Want to be an Accompanier in Colombia?
A note from Linda Eastwood, Coordinator of the Colombia Accompaniment Program ~
The accompaniment program, run by Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, is a joint program of the PPF, PC(USA) and IPC (Iglesia Presbiteriana de Colombia, Presbyterian Church of Colombia). The IPC requested this accompaniment back in 2004, when their human-rights work had led to harassment and threats which had reached a level that was hard to bear alone. We’ve sent volunteer accompaniers in pairs, a month at a time, almost continuously since that request, and the need to continue this ministry of presence and witness was affirmed at a PPF / PC(USA) / IPC week of discernment in Colombia during Holy Week of this year.
Requirements for service as an accompanier include:
• Mature Christian faith
• Commitment to practice non-violence
• Demonstrated faith-community backing
• Ability to raise funds for volunteer service
• Spanish skills strongly preferred, but not required
• 21 years of age and a valid U.S. passport
The training / discernment process is a pre-requisite to going to Colombia as part of this program. I’m pleased to announce that the next training and discernment event will be held October 7th (5pm) to October 11th (1pm), at Stony Point Center in New York. (Also, FYI, the dates are tentatively set for next spring’s training / discernment as March 10-14, 2011. So no harm recruiting people who might not be able to make it in October.)
You can find more information about accompaniment, including the current brochure, a set of “Frequently Asked Questions” and reports from former accompaniers, at the web-page: http://www.presbypeacefellowship.org/two/colombia/accompaniment After reviewing the information there, would you please send me an e-mail letting me know both whether you continue to be interested in the program, and, more specifically, whether you would like to be considered for the October 2010 training and discernment event?
If you do hope to attend the October event – and I would be delighted if you do! – then please send me a completed biographical questionnaire, using the attached form. You should also understand that accompaniers go to Colombia as PC(USA) mission volunteers. You will thus also need to get going as soon as possible on the “One Door” application for Presbyterian Mission Service (Go to One Door at http://tinyurl.com/2cwrz6p to create your online profile, including “supplemental profile information”. Apply to the Short-Term IPC Accompaniment Volunteer position at http://tinyurl.com/247quto ) This all takes a while, especially as you need to get references, but you still have time before the October training. Then, assuming you’re approved, you’ll book your travel to Stony Point. (If you’re flying, information on shuttle services from Newark airport can be found at http://tinyurl.com/23lams4. You’d need to arrive in time for the 2pm shuttle from Newark to Stony Point.) We cover the cost of (simple) accommodation and food, but ask that you pay your own transportation.
I do hope that you continue to want to be involved in the Colombia Accompaniment Program. Human rights workers in Colombia continue to be threatened, and our presence is a source of strength and protection to our friends in the Colombian church. Our accompaniers come back filled with enthusiasm, wonder and gratitude at their experiences with our partners in the Colombian church – and you could too!
Blessings on whatever you do for the furtherance of God’s reign of peace and justice in this world,
Linda Eastwood, Coordinator, Colombia Accompaniment Program
colombia@presbypeacefellowship.org
Unclean Mouths
“Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit.” Psalm 5:9
Recently the United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon announced in a press release that Colombia’s outgoing President, Alvaro Uribe, would be the Vice-Chair of the Panel of Inquiry into the flotilla incident between Israel and Turkey at the end of May. I must admit to being more than a bit surprised at this decision, so I was glad to see I was not the only one.
Shortly thereafter a European Parliament Member Willy Meyer said he was “completely indignant” that a leader of a country which “has the largest mass grave in Latin America” would be included in the UN panel, because “it is like leaving the fox to guard the chickens.” According to Meyer, “a man who has not investigated what is going on in his own country is not going to do it now” in the UN investigation.
Meyer’s reference is to a mass grave that has been found in La Macarena in the Department (State) of Meta right next to an army installation. It was supposedly reported by a number of citizens in the area, but no one followed up on it. Richard went to a demonstration at that site about a month ago, and shortly afterward a denial of the grave’s existence by the government was released. Officials stated that only individual graves were to be found at that site, and that the allegations were simply a ruse to get the European Union to cancel the Free Trade Agreement it has made with Colombia.
Now I don’t know about you, but I am just not sure how you confuse
individual grave sites with a mass grave with over 2,000 bodies – many who are purportedly also victims of the false-positive scandals (citizens killed and later dressed-up as if they were guerrillas). Then again, I am also not sure how you dig an 18 inch trench and proclaim that your investigation has proven there are no bodies buried in the area.
