When is it too much?
Greetings to all!Thanks to Expat for the overly kind intro. Let me be sure to clarify a few things first. One, I don't know nearly as much about politics or blogging as my friend, so these will be much rougher posts than the usual quality in here. Two, I don't think I love the Lord any more than he does either, but I'm sure praying a lot for guidance in what to post and grace from those who are expecting better. Three, I'm kind of excited about this new adventure, so I hope I get at least one response.
My sister-in-law is a senior in college. She attends a conservative, private Christian college in southern California. She spent her junior year studying abroad in Ecuador. Transitioning back this year has not been easy for her. It's hard to see the greed and self-centeredness of American life again after seeing life in Ecuador. It's hard to be back in this country after hearing about what the American government has done through the years to South American countries. And to top all of that, she then had to watch the religious right of this nation re-elect the worst president in our nation's history on the basis of "moral issues", while blatantly ignoring most of the actual moral issues in which this administration takes generally non-Christian standpoints on.
She is embarassed of her country and her fellow citizens. And now she is pondering seriously about renouncing her citizenship after graduation. Her sister (my wife), ever the idealist, thinks this is a terrible idea. She believes that if you don't like how something is, then you work at fixing it - you don't just scrap it altogether. While I agree with my wife's perspective on that if the broken thing is a marriage or car or home or even a job, the entire nation is rather large and difficult in reality to change as an individual. This nation was founded by people who were fleeing other nations where life there was unacceptable to them. Is America now a country where it is too hard to fix the problems? Does your duty to the country as a citizen and/or as a Christian give you cause to not leave the country? What would you say to my sister-in-law?
posted by gurufrisbee @ 3:00 PM
