I bought season tickets to the Kodiak Art Council concert series. Tonight's show was a group called "Women of the World." The members are from Italy, India, Japan, and Haiti. Collectively they speak about ten languages fluently and sing in almost thirty. They were full of life, energy, and good stories. I love how much respect and admiration they have for one another's cultures. They were inspiring. I was so challenged tonight, and I am still processing my thoughts so I don't want to share too much before I have actually sorted out my thinking. I am so overwhelmed and saddened by the racial injustices that happen- by the profiling, the blaming, the lack of respect, the huge systematic problems, and by my own lack of response some days. I don't know what to do other than pray, so I pray a lot. I think about the journey these women have had together- I can't imagine it has been perfect but I admire the humbleness that goes into listening and learning about other cultures and backgrounds with no judgement. I think about my own friends and am so thankful for the grace I received from them when I asked a stupid question or said something ignorant. Today I was reminded of how beautiful it can be to live in community with people who are different than you. I was reminded that I should feel heavy hearted about the racial hurt that is happening. I should be committed to praying and listening and learning as much as I can. I was thinking about heaven and all the languages in which praises will be sung and how amazing that will be to hear.
I also loved that at the end of their show, they finish with a traditional rain song from somewhere and it's supposed to bring rain to the community the next day. Well, tomorrow is supposed to be our last sunny day for the next 10 days or so, so you can imagine the response the crowd had to this idea. The group laughed and came up with an Italian song about something completely unrelated to rain for us instead :)
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