I am overwhelmed sometimes by the variety of disheartening news stories that can come from one country, but I am also keenly aware of the need to share them since they do not seem to make it into the US consciousness. My fear is that so many tales of woe will cause people like you to sigh, flip to another website and begin to believe that things here will always be this way; that your compassion will be in lament but go no further. That desensitization has happened in many quarters here in Colombia as a result of some 60 years of this news, not to mention as a coping mechanism. My prayer is that it does not overcome you (and me) too.
There is an opportunity now for the United States to push the new Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, to investigate further and to ensure protectionof human rights as central to his agenda. There is an opportunity now for United States citizens to push our own government to investigate and comply more closely with the Leahy Law which prohibits U.S. military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity. There is an opportunity for Christians to act upon the gospel call to stand by the widow and the orphan…so many of them living here in Colombia.
“Declare them [my enemies] guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.” Psalm 5:10-11
A Peanut Post
It is hard to believe, but we are a month out from Peanut’s official due date, September 21. I am clear that the due date is more of an estimate than a “marked in stone” kind of thing, but it is hard to believe that whatever the actual date, we are approaching B-Day (as we call it).
Our experience here as parents-to-be has been full of wonder, confusion, grace, uncertainty, and love. We have had an outpouring of support from folks in the United States, including pre-Peanut visits from the “abuelos” (grandparents), and tons of concern and care from people here too.
Some things we have gotten used to:
1. Touching, kissing, listening to my belly.
I always heard about pregnant women in the United States who had folks they did not even know come up to them asking (or not asking) to pat their stomachs. I always thought, “How can someone think that is okay?” and “Don’t people have any boundaries? I mean geesh….” According to a friend of mine in the States, when men come up to her and touch her belly, she just reaches out and touches theirs in the same way and that pretty much ends that. Well…wouldn’t work here.
Folks here tend to pat my belly and greet Peanut with a rousing “¡Hola Bebé!” before they even acknowledge me. This is probably good preparation for when Peanut makes the grand entrance because I think Richard and I will fade from view once the Nutter is officially on the scene. And that is fine really because we are blessed to have so many people concerned for us, and I am grateful that Peanut will have a village and a half to take care of him/her. In fact, I think I am clearer here than I would be anywhere that I am merely a steward of the Peanut, because he/she will belong to everyone here and just hang out in our house I think.
2. Paying in cash.
As we are not part of a health system in Colombia, we have to pay for all of our medical
appointments in cash and wait for reimbursements. The system works well, and we get paid back for virtually everything, but I go to the doctor about a blue million times more than I ever have, and the float we manage adds up. For a while we thought we were going to have to pay cash at the clinic for the delivery too. Since we can only get out about $200 at a time from the ATM, we figured that September was basically going to be filled with daily trips to the cash machine to stock up for getting Peanut out of hock at the end of the month. And our ‘hospital bag’ would have to have an accompanying ‘cash bag’ to truck it all there…
3. Being the weird ones.
Some of you may argue we have a head start on being used to this one, but we have found all new ways to fill this bill. The primary one being that we are waiting to find out whether Peanut is a boy or a girl. This is not, I repeat, not normal. We get asked all the time about Peanut’s sex, and when we told the sonogram doctor that we did not want to see or know he asked us no fewer than five times if we were absolutely certain. Yes, thank you.
That of course has not stopped the speculation (as it does not in the United States either). I really should have started a pool just to see which side won out in the end, though I mostly just tell folks that I am confident half of them will be absolutely right. Below is a video of Rev. Diego Higuita, Executive Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (think Stated Clerk) doing his own proof test. My favorite part of this time we did not manage to catch on video – when Diego declared that while it was definitely a girl, if it happened to be a boy then it was because the needle was crummy…
We will certainly let you all know the actual results when the time comes. Until then, we are just trying to ready ourselves for the launch of the legume!
Thank you to all who have written, prayed, sent sweet gifts, worried, and more. We are truly grateful, and we hope you will keep our family in your thoughts a little extra in our last month out (…or in I guess)!
[For our original Peanut blog announcement you can click here.]
