Learning

This will be the last blog that I write while I'm on this trip. I've learned quite a bit in this country and here is a little summary of what I've learned:

I'll begin by telling you a little about myself, in case you don't know me very well. I'm quite laid back and don't ever conduct myself or my time in an orderly fashion. I enjoy sitting around and doing nothing. I don't like confrontations. I'm really embarrassed to say that I'm lazy. Besides a few isolated instances, I've never given my best effort in school. I have often figured, "Hey, as long as I get a decent job or whatever, then it doesn't matter. As long as I'm getting passing grades, then all is well. It's so boring to work hard in school. I don't need tons of money to enjoy my life. I just want to have fun and do something I love." I seek to enjoy not just leisure, but leisure in the moment. I now see that this is idiocy. A lot of India's culture is based on enjoying leisure in the moment over hard work (please keep in mind that it is impossible to generalize a nation of 1 billion people and there are notable exceptions to the following statements). Here in India, people show up late to everything. They work slowly. They shop slowly. They drink chai slowly. They wait before doing anything. Why do today what we can do tomorrow? There is no schedule for anything. Nothing is cut and dried and totally consistent. There are 20 contradictions for everything here. Just walk around and ask people why they don't eat beef or put cows in pins and you will get a myriad of different answers. And no one will ever disagree with each other. I'm right, you're right, we're all right (even if our illogical views contradict each other). Jesus is God, Shiva is God, the cow is God, I'm God, you're God, everything is God, nothing is God. You get the idea. This lax thought prevails in much of what I've seen in India. If you know anything about me, you'd think I was in paradise (excepting the paganism of course). But India is no paradise. Two million children under the age of 5 die every year from preventable causes in India. The water is contaminated. There is no municipal trash collection, so garbage piles up in streets and vacant lots. The cities do not have adequate draining and sewage systems. The police are unreliable at best and corrupt criminals at worst. The justice system and government is overcome with corruption. Cows eat thirty percent of the country's grain while children starve in slums.

America is the world's suburb and it has become such for many reasons. One of the foremost of these reasons is that Americans strive for excellence. When a job takes too long, we complain about it. If a job is poorly done, then we berate the person that did it. People get fired and called useless if they are lazy. I have often complained about this, but this no tolerance, no nonsense attitude about work is what makes America different from the rest of the world. But excellence is more than that. Excellence is thinking creatively -- with innovation, progress, and improvement in mind. Excellence is never being satisfied with anything less than reaching your highest potential despite how hard it might be to reach it. This American excellence is why you have internet right now and why mine keeps turning off. It's why my power keeps surging and yours stays on all day. It's why you can drink from any faucet in America and why I have a water purifier attached to mine. I could literally go on about this for paragraphs on end. America has 911, reliable police and firemen, free public education, tons of universities, and a million other institutions that not only keep the country from going to hell, but elevate the country into prosperity so that we have the highest standards of living in the world. Not to mention other little things like how we think criminals should go to jail, or how we think the law should be obeyed, or how we protest injustice and fight against it, hold food drives, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We could seriously write a three volume series about it.

So why is America like this? It's not because we are selfish and dying to be rich. We'd all try to be drug dealers, corrupt businessmen, or criminals of some sort if that were the case. Successful open heart surgery was not attained to satisfy a selfish urge. America has gotten to be the way it is because of Christianity. It begets love, and love works wonders. It is why my dad worked his butt off so that he could one day become a chiropractor so that he could provide for his children. He did it because he loves his wife and children, not so that he could drive a sports car (and he doesn't). He wanted to ensure that they would never have to worry about not having food or a college education. Not everyone who behaves this way is a Christian, but the values have been passed down from our hardworking Christian forefathers and taken root in the culture. So yes, we strive for excellence and it's great.

India and most of the world don't strive for excellence. I have not been striving for excellence. I often find myself complaining about my generation and then realize that I often epitomize my generation's flaws. If we were to take the socio-cultural philosophy and everyday lifestyle of Neal Herring to an extreme and then spread it throughout a nation, that nation would look similar to India. I don't mean that India is lazy. Some of the hardest working people I've ever met are in fact Indians. Many of them take their education and jobs extra seriously. They have inspired me. I have met many children from the slum who have been given the opportunity by Karunya Ministries to have an education and they work so hard and want to achieve so much. This is not the case for most of India's impoverished people. Many want an education, but are too poor to afford one. They have absolutely no hope because they are poor, low caste Indians. They want what you and I have, but will not ever get it. Ever. Most of them will die premature deaths without ever having made more than a dollar a day their entire life.

