Re: Fw: Get to know a ...

I'd like to add to this a couple of items:

Get to know a person with suicidal depression. Understand where they are
coming from, and why an end of life seems the only option to them. Listen
and accept them for where they are. Surprisingly, it can help, and your
acceptance and willingness to listen without judgement can alleviate their
suicidal feelings.

Get to know a person who practices self-harm (cutting etc). I got to know a
goth teenager via the internet who used to cut herself to blazes. She
increased my understanding enormously. Paradoxically, self-harm is a
survival strategy. She asked people to post poems they'd written about
self-harm on an internet site, and I wrote one for her and posted it,
representing my attempt to understand why she did it. She was very pleased
with it, and not at all offended by the overtly Christian imagery I'd used
in the poem.

Iain

On 3/19/06, Carol or John Burgeson <burgytwo@juno.com> wrote:
>
>
> Bob Schneider recently urged us to "get to know an atheist." Good advice.
> To counteract the "us vs them" world view, that advice ought to apply to
> many categories.
>
> Get to know a Muslim. I had never done that -- till my Presbyterian
> church in Denver decided to join with other religious bodies, including
> two Catholic churches and two Jewish groups, to build a Habitat for
> Humanity house for a ... Muslim. I got to work with this gentleman, a
> naturalized native of Egypt, 13 years an American, and a devout Muslim.
> We had much more in common than differences. When we hit our thumb with
> the hammer we had similar comments!
>
> Get to know a gay or lesbian. I have done that. The ones I know, all
> devout Christians by the way, are decent, caring, people. They do not
> wear horns nor do they seek to "corrupt the youth."
>
> Get to know a homeless person. Can't say I have done that, although I
> have had more than a few encounters and conversations with persons that
> fit this description. I worked in a food bank in Durango for about a year
> -- it was an eye-opener to meet with, and help, people who were so far
> down on their luck that 40# of food could make a real difference in their
> lives.
>
> Get to know a Catholic (or Protestant if you are Catholic). I am
> fortunate in that one of my very best friends, once a colleague at IBM,
> is a full Catholic priest, having become one after his wife died. My
> wife, similar, has a great relationship with a certain Catholic nun. We
> are richer because of these people.
>
> Get to know a Mormon -- 7th day Adventist -- etc. A Native American, a
> person of a different race (I'm good at this, having three adopted
> Koreans and two Vietnamese daughter-in-laws).
>
> Bob's admonition -- "Get to know ... " will enrich your life, and go a
> long way towards a more civil society. Shoot -- I even have Republican
> friends! They, too, don't wear horns.
>
> Dick commented: "H'mmm, take an atheist home to dinner? "Hi, honey, I
> brought an atheist
> home tonight. I know, it was a cat burglar last night and a serial
> rapist last week ..."
>
> Well, friend wife and I just had two people who claim atheism over for
> pancakes last week. Fine people. Someday we may win them to the gospel.
> To equate them with the other two categories is simply ludicrous.
>
> Dick continues: "And what does your friend say when you share the gospel
> with him?"
>
> They are polite and sometimes we have a civil conversation. They were
> both at a memorial service last week (first time I've known either to be
> in a church service) in which my wife, pastor of the Rico Community
> Church, preached the gospel. They were not offended.
>
> Burgy
>
>

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After the game, the King and the pawn go back in the same box.
- Italian Proverb
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