The Pendragon's Hall

A girl in my Missions class today was disturbed that her brother, on leave from Iraq, didn't share her appreciation for their culture. While I do not doubt the sincerity and well-meaningness that this child represents in wishing to help and appreciate other cultures, it does raise an interesting issue. Why are people so willing to dismiss as biased the word of people who've experienced something? This young man has been there; this young lady has not. Who is likely to be more reliable? Don't tell me: she is because she isn't biased by such trivialities as people trying to kill her. Some truth to that I grant, but not much. It probably never occurred to her that perhaps she, sitting in her safe classroom a world away, can afford to be magnanimous to other cultures. For me, I suspect the culture doesn't deserve such magnamity. Still, the greater portion of Iraqis, I'm sure, would trade their culture in a heartbeat for some kind of stability. Hopefully it will come soon.

On a further off-beat note, Vietnamese peasants are worshipping the decomposing body of a beached whale. Recently they erected a shrine to one further down the beach. Apparently, good times are coming. Cultural sensitivity is hard to maintain in the face of just ridiculousness. But maintain it we must or die.