Small News There but BIG News Here
In July, the Presbyterian Church (USA) held its biannual General Assembly to offer direction to the church nationally for the next two years. Over the course of the week committees and the assembly itself discussed various issues, some of which made it into the national news (primarily LGBT issues) and others generating a lot of discussion at least within the church (Middle East, church governance, confessional statements). Inevitably, however, some items barely made the radar – lumped in with “peace and justice” or some such moniker, but not really leaving much impression on anyone apart from those who were invested in the topic to begin with.
One of those issues was a little thing about ending the US Military Base Agreement with Colombia.
This overture passed through and became PC(USA) policy with virtually no discussion. While on the one hand this makes me quite pleased, I am also wondering whether many folks knew what they were doing or what this was about. I am also wondering if anyone in the US church is now going to do any of the actions encouraged by the church whether that be prayer or coming here to monitor the bases and their impact. Will anyone even know this happened?
What I can say is that for folks in the church here, this was big news. Any efforts by the US church to support peace in Colombia always gets a lot of attention here. Thank you letters were sent, praises were lifted, and even now the delegation from Chicago Presbytery is getting a lot of feedback about what happened as a result of their efforts to put this question before the General Assembly.
Given that the Colombian/US Base Agreement is now the volleyball of international relations between Venezuela and Colombia, the resolution could not come at a more appropriate time. It came too late to stop the agreement from being signed, but it certainly does not come too late to lobby against it still.
We will write more about the war of words between Colombia and Venezuela, the base agreement, and more, but for now we too offer our thanks to our church for the gift of support to our sisters and brothers here. If we can help you get the word out in your congregations about what happened at GA and how it could effect life here, please let us know. For us, this is pretty big news.
To read the text of the resolution click on the word “more” below.
Desafío
There is a television show on in Colombia called “Desafío,” and it seems to have swept up the whole country. It is very similar to “Survivor” in the United States, with teams of folks that get kicked off of islands after doing something between wacky and grueling physical challenges. It feels a little like déjà vu (all over again…) for me as it was ten years ago that I came back to the US from Guatemala and encoutered the fever of the first season of Survivor.
I have to admit, I remember being horrified. I had just spent a year talking about intentional Christian community and how to live in the midst of differences, and then I sat and watched as someone on a “team” got kicked off of the island and their “life force” snuffed out. It was horrible. I could not understand people’s fascination with this back-biting, inhumane affair that seemed to revel in what felt to me the opposite of the Kingdom of God. I realize that may be putting a little too much on a television show, but it was really disturbing to me.
I was all the more frustrated when I reflected further on the ridiculousness of
that show and many others involving X-treme whateverness. What kind of nation is it that thinks survival has to do with trumped up challenges like making it through an obstacle course with your hands tied to your ankles? After seeing all the true obstacles to survival that people in Guatemala faced, I was irritated with the fake, bourgeois games that could get people hurt but was all undertaken by choice.
Here, in Colombia, the interest has struck me as equally strange, though I think my passions over the concept have dulled a little with a decade of “reality” shows under my belt. Also, I can see the value of the escape factor here as well. After all, if you have actually survived after being forced off your land, searched for a way to feed your family, and dodged death in all the ways it has tried to pursue you…maybe you deserve to veg out in front of a grainy television and watch people drag others through the sand in order to capture a flag.
Still, I am way more impressed and captivated by the people who face the real challenges of life rather than those made up by television executives, and I am proud to work with a church that chooses to look at ways it can serve the community even when members would be totally justified at simply taking care of themselves.
The Bible offers us so many desafíos (challenges) that I think we take as figurative, or as suggestions – that we take as seriously as we take reality 
television. But I don’t think the call to help the widow and orphan was meant as a figure of speech. I don’t think the call to drop your nets (your safety nets…) was just a game to see who could get to the flag first. I told my friend the other week that religious practice (liturgy, ritual, etc) was like comfort food for the soul, and I believe that, but I don’t think that our religious beliefs themselves were always meant to be comforting at all. I think they were meant to challenge the heck out of us because otherwise we sit around watching other people pretend they are in a struggle for survival as they eat some disgusting food or balance on a log over a muddy pond. Or we accept the ethics demonstrated by people who make alliances of convenience and choose to stay stuck in a ditch rather than help anyone get out of it because they are not on “their team”.
And if this seems too theoretical, another friend of mine who works with the Chicago Semester program talked with me this past week about an exercise they do with the juniors and seniors in college they work with. The students are divided up into teams and told to build a community. Each team is given different resources, some very few and some quite a lot, but the teams are together in the same room the whole time. In all her time working there, only one set of students has ever chosen to band together across “teams” to build one room-wide community.
It seems to me the desafío many of us share is that we have to work on how we look at teamwork, and in what ways we can help the real challenges people face in Colombia, in the United States, and all over the world turn into shared tasks that can stretch those safety nets we cling to so desperately a little (okay, a lot) wider. If we do that, maybe we will experience the true comfort of the gospel.
Putting Your Eyes On
Yesterday I got bitten by tiny, fierce ants that were crawling all over the basil plant Richard and I bought to make our favorite pasta. The thing is, I didn’t even see them when I went to pick the leaves. I knew they had been there because Richard came in one day howling for me to move so he could get his hands under the water (and quick), so before I reached down I looked at the plant and was pleasantly surprised to see it ant-free.
I picked one leaf and within seconds had ants all over my hands biting me as if they had been waiting for the meat dish to go with their basil salad. After running inside to get my hands under the water (and quick), I went back out to look at the plant. It had ants crawling all over it. There was absolutely no way that many ants had appeared in only the 60 seconds it took me to howl my own way to the sink which means that even though I had specifically looked for the little buggers, I simply did not have the right eyes on to see them.
There is a lot that goes on in life that require the right eyes to see. Sometimes those eyes are trying to see and just do not (like me and the ants), and sometimes the eyes pretend to be looking but really are just putting on a good show.
For instance…
The government in Colombia touts statistics that demonstrate less violence – homicides down, kidnappings down, “terrorist attacks” down – and celebrates greater freedom for people to travel around the country by land without fear. All of this is good news, but it does not take into account some important realities; the little ants seen only at second glance.
It is safer to travel on the roads of Colombia now than it was. In places where situations were
most difficult you will now see tanks every 2km to protect the highways and byways and reaffirm your safety (as men with large guns stare at you as you pass). That may be disconcerting for US folks unaccustomed to such sights, but it does help protect the road. The problem is that 5 or 10 kilometers from the road the official control often ends, and the people living there have to do their best to stay below radar or negotiate their freedom with whomever is in charge at the moment. For them, having the road safer is not really that much of a bonus. It is good news, but as they are not so much jet-setting around the country, it simply doesn’t affect them. You may not see the stinging ants from the road, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
Another example…
The government lauds the demobilization of paramilitaries through a “Justice 
and Peace” process begun in 2005 which offered light sentences to paramilitaries who would confess to crimes they had committed and make reparations to victims. Apart from the fact that the first two sentences were handed down just this year, the reality is that many of the “demobilized” simply return to their ranks once they are released from prison (if they even go to prison…click on the graph to enlarge). After they confess and turn over their weapons, they receive from the state a pension for their cooperation as well as various training classes to help them reintegrate, but many also join with their former compatriots under new names and take up their former activities. That is, look once and you get one answer…look again and you get quite another.
As for putting on a good show, I will leave that up to Richard to describe (though the paramilitary example above definitely has some good showmanship involved). He has recently gone to a solidarity demonstration regarding a large common grave found in an area of Colombia…which the Cancillería (Secretary of State) denies even exists.
May those who have eyes to see and ears to hear use their mouths and their hands and their feet to help Colombia because I’m telling y’all, the ants are there.
I Hate Rabbits
There are some days here in which there is little to do. When we first arrived in Colombia we sat in the Barranquilla office reading the newspaper and meeting people but nor really “doing” a lot in the good old US of A sense of the word. We were prepared for this to a degree. We knew that the Accompaniment Program has counseled folks for years that their presence is what is most important, and after our Young Adult Volunteer years, Richard and I really believe that to be true. Still, three years in wicked heat to sit in an office and read the newspaper? Come on…
Ah, the good old days.
It turns out that if there is “not much to do” then you should count your blessings. Part of the reason that the blog has been dormant over the past month is that there have been an abundance of things to do, and when you work with human rights that is rarely a good sign.
Germán, one of our colleagues, has a saying – “Sometimes the rabbit jumps.” I didn’t really know what that meant, but I nodded my head and looked thoughtful. (This is not an uncommon strategy…) However in the past month, I have seen this rabbit in action and let me be clear – I hate rabbits.
