somebody might wave back

seven o'clock in the morning
I'm riding the overnight train
I got ten tons of luggage
but I left it behind when I came

I look at my watch
it says September seventeen
we're riding through some place
where I've never been

and I'm waving through the window as we go
somebody says, 'what are you waving at?'
but what do I have to lose?
- somebody might wave back 

Somebody Might Wave Back, The Waterboys

The following is a "lesson" that comes from the rough and tumble world of elementary school. Actually, I've had similar experiences in adulthood, but 4th graders are less sophisticated. Okay, sometimes they are just as sophisticated, but they wear less masks and, therefore, the "lesson" is easier to see. Where was I? Oh yes, trying to explain the world of a 4th-grader.

Okay, so two years ago my son, Kyle, was having some problems with a boy named Johan. This always baffled me because Kyle and Johan seemed to have many shared interests. Anyway, