June 9th, 2020: Facing Hard Reality with Forgiveness
Many years ago my wife and I were driving through the Ozarks in the
states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. The scenery was amazingly
beautiful. During a coffee break stop somewhere in Arkansas, my wife and
I decided to sit down and checked our bearing before heading out again.
We soon realized that we were stared at. It was rather uncomfortable.
These folks never saw a mixed marriage between a Vietnamese and an
American before.
A few weeks later we went to
dim sum in Montreal Chinatown. It was a hot and humid summer day. We
walked through a small park to walk to the restaurant. Two elderly
Chinese ladies sitting on a park bench started looking at us and their
eyes wouldn't let go. They kept on staring as we walked past them. Once
again it was unsettled but humorous at the same time.
I
have thought about these two events from time to time and wondered
whether these reactions from folks at the gas station in Arkansas and
the two ladies in Montreal Chinatown are racism or just curiosity and
discomfort.
We would never know but we would
prefer to think that it was either curiosity or discomfort. Mixed racial
marriages were not that common at the time. We chose not to be offended
because these actions were not really about us. We were confident in
our life together and in what we were about. The skin of one colour does
not mean much if one is comfortable in one's own skin. That year was
also the beginning of my Christian journey and in that journey, I was at
peace with the fact that God loves me. I was convicted that life has a
different meaning in terms of serving and caring for others. My comfort
has been based on the experience of God's forgiveness and not people's
acceptance.
One thing I learned over the years
is to take my faith seriously but not myself. People will do and say
crazy and unexpected things. A little forgiveness is healthy because we
will also learn how to laugh at our stupidity. My search for justice
doesn't imply that I am always in the right. It simply means that I find
myself crying out for justice and mercy at that same time. True power
is found in personal redemption, not in the destruction of others.
(Proverbs 19:11)
Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
(James 1:19)
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
