Prayer

And now we come to the end... It's been quite the semester. I have learned quite a lot about our society, and have formed relationships with some of its newest members. I am now about to step out of the bubble of my private Christian liberal arts school, and into the world of the rich and the poor, the homeless and the mansion-dwellers, the hungry and the over-fed, the successful, the hopeful, the well-established... and the failures, the hopeless, and the immigrants. I will graduate from a hugely expensive university with little but a tiny scrap of paper to show for it (which society tells me that I need), and the learning which that paper represents (which is of much more value. Priceless, in fact).
America, to me, means consumerism, a house in the suburbs, and a life in the rat race. It also means exploitation of the 3rd world, atrocities carried out in the name of democracy, and a military force larger than that of the rest of the world combined. Sorry for the judgment and cynicism. I realize that other countries would probably be no better if they had as much power as we... All of that to say; I think the best way to end this series of blogs is with a prayer.

May God lead us away from arrogance and hypocrisy and towards humility. May God give us the strength to give up our greed and spread the wealth to those who truly need it. May America give up the idolatry of Nationalism and instead seek the God of Truth who shows up in the faces of our brothers and sisters all over the world. May we move away from individualism and toward community, building relationships of love with those we used to ignore or despise. May we pull away from our television sets long enough to recognize and respond to the ill-effects of the non-committal sex and mindless violence with which our culture is unhealthily saturated. May we be a people who seek justice for the poor and helpless. May we learn to love laughter and peace. May we lead the way in laying down our weapons (or turning them into farm equipment). May my skepticism be proven wrong.
Amen.