Following the situation in San Onofre, the IPC gathered folks together to talk about ways in which we could respond and continue in solidarity with the remaining members of Finca La Alemania who are still “en la lucha” for their land. Part of our efforts included letters from Gradye Parsons, PC(USA)’s Stated Clerk, and Presbyterian Peace Fellowship to the US Ambassador. Richard and I took a trip to Bogotá to get to know that Presbytery better and together with some of its members we went to the Embassy to talk about this case specifically.
Upon our return though the rabiit kept a hoppin’. Individuals and organizations related to the IPC were named in a threat letter from a paramilitary group that was directed to and also threatened the Washington Office on Latin America. These people and groups were targeted for having signed a letter encouraging the US Congress to pass a bill (HR 1224) encouraging the support of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Colombian rights. For that they were named “military objectives for being sell-out sons-of-bitches who are blocking the policies of the Colombian government.” This hit home, not only because we knew some of those named, but also because we participated with several hundred other folks in Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, DC in April in which we asked our Congress people to support this very same bill.
And in a meeting to discuss this threat, another person mentioned that s/he had recently been accosted near their home for having confronted someone that s/he found out killed their brother several years ago. For that knowlege, and for displaying that knowledge, their life is now in danger. More letters to the Embassy, efforts to get folks to safety, concerns over what to print and what not to print – all of these things have taken up our time and our mental energy in the last few weeks. And, all have made us think about the commitment human rights workers undertake in their efforts to guarantee people’s lives, if not life abundant.
So yeah, I hate rabbits.
***
PS. In reviewing this post my colleague Germán also noted that he was also less than fond of rabbits that jump out of nowhere and could be going anywhere. “Often times they break things and it doesn’t really upset them…or seem to matter to them at all. The worst is that it seems they like to keep us waiting with anxiety for the moment in which they jump and continue destroying good things that have been done with a lot of effort. And yet, it is not that I really hate rabbits, it is that I AM TIRED of them. We need time to think about how to construct spaces in which even the rabbits can take part…but without destroying the good that many people have been doing.”
Ever the philosopher, and as always, well put. Thanks Germán.
Elections Today
Today is the first round in the Colombian Presidential elections, elections which will have a great impact on the direction of the country in the years to come.
Pray today for free and fair elections, for all those involved, and all those voting. Pray for safety from violence and intimidation.
We will keep you posted, and let you know if there will be a second round of voting in June (likely).
Naming the Wonders of God on Pentecost
Yesterday, for Pentecost I had the opportunity to speak at 9th Presbyterian Church here in Baranquilla. The area in which 9th is located is called “La Ceiba” (a type of tree) and one of the three churches in the city located in barrios populares (lower-income neighborhoods). Richard and I like visiting 9th Church a lot. We seem to know a lot of people there, they are always incredibly friendly, and though the music is loud (always, and everywhere) it is good, well-grounded, and a nice mix of upbeat and reflective.
I have found that my preaching style here is a bit different as I try to involve the congregation more in the sermon. Often there are about 50 people in attendance, so it makes less sense to do a sermon that doesn’t include them. And, since I am still pretty wedded to the printed page when I preach in Spanish, I like to have at least a few moments when we all get to talk a little more together. At any rate, though you aren’t hearing any of this, I hope it “translates”…more or less.
“Las Maravillas de Dios”
Good morning brothers and sisters. First, I want to thank you all very much for the opportunity to be here with you at 9th Church on this Pentecost day. I should also tell you right from the start that I am going to need your help during this sermon, so let’s get started right now.
I like this text in Acts a great deal, and I see a lot in it, but I want to know about what you think. What parts of the Pentecost text catches your attention? What parts fascinate you, and why?
Certainly a great focus in this text is in the part where everyone is speaking in different languages, and when I read it, I always think of a dream I have had since I was a kid. When I was a little girl, I loved the television. Each day I sat
in front of the screen watching one program or another, and even more so on Saturday mornings when cartoons came on from early in the morning until lunch time. I especially loved any program that had people with super-powers because it always made me think about what powers I would want to have (as if this were possible). My ideas about what power would be the best power have changed over the years, but one of them has managed to stick at number one for a while.
Before I tell you all what I chose though, I want to hear what you would choose. What power, or better said, what SUPER-power, would you like to have if you could choose any one?
