What Lurks in the Shadows?

I have been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between love and violence.  Brazilians have such a great capacity to love and care for one another.  They have very tender and loving hearts.  For example: when we arrive at work each day the women all greet us with a kiss on each cheek and a warm and loving embrace.  I met an elderly women on the bus yesterday that talked to me nonstop for about 20 minutes.  When she got off the bus she gave me her card and told me to call if I needed anything, and she was completely sincere.  I even know exactly where she lives and I could stop by anytime all because I sat next to her on the bus.

Yet in light of this great capacity to love in the shadow of Brazil lurks a strong undercurrent of violence.  When I came to Brazil I was told by a long term missioner no matter where I worked I would be exposed to people who experience violence on a regular basis.   In my work in Sao Paulo I encountered many women in prison who had experienced violence,  in the youth center I heard stories of the violence on the streets but also in the homes of so many of the young people.  Today, Ceny and I visited a 23 year old son of one of our co-workers who was shot last week.  We saw the scares of the bullets and surgery and also the bullet which is still lodged in his back.  All of this has me trying to wrap my head around love, violence, revenge, and forgiveness. 

                 

As I consider the relationship of love and violence in Brazil I must ask the question what lurks in the shadows in my own country.  This week as I watched the terrible loss of Brazil in the World Cup to Germany I noticed a cultural trait of my own.  As the players seemed to fall apart on the field with the absence of their two leaders I kept yelling at the TV. “fight, do something”.   I think this comes from what we would consider the American Dream.  No matter how many obstacles or how hard things are one can overcome it all if we pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and fight hard enough.   I don’t believe this is always possible because things like poverty, discrimination, lack of education etc. prevent many from achieving the American dream.  Yet when faced with the battle of the World Cup I had the desire to fight harder and believe that no matter what one can overcome difficult times.

So as I consider my culture I think we have a great capacity to believe in a better tomorrow, to overcome obstacles and look to the future with hope.  In the shadows of this hope lies extreme capitalism, extreme individualism and miss-use of power.  Don’t misunderstand me when I say extreme individualism, it is not just taking care of ones needs.  It is for example our government which seems to have lost the ability to work together.  I don’t care which party it is everyone seems to be looking out for themselves and their own interests.  I am not sure how our country moves forward under this model.  In Oregon at one point we had two senators that worked together one Republican and one Democrat.  I always voted for them because I thought they did a great job of working together for the good of all. 

When considering the abundance and the shadows of the two countries I move next to myself.  I think we all have shadows in our life.  The trick I think is to move them to the light so we remove those things lurking in the darkness of our lives.  When we do that we open ourselves up to more light, more life, and more love.  This is my work and perhaps yours too, to look into the shadow and open ourselves up to bring these things to the surface in order to live in the light and leave the shadows behind.