A lot of people that come to this realization start attacking their countrymen. The first time they hear an American complain about something, they say, "Shut up, you could have it a lot worse." I refuse to do this. Yes, we could all have it a lot worse, but please do complain. When something is not right, complain about it and refuse to accept it. Don't stop there though. Complain about the things that need to be complained about and then follow it up with action. Don't ever be complacent. Do what it takes to get the best results.

I have been so irresponsible with what I've been given. This will now change. It's exciting actually. I've been getting ambitious and wondering what I could do with my life and how I could perhaps change the world and do a million other things.

I'm not saying we should all become workaholics, that America is some perfect Promised Land, or that the object of life is to be good at what you do. Just keep in mind that a (former) slacker wrote this. Christ is where we find life, and I'm finding out how un-Christlike it was for me to think the way I have. Look here again at my previous statement: "I don't need tons of money to enjoy my life. I just want to have fun and do something I love." So the motivation for my behavior was selfish and now I'm finding tons of reasons to not think that way. Sorry, I just don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about any of this.

Most of what I've been doing on a day-to-day basis is going to Karunya Ministries to help tutor kids in English. After lunch today I walked around the neighborhood a little to try to talk to people and whatnot, but most of the ones that responded couldn't speak much English. Oh well it was fun trying. After that, I started walking towards Karunya Ministries and got a glass of musambi juice on the way. There is a barber shop on the way, so I got my hair cut and my beard trimmed as well. It was only 60 Rs. which is about a dollar and a half. I got to talk to my barber and he was extremely nice. He talked about how he really wanted to come to the US. I asked why and he said it was just harder to make money in India. His English was surprisingly good and he said that he learned it outside of school, just by ear since his school didn't offer English classes. When I arrived at Karunya, I got the usual greeting from the kids -- "good evening, Uncle!" I really haven't figured out why they do that, but it seems to be an aspect of the Indian English dialect. Everyone says it to any man that they respect (women get to to be called Auntie). I guess it's similar to how we use words like bro or how the British and Australians say mate. The past few days I've been teaching the same group of girls. Their names and ages are Divya (10), Aishwarya (13), Bindhu (11), Shwaytah (10), and Selvi (11). The girls are a lot more fun to teach because they don't always try to fight and whatnot. All of them speak Tamil and Kannada as well as a little English but two speak very good English. As I was teaching, one of the girls turned a page on Bindhu's book and accidentally ripped the page about 3 inches. All of them squealed in horror. Everything got really tense. I said, "Hey it's just a tear. What's the big deal? It still works!" They all looked down sadly, especially Bindhu. Divya said quietly, "Uncle, she's crying." Bindhu wasn't quite crying, but she was very sad. I reassured her that everything was okay and that we could tape the book, but they said no to the tape. They all seemed to get a hold on themselves again and then I realized how much they value things like schoolbooks. I later told them that in America, schoolbooks are free. All of their jaws dropped in surprise, but Divya looked disgusted and confused. She picked up her English book and said, "Uncle, this book cost over a thousand rupees! Why are they free in America?" It's hard to put into words how that made me feel. I explained how we produce enough to use taxes to pay for public education, but only Divya (who has the best English) really understood. It was a similar story at dinner tonight. Our house helper Suma (who makes us a meal every Monday night) and I had a long conversation and she also expressed her desire to come to the US. She's been trying to for twelve years.

Well it's late and I'm tired, so that's all I have for now. I'll be back in the USA sometime next Monday.

Culture

So I've gotten to experience a few things this past week. A group of us got to go about four hours away from the city out into a different state. It was in the middle of nowhere, but I loved it. We left around 3 last Monday and set out for the small town. The driving was absolutely crazy. In India, traffic laws are more like guidelines that don't actually have to be followed when the cops aren't looking (in cities you can see big street signs that say stuff like "Follow traffic laws," haha). The basic principle to driving in India is to fill the space. If there is room for your car to pass someone, to pull up at a red light, to run a red light, etc., then let the passing begin. It's like a race everywhere you go, but not a very exciting one because everyone has to use tiny fuel efficient motors. And then there are the horns. Oh man, the horns. People use their horns so much here that they will actually blow the horn out. My attempt to explain this in writing is futile. I'm going to take a video tomorrow of a typical ride in the back of an auto rickshaw and post it on my facebook just to let everyone know what it is like.