As for me, I want the power of languages. That is, no matter where I go, or what language the people speak, I would love to be able to understand and talk to them in their tongue, as if it were my own. Wouldn’t that be spectacular? Quite frankly, part of what I like about this text in Acts is that exactly that miracle happens on the day of Pentecost.
How interesting and powerful this experience of the Spirit! What a great blessing to celebrate the diversity and communication between different people! I have no doubt that God wants us all to communicate better, and that what has happened in this text can teach us that difference and variety are not anything to fear but rather an opportunity for people to talk to one another in the language of their hearts. There is much to learn from a lesson like that. But it is not what I am really going to talk about so much today.
I do think the message of diversity and celebration is important, but after reading the text again this week what captured my attention was no so much the moment in which all the people were talking but rather in what they all were saying. They weren’t sharing stories about their youth (like I just did) or discussing what they would eat for lunch. Tell me, according to the text, what were the apostles talking about after the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them? [the wonders of God]
Bus Woes
Harry Potter´s Night Bus has got nothing on drivers in Barranquilla. Driving lanes are already more like suggestions, but buses take this concept to a whole other level because, after all, who is going to mess with a bus?
Generally I take all this in stride, and with some experience from my time in Guatemala, I figure that in the end it will all work out okay, and I will just get a little extra blood pumping and a relatively cheap roller coaster ride. Today was different. Today I was mad.
Perhaps some of it is because I am pregnant now, and falling down is not so much a viable option as it was just a few months ago. Perhaps it is because I have been riding the bus for about six months now and consider myself a fair connoisseur of both drivers and riding experiences. Whatever the cause, after the bus took off down our hill when I had but one foot in the door; narrowly missed hitting a motorcycle, car and who knows what else; and finally slammed on the brakes to avoid crashing into something else as we were moving toward the door (thus sending us reeling toward whatever we could grab to avoid falling), I lost it. I yelled at the bus driver, took the bus number, and plan to contact the bus line before the day is out.
Having calmed down a little I have also done some investigating about the way the bus system is set up here, and while there is not excuse for the poor treatment and safety of passengers, the system itself is not set up to expect much different. Let me explain…
Here (in Barranquilla at least) the bus system is privatized. The owners of the buses hire their drivers and those drivers have to get a certain number of passengers on their buses during their shift in order to pay the owners their quota. Bus routes are timed (not that there is a public schedule anywhere, or a map for that matter…but that woe is from another post), and there are various “control posts” to monitor that timing along the way. The issues then are these:
- Every person who enters the bus over the required number of passengers is money gained for the driver. Because drivers receive no salary as such, this is important. The problem is that it also leads to seriously over-jamming the bus.
- If a driver is late in their route, the owner levies a fine which essentially takes away all the money gained by any extra passengers. This means that if you are behind, you will do anything possible (including speed down our hill at breakneck speed) to make up your time because time literally equals money.
- An added difficulty comes with the fact that passengers can get on and off the bus anywhere they wish; there are no “set stops.” It is handy not to have to walk to a bus stop, but the trade off comes with the number of extra stops that get made, slowing the bus in route, and pushing the driver to make up time in other ways (like leaving the nice North American chick hanging on for dear life with only one foot in the door).
Again, there is no excuse for the lack of respect, safety, and security demonstrated by many drivers, but the system does nothing to help – and in fact, the system is set up produce these dangerous habits. If you read one of our recent posts, in many ways it feels like our drug policies here that expect poor farmers to give up more money (with less effort) while offering no infrastructure assistance and then pushing free trade so that any hope they have of legitimate business is pretty much crushed from the start. Participating in the drug trade is not a good choice, but the system is not set up to help.
My bus example is a simple one, and perhaps not so life and death (though I would have argued more about that this morning), but the deeper point about systems is important. The Bible talks about fighting powers and principalities, and part of that is about seeing that evil takes root not just in individual people and individual actions, but perhaps all the more so in the systems that get set up and in which we participate every day. I collaborate in a system that marks people for harm when I ride the bus and do not denounce the problem. I collaborate in a system that says blue USA passports get to travel more freely than maroon Colombian ones. I am a collaborator in systems of all sorts, and some of that is virtually unavoidable. The question is whether I will choose on any given day to be a collaborator in systems that I don´t have to be a part of – either good ones that are working toward love and justice and the proclamation of those gospel values, or bad ones that continue that use oppressive tactics to manipulate outcomes to my favor.
Sadly most days I don’t even think about it.
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