I'm Not the Only One

Recently whenever I learn something new it's like I think I have this big secret of the world that I think no one else knows. Like after I took a class about human diversity and learned about institutional racism and the concept of empathy as a response...this was big life changing news to me that I thought just my little class of 20, my professor, and the authors of the books we were reading knew about. I thought everything from my middle class background was bad, probably most of what my parents thought too. Then after talking to my dad a few months later I realized he actually teaches a class about this kind of empathy (!!).

Besides racism, I've begun to feel more deeply about other injustices in the world. I've begun to be attracted to the "social justice" issues and groups. This too, I thought, was some recent thing that only a certain group of people at my school knew about. I would get so resentful when my mom made it sound like it was just a phase I was going through and refer back to how "it was the grape pickers" when she was in college. I would get so excited to hear about groups at other schools with the same theme and more recently a whole school-UC Santa Cruz-with the emphases on social conciousness. At first I thought there were just a few fair trade, sweatshop free options---now I see there are whole magazines devoted to such enterprises.

Related to this topic of injustice, I've been learning about this divide in the church between those who focus on activism/social justice and those who may have a more individualistic focus. Again, I thought this was a huge revelation as well. I would think: Doesn't the church see this and don't the see the need to "figure out" a balance or compromise or something??
But again, I'm learning that this is a concept that is DECADES OLD (if not longer--what do I know?) and has been many-a-times commented and thought upon.

It's kind of a cool discovery--that all the big questions in my mind are the big questions for others too and there is lots of literature and wise thoughts out there for me to consider. Also it makes me feel not so alone in these huge issues where I kind of thought I was alone. It makes me feel silly for my ignorance though. It makes me rethink the comments my mom made--I am going through something that many others go through.

But if everyone goes through this "phase"--I just think things would be a little different--a better world maybe. This is something I'm discovering too though---maybe the world is better than recently I've come to see it. Maybe there are a lot of people who believe in the causes and stuff I've come to learn about and feel so passionately about and are just living it out in the best ways they can---I'm beginning to see there are indeed many ways to "live it out." Maybe I need to think better of people.

I realize this world, especially in the way of time how it has stretched so far back, is so much bigger than I know or can fathom.