Anyway the scenery on the car ride to the village was like nothing I have ever seen. This area is located on a plateau about 3-4 thousand feet above sea level, but most of the land is relatively flat. The ground is covered by orange sand and dotted with rocks and some foliage. Some parts are lush, some look like desert. There are a few really unique features though, like the hills of boulders. Some of them are pretty small, but some hills are about like mountains. They are totally made up of boulders that look like they were neatly stacked up on each other by helicopters. On the top of a few of these hills I saw some boulders that were perfectly perched on an angled base and not rolling off with the wind. They look like they are defying physics. I'll have to post some pictures to show you.

The night that we got there we went to an engagement party. We were about four hours late, but that's the way they do it in India. No one even cared. So we got there and were introduced to the father of the bride. As soon as I walked in I got tons of stares. I was probably the tallest person they'd ever seen. Being a white redhead might have had something to do with it as well. They served us dinner outside on huge tables with about forty other people. My native friend got me to sit by him so that he could give me pointers. After I sat down I started to feel bugs crawling on my feet, haha. They were also having dinner. The meal was served on banana leaves. After the banana leaves were passed out, they gave everyone cups of water. My native friend said, "This is to clean your leaf!" He then started rubbing his leaf with the water. I cringed (because the water in India is full of stuff that makes foreigners sick), but mimicked him anyway. After my leaf was "cleaned," they started serving brown and white soupy stuff. My friend told me that the brown sauce was a terribly spicy mixture and the white stuff was a cold milky soup to counteract the spiciness. Next came the rice that also had whole pieces of chicken in it. After everything was on the plate, people started praying. My Indian friend said, "Okay pray, but pray for your own food, then eat." I bowed my head and prayed, "Dear Lord, thank you for this food. Please don't let me get sick... Amen." I started mixing all of the spicy stuff into the rice with my hand (in India all foods are eaten with the right hand) and then took a bite. It was delicious. I ate my fill and then we left rather nonchalantly. Later that night my stomach really started hurting. My friend said that it was the spicy food that did it.

On the last night in the village I got to witness a disturbing Hindu festival. I forgot what it was called, but the partakers of the festival attach hooks to their backs and to auto rickshaws and then haul them to a temple. I didn't actually see them haul the vehicles to the temple, but I'm sure it hurt. Some of them didn't do the hook thing, but instead put poles through their cheeks. It was weird.

I guess that's all for now. I'll post some pictures on my facebook later tonight if our internet is working.

End of week one

So in my last post I said some things that I was totally wrong about. I was far too quick to judge my brothers and sisters, and I'm deeply ashamed of myself for it. If one of you guys is reading this, I want you to know that I'm sorry. A much wiser Christian showed me Romans 14 and I have to confess that I never consider that passage and definitely didn't consider it in my last post. I've started apologizing face to face for a few of those things and I'm finding that everyone here is much more forgiving than I am. Oh well, live and learn I guess. And the matter on the servants? Well Acts 12 makes it clear that the apostles and the early church had a servant so I guess if the apostles had them, we perhaps can have them too. That doesn't mean that I'm totally okay or comfortable with it though. I'm finding out how unprepared for this trip I am. My original plan was to dedicate a good month before the trip to dig deep into the Word and into God. Ha, that didn't happen though and now I'm paying for it.

Friday (actually it could have been Saturday, but I haven't been keeping up with the days) I went with someone on a little tour of the city. It was amazing. I got to see AND touch an untouchable and some low caste children in a slum. He also took me to a local shrine and I have to admit that it disturbed me a little. The idol was ninety feet high. There were all sorts of little extra things there that are hard to write about on a blog, but I'll put up pictures. God is really doing some good here though, and that is good to see.

When I was seven years old, I remember feeling homesick just from being at a day camp. Besides that, I've never missed home. I'm starting to miss home a little bit now though haha. I just listen to Carrion by Parkway Drive and heard that line, "My love I left, my heart I left, with a promise to return." Now I'm getting all emotional and I need to get off this thing. Hahaha. Oh and sorry about the typos.

