Schuler's Blog
In the Confessional / 03.05.09, 12:42 PM
We’ve been a bit absent, Al and I. We apologize. We’re still in Chicago, 6 months after we began Mission Year, one full year after we decided to do it. And 12 months and $20,000 later (yes, we have only $4,000 to go, woo!), we are faced with a lot of truths, and a lot of experiences, where before we only had unknowns.
We now know that service is hard. That love is a lot different than we’d thought. That race still exists and that being colorblind isn’t only impossible, but it’s not the way to reconcile people to one another. We know how selfish, independent, affluent and bizarre our childhoods were. And how ugly we can be. How forgetful. How apathetic. How narrow-minded and contradictory. Hypocritical.
We know judgment isn’t the way. We know violence isn’t the way. Police force isn’t the way. Nope, neither is religion. Sorry. We’re beginning to really believe in this neighbor stuff. Love your neighbor? Always words to aspire to, but never something real. But now we see that love is the collision of one human being into another, and neither one letting go of the other. Loving the people you live around, and living around those we love is vital. Proximity is necessary for community. And community is what happens when people love each other.
We’ve seen the most bizarre combinations here. There isn’t any reason for Chris to come over and play chess with us. But when we moved to West Garfield, we began doing our laundry at Spin Cycle. And we collided with Chris.
Following this poorly thought-out confession will be a series of moments from Tim’s recent weeks in Chicago. They’re short and simple and really nothing. But they’re everything too. When we step back and allow ourselves to feel these things, when we cease caring so much about whether we’re doing it right and just do it, these moments come out of the woodwork and leave us with nothing but to love where we are, what we’re doing, and who we and all our neighbors are. Love begets love. Just like violence. But nicer. Much, much nicer.
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