I took the GRE yesterday. The mental barrier that long stood between me and graduate school is gone.

I have been studying most nights and weekends since August. The GRE gave structure and purpose to my life. It made me feel as if I had academic pursuits alongside Than whenever I hunkered down to learn vocabulary and scratched out math problems at the kitchen table. At the same time, my life is starting to get busier and something inside me says: it is time to move on.

Now that I have moved on, I’m not sure what the next steps will be. What will I devote my time to? Am I any closer to figuring out what I want to do with life? After the initial rush of gratitude and relief, underlying insecurity reemerges. What if my scores aren’t good enough?

The space feels strange. Graduate school is within reach. I have passed the first hurdle.

Now what?

crazy christians

I believe in pluralism, but recently I have been confronted with some difficult issues.

I have always believed in the possibility of working together despite differences to embrace a common moral good. While I don’t usually publicly proclaim it, I’m also an evangelical. I credit a professor – Dr. Hamilton – for redeeming this identifier for me. It doesn’t have much or anything to do with the Religious Right, and I resent the gross manipulation of evangelicals by political power. Nevertheless, I am an evangelical. I don’t identify with James Dobson or Pat Robertson. I identify with Christ and his teachings.

I’m frustrated when the media talks about the “evangelicals” or those who are “born again” as if it is simply a monolithic political category. They usually only reference this category in relation to the Republicans (notice we never hear how many evangelicals voted for Clinton or Obama). At the same time, how do I bring my faith convictions into the public sphere? I’m not interested in conversion. I’m interested in action and change. I am willing and I want to work with people who are different than me towards justice and peace. The question I guess I never though of until now is: do they want to work with me?

I respect the moral convictions that guide people towards working on behalf of the poor and oppressed, whether they are atheists, Hindu or Muslim, and I intuitively expect that my convictions will be respected as well. I don’t expect we will agree on ideology, but ideology seems to be something that must be sacrificed in part or at least bracketed when it comes to working for the common good. Take the issue of abortion for example. I think everyone can agree on tackling the underlying roots of unwanted pregnancies, such as poverty or lack of sex education. At the same time, too often different factions can’t come together to take action because of ideology. A “pro-life” evangelical and a “pro-choice” liberal refuse to meet together and work to reduce unwanted pregnancies because they can’t agree on moral motivation even though the end goal is the same.

From my perspective, in instances like this you shouldn’t give up your moral convictions, but you also should be willing to make space to embrace the other and their convictions for the sake of the common good. This is a fundamental principle in any type of situation of difference where there is a common goal. Chances are, neither party will be completely satisfied, but this is what it means to give up power for the common good.

There was an op-ed published last week by Nicholas Kristof encouraging liberals and evangelicals to join together on social causes. Personally, I appreciated the column and found it astonishingly refreshing. However, I was surprised by the reaction of some who argued vehemently that on no circumstances would they work with evangelicals. Why? Because they didn’t share their ideology. Granted many evangelicals act the exact same way. Can you believe the hysteria right now by people like Dobson over the nomination of Senator McCain?

All this disturbs me. Right now, it is clear that for some power and ideology are more important that working together to confront the world’s problems. It was telling to me when Nicholas notes that the only people who are left in parts of Africa are “crazy doctors and crazy Christians.” My guess is most of these crazy Christians don’t wear a badge identifying them as such. They are too busy working.

my mom is my hero

I just got off the phone with my mom. I was dying to know about her caucus experience! She was absolutely giddy. Apparently, their precinct got 2 delegates for Obama and 0 for Clinton. However, when it came time to nominate the delegates, some Clinton supporters tried to pass themselves off as Obama supporters so that they could get nominated. The caucus organizers were pressuring the group to close the nomination process, but my mom decided to speak up. She said that as an Obama supporter there were three issues that she cared about: the economy, health care, and the war, and she wanted to make sure her voice would be represented by someone who would support Obama unequivocally. As a result, she asked for more nominations to be made before the final vote. Two more stepped forward, and they were solid Obama backers. At this point the caucus organizers stepped in to close the nomination process, but as a result of my mom speaking up the two Obama supporters became the delegates.

Way to go mom!

transformation on the ground

The below quote by an Obama supporter in WA illustrates why I support Barack Obama for President. It's not because I'm placing my faith in him as a person, it is because I believe in what he is calling us to be as a nation. Obama challenges us to see the dignity of each person, to work together despite our differences for a common good, and to respect one another regardless of personal ideology. If we approach everything with this humility, we might actually get something done.

As Stephanie says:

I never imagined that there was a candidate who would actually change who I am. I want to be honest: I'm very liberal, and in my life I have to say I've been a little disrespectful of Republicans. But Barack Obama challenged me to remember that every single person has dignity, and deserves to be heard -- and if we can work to find common ground, we can all finally move forward together.

Get Involved: ACT

I'm currently trying to convince my mom who is registered a Republican in WA to volunteer for Obama. We will see if I am successful!

I'm pleased to report that the county we volunteered in over the weekend in New Mexico went for Obama.

yes, we can