their three new daughters (triplets!!!!!- gabby, annalise, and sophia) live and work in the cincinnati area as pediatricians.

liz s.:
liz may very possibly be the funniest person i know. she was on kristen and dave's team in the southern portion of albania in a city that was on the border of greece. you know that passage of scripture about out doing eachother in love? well- liz and i tried to do that only w/ humor. she usually won. she actually spit on me once. which is a whole nother story all together. we did have a lot of significant content to our friendship as well. in the summer, we were travel buddies from this small villiage in the albanian alps into the capital tirana to pick up missions trip participants from the airport to our base camp- where they would be based to show the Jesus film. so we generally had good conversation until her motion sickness kicked in and she barfed on me.

liz married a guy named chris and they live and work in scotland with the pca missions board.

cyd kniffen:
cyd was my 'discipler' which is campus crusade lingo for mentor on a summer missions trip in 1993. we remained friends over the years and eventually both ended up in alabania at the same time. cyd ended up serving long term with campus crusade in albania until just recently. she always called me a kindred spirit. that meant alot to me. i looked up to her lots and she really handled me and my heart with mercy and love during a very tender era of my life. i appreciated that she didn't despise my brokeness and somehow identified w/ me. which i didn't feel at the time that it happened very often at all.

she relocated to long island and is newly married to a juliard trained albanian musician.

+++

these relationships and many like them have been pivotal in my growth as a christian. i wouldn't trade them for the world.

actual conversation...
time: 6.15am

m: [alone, asleep in bed]. thinks to self, 'what is that noise?'
[goes to investigate]

c: [singing in shower]

m: 'can we make a rule that there will be no singing of worship songs until 7am?'

making history...

first off- tune in next week for a-i list mentioned in a post earlier this week.

just wanted to note that there are a couple of things of intrest to me happening around the world this week. some may even consider them to be things that may change the course of history.

the united states senate's atonment for the scuff they put up.

the uscongress has thankfully put some more boundaries on the us patriot act.

today in iran...
gave new perspective to my bitching about standing in line for three hours november 2nd 2005.

Iranians Vote After a Campaign of Violence and Moderation
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
TEHRAN, June 17 -

Iranians began voting today after an unusual campaign season wound down
Thursday, one that was defined by a field of candidates who all emphasized
moderate platforms aimed at reforming the system and yet was also marred by
extraordinary violence.

There were 12 bombings in the days before Iran's presidential election, killing more than 10 people and wounding dozens more. A campaign office was set on fire, seriously injuring at least one volunteer.

People were beaten while campaigning and posters were torn down, and on Thursday, a day before voters went to the polls, the departing president warned of a dirty tricks campaign aimed at undermining the race.

President Mohammad Khatami said in a letter quoted by the official news media, "It seems there is an organized movement to hurt the glorious process of the elections."

Without identifying who was behind that movement, Mr. Khatami said in the letter that he was referring to the "disruption of gatherings, beatings, illegal pamphlets and spreading lies to ruin candidates' reputations regardless of political inclination."

Iranians are accustomed to their share of political violence, with clashes between riot police and demonstrators a nearly routine part of this country's discourse. But the explosions, which have taken place across the country, have raised concerns that political extremists have escalated their tactics.

Some of the conservatives, who control the all-powerful religious arms of the government, have accused the United States of sending in proxy "mercenaries" to suppress voter turnout and embarrass the Islamic-based government.

But a rising chorus of reformers have blamed extremist conservative forces for the violence. Polls show that the conservative-backed candidates are not expected to do well in the elections today, and that they may not even make it into a runoff election, if one is required.

"We have never had security issues in the country before the elections," said Saeed Laylaz, a political analyst and journalist who has written for several reformist newspapers. "We must see who is losing the game in the last minute. It seems that somebody does not like what will happen on Friday."

Leaving little doubt who he suspected was responsible, he added, "The conservatives have lost the game." The bombings have also underscored the tensions that rest just beneath the surface here, where anxiety and fear exist side by side with the images of a democratic election process. Protesters were beaten by baton-wielding riot police on Thursday for chanting antigovernment slogans while seated in a public park. A witness said the protesters had been chanting about freedom when the riot police roared up on motorcycles and on foot and charged the crowd. The witness was a security guard at a shop across the street - who looked out the door to see what
was happening and was also beaten. "The police came and beat people
indiscriminately," said the man, who did not give his name for fear of reprisal.