Trials

Something is not right. I'm not sure how to deal with the situation here. We have our own house keeper who cleans and cooks once a week at our apartment. She does whatever we ask. I did not come to India to live the rich man's life, I came to preach Christ crucified. This is greatly disturbing me. All of the American's are telling me that it's fine to hire out servants, that we are providing them with work and a decent wage. This is disgusting to me. I know better and will not be swindled into believing such a lie. Jesus said that WE are to serve, not be served. Today was equally disturbing. I basically have done nothing but sit around and eat. I have done nothing productive whatsoever. I've just been lounging with the others at the office. It's terrible. During lunch today we had cheeseburgers and I had to listen to everyone complain. Can you imagine a more distasteful scene? Here we are feasting on burgers and complaining about how the internet is slow, the power keeps on surging, it's hot outside, this burger doesn't compare to an American burger, and then there are children starving to death in slums nearby and dying without Christ. I wanted to stand up and scream, "AT LEAST YOU HAVE FOOD!" I would laugh at this absurdity if it wasn't morally abhorrent. Furthermore, everyone is so concerned about money, food, and merchandise. The name "Baptist" and "evangelical" are paraded before Christ. And no one really has that boldness that I expected them to have. When you read the sermon on the mount or sermons by Paul or anything from the mouth of Jesus, do you imagine them being wimpy, frail, weak, pampered men who complain about not having air conditioning? Heck no you don't, but that's what I'm seeing here for the most part.

I found some people. who spend almost all of their time helping and ministering to orphans and slum children. They teach kids how to read, teach them about Jesus, and can afford to give them one good meal a day (and for some of them, this is the only good meal that is available to them). They wake up every morning at 5:30 to pray and are definitely not getting enough sleep. But they don't care, they are doing God's work. They have seen many come to Christ through their ministry and are extremely joyful. They are always laughing and making jokes and teaching people.

I'm starting to see the evil in India. I learned last week that a man in the slums poured gasoline over his wife and then set her on fire. People watched as she burned to death. This murder was never reported to the police and if it was, they probably wouldn't care because the murdered woman was in a low caste. In India, a man can legally beat his wife if he wants to. I've heard some people talk about seeing it happen in the streets in plain site of everyone. Women aren't treated well here. It seems to be a popular thing in America to say that Christianity is opposed to women's rights. This is absurd. Just look where Christianity has had the greatest influence -- Western Europe and North America. In those regions women have equal rights with men and can get jobs, an education, and not marry if they so choose. Now look where Christianity has not had a great impact -- Africa, the Middle East, India. In those regions, women are treated like property. In the slums, the families are killing their baby girls. They do this because they have to pay for wedding dowries when their daughters marry and to them, it is more shameful to not be able to pay for such a dowry than it is to murder one's daughter.

I'm not sure what to do about all of this. I'll pray and wait, but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to stand up and tell these lazy Christians what's up. Normally when I do that though, things don't end well. We'll see soon enough.

So the flight from Atlanta to Dubai was fourteen hours. I watched more movies during that time than I have in the past year or two. Wow. It seemed like it would never end. Ever watched Orphan? That's the most insane movie I have perhaps ever seen. The plot twist in it totally threw me off.

Dubai's airport was enormous. Not that it had a lot of terminals or much traffic -- the place was practically empty. The entrance area was basically a giant glass case with glass elevators behind it with a huge waterfall behind that. The baggage claim area looked like a palace. This is no exaggeration, people! The ceilings were well over a hundred feet high and it was supported by tons of huge columns. So yeah, I got lost here and had to find a way for my luggage to reach India. I was pretty unsure if it would make it, honestly. I just had a bunch of people telling me, "We help you, we help you!" Then I found some baggage folks who actually found my luggage on their computer and sent me on my way. Cool.

I flew out of Dubai with Emirates. They are quite a snazzy airline. They have good lemonade, plus hot towels that they passed out to everyone. Not sure why they passed out hot towels, but it was cool. Almost all of the staff and the pilots were British. One of them even said "cheers," to me. It made my day.

I got to my destination around five and stood around for an hour looking for David. He was outside and stood around for an hour looking for me. So anyway, an Indian runs up to me while I'm looking for David and he goes, "Mr. Herring?" I reply, "Yes." Then he says, "The man from the organization is here for you outside." I started to get a little suspicious, but went outside anyway and found David. David then took me to a little restaurant and got me my first Indian meal. It was weird, but really good. I got this juice from some strange native fruit similar to an orange but tasting more like a mango. It was squeezed right in front of me and then they served it in some tiny cups. It was delicious. The food was some rice cake things with some fried doughnut thing (it wasn't sweet though, it was nothing like a dessert). The basic idea was to dip the rice in some white coconut chutney and to dip the doughnut in some orange sauce before eating. It was really good.

After that, David dropped me off at my apartment and then I got some sweet sleep. Now I'm at the office checking my facebook. Ministry stuff will start this week and I can't wait.