Beneath the Surface

I think that I have always been a person seeking for the things under the surface. My mom tells me that since I was a kid I have always been taking things apart to see how they work. I am not sure what compels me to this continual obession of asking the question 'why?', but I know that I will always do it.

When I first came to Ghana and all the newness began to wear off, the one thing that seemed to help with the shock was finding the familiar. Things that did not seem so weird - the same old Snickers candy bar, the Pringles, the little things. They let you think that you were really not in a foreign place, with foreign people, where you did not understand all the 'whats' let alone the 'whys'. At those times you want to feel that there is a piece of home in that strange place. Now finding the familiar is all fine in moderation, but the young missionary, if not careful (especially if he has my temperament), quickly moves to the excess. You not only look for the similar, you reject the unsimilar... you so need the old world and all its 'whys' that you do not really see the new world that you live in.

Well, fifty to a hundred years ago, when we were all still so ethnic on our surface, a person was forced to deal with these differences or return home. But today, with a growing world fashion, internet, and MTV on every continent, it is so easy to forget that that young man in the nice suit and expensive Western shoes really does think differently and view the world, your world, in a strange way. This is why I think we do not let ourselves ask 'Áre these people really the same, do they really think like me in their hearts?' We do not ask questions; we just move ahead!

But, I think that if we intend to really reach them, we are going to have to go beneath the surface!