Perspective

Stepping outside of your own country has a way giving you perspective, allowing you to critique not only other cultures but also your very self. I remember when I was 17 and I went to the Domincan Republic on a missions trip, I understood for the first time that the rest of the world didn't have the same choices as I did. Through a mix of gratitude and guilt I started to come to terms with my own privilege...which is still a process.

In recent years I have taken an interest in primitive cultures, natural and sexual selection, while trying to stay within the context of the Christian faith. How do we survive as a species, how do we pass on our genes, while living in communion with the divine, other humans, other species? Some would say religion has been a tool to allow us to do these things (helping some people and genders more than others).

I know these are some deep questions but to a certain extent I feel like I saw them intersect while watching a parade on Friday night. The people celebrated the Aztec culture with beautiful costumes and dancing, they dressed as Chinelos as a way of making fun of the Spaniards who conquered their land, and at the end of parade weathered old Catholic women walked solemnly with candles. All of these groups processed towards the church in the center of town (the religion brought by the very men they are mocking). I don't think they see the irony in this act, maybe because it is too close to their eyes? But maybe they are able to simply live into the history they were given and they are able to hold it lightly enough to celebrate all of it without worrying about how each part relates to the other? Perspective?