There are seven candidates in the race for president - an eighth withdrew Wednesday - and the front-runner is considered to be Ali Akhbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former two-term president who has run as a moderate
pragmatist.

Dr. Mostafa Moin, a reform candidate who was initially barred from the race by religious conservatives, has surged and may have moved into second place, political commentators say. None of the candidates are expected to draw more than 50 percent of the vote, the amount needed to win outright, so the contest is expected to be decided in a runoff scheduled for the following week. Supporters of Dr. Moin say the violence around the country increased as their candidate's prospects improved.

"It is all politically motivated," said Issa Saharkhiz, an adviser to Dr. Moin, in an
interview at his campaign headquarters. "The situation changed when the polls
showed Dr. Moin in second place, and that the conservatives will not go to the
second round."

Many reform-minded voters, those who turned out in record numbers to elect Mr. Khatami in 1997 and again in 2001, had been expected to boycott this election, opening a door for conservative candidates. But late in the race, Dr. Moin's candidacy suddenly became credible, and his opponents began to fear that those who had been considering a boycott would instead come out to vote. The theory among some of Dr. Moin's supporters is that the explosions were aimed at keeping those voters home.

Dr. Moin's campaign was further unnerved on Thursday by a fire it said had been set in a campaign office in the small town of Hormoz, near the Persian Gulf, seriously
injuring a volunteer. Saeed Shariati, a reporter with the newspaper Iqbal, which
supports Dr. Moin, said he had confirmed reports that party officials had said
they were sure it was arson.

The interior minister, Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari, said in a news conference on Wednesday that the bombings were not all directly linked and that only the first blasts, in Ahvaz, near the Iraqi border, were carried out by a "professional terrorist group" that had contact with people overseas. He said there had been some arrests made in that case and that more were expected. He did not give any more details.

As for the rest of the explosions, he said, investigators have concluded there was a
political element involved - though he did not say who was responsible.

Nazila Fathi contributed reporting for this article.

the truth is
i have no idea what it going on.

i just wanted to say that.

this is my sister and brother in law at their wedding this past winter in lagos.

what to write about
i'm not sure what to write about today- but i felt like posting.

i thought about posting something about the things i'm looking forward to this summer. but then i realized we don't have anything stellar planned for the coming months. no vacation to speak of, no visitors (that we know of)... we do have some sporadic outings w/ friends that i'm looking forward to. we're going to picnic w/ the pops which should be enjoyable. my brother and his family should be coming for a couple of days in july and that will be fun.

i think i do better when i have something to look forward to. one thing i like looking forward to is an event or a time of rest. so maybe i should get something on the calender.

but i sometimes think that i like more drama and crisis in my life.
then when i get some- it wrecks me.
then i remember that it is a good thing
that my summer will be composed of reading, bike riding and swimming.
people would beg for my problems. not to pat myself on the back or anything-
i'm just saying that sure- my life isn't excatly what i thought it would be-
but i got it pretty good.

here are some other things that i thought about posting about but didn't. please let me know if any of these interest you...

a. i thought about posting about some of my favorite people from the past ten years and where they are today.
b. i thought about posting about how sad i found the coverage of the michael jackson trial to be.
c. i thought about posting how i seemed to of hit a emotional threshold and can't handle discussing current events w/ people that may disagree w/ me.
d. i thought about posting about why that might be.
e. i thought about posting my top ten off the beat and path things to do in columbus and ask that you share yours.
f. i thought about posting my top five favorite passages in scripture.
g. i thought about posting about congress and how they apologiezed this week. but then i remembered c-d.
h. i thought about posting a story about when i learned how to drive a land rover defender near the serbian border and how it totally kicked ass.
i. i thought about what i might write in relation to the 10th step experiment.
j. i thought about posting my favorite images from art (across period).

today's chewable vitamin
"teach us to give and not count the cost."
~ st. ignatius

this is my sister megan and my niecey.

happy birthday megan!

we celebrated my sister's birthday tonight (her actual bday was saturday).
it will be fun.
i love her and her family mucho.

today's chewable vitamin:
14 bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 live in harmony with one another. do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. do not be conceited.

17 do not repay anyone evil for evil. be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "it is mine to avenge; i will repay," says the Lord.

20 on the contrary: "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. in doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
21 do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
~ romans 12.14-21

it's not you, it's me....
i posted a vent. probably not the thing for me to do.
i did it nonetheless.
i took it down.

i took it down for a couple of reasons.
generally speaking- i don't want to name call.
also, i don't know how to handle the level of emotion this issue arouses in me.

when this happens-
i can tend to loose my sense of ownership of my words.
my tolerance and love level gets low-
then i stay up all night thinking about the sudan and how i need to go and what is happening there right this very second. then i really loose it.

it is certainly a topic worth talking about and discussing.
i just have to figure out a way to do it that is productive for me.

more soon.

chewable vitamin:

gwen: "it's not you, it's me....
george: 'you're giving me the 'it's not you, it's me' routine? i invented "it's not you, it's me."
nobody tells me it's them, not me. if it's anybody, it's me.'
gwen: 'alright, george, it's you.'
george: 'you're damn right it's me.' "

- george castanza and gwen,
breaking up, in "the lip reader"
seinfeld

basically, my nephew is the next jeter.

today's chewable vitamin
"christ said, 'go and give all you have to the poor and become the servant of all men,' for if you do that, you’ll become a thousand times richer because your happiness won’t be made just of good food, rich clothes, satisfied vanity, and appeased envy. instead it will be built on love, love multiplied by love without end. and then you will gain not just riches…but the whole world!"
~ dostoevsky

our weekend
and how basically,
i'm nigerian.

we had a very eventful weekend. for starters, as i wrote in my previous post- it was our anniversary. we celebrated friday evening with some time at the book loft, schiller park and dinner at the old mowak. i took friday and tuesday off which was particularly great. i got some gardening done which is a labor of love for me. we also witnessed the vows of a dear old friend of mine teresa kobelt (formerly crohen) on our anniversary. that was very meaningful.

the highlight was saturday when we attended the anam development foundation buisness meeting. this is the equivelent of a county of nigeria where charles hails. jennifer (my sister in law) came in for the meeting (from new york city) and stayed with us over the weekend. the meeting was held in dayton. it's very cool to see how common and foundational the 'give back' mentality is in immigrant culture. member families pull their money in the form of a 'due' and tackle a problem at home. the availability of electricity was something that we (really they- the meeting was mostly in igbo so i got only a little content) talked about. in the past- the emphasis has been on education and mobilizing kids to goto schools.

i was the only non nigerian person there... i've decided that i think everyone should be a minority for some alloted portion of life. maybe a day, maybe a year, maybe more. but it was a really good experience for me. my sister in law was kind enough to bring me a new booba (traditional garb). saturday night we had a party and everyone was totally decked out in tradtional wear. we ate lots of different stuff and i am continuing on my quest to learn igbo.

one thing that was particularly wonderful was how warmly i was greeted. charles assured me that being an inter-racial (or intercultural) couple in nigerian culture is not stigmatized as it is in american culture. i was happy that the first context proved to be incredibly gracious and welcoming to me and to us as a family. i got a lot of hugs and kisses and chances to charm with my limited vocabulary. the little yoraba i know also stunned a couple of people.

everyone that's older than you is called an uncle or an aunt (out of respect); peers are called cousins. regardless of blood line. while this served to confuse me a bit (b/c i'm still not sure who we're related to); i understood it's not as important to know that (who we're related to)- the most important thing is the interconnectiveness and responsibility to help eachother. i got a good dose of other centeredness and remembering that american society has lots to learn.

if you've known me for one day- you know that i love being irish. saturday made me so happy that i get to own another proud heritage. i loved being immersed in nigerian culture. granted it was only a day- but it was wonderful.

i will post pictures soon.

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addendum:
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i also just wanted to add that i learned that if someone appears to be yelling at you in conversation- this is not an indication that the someone is angry- it is simply an indication that the conversation is a good one.

this is a repeat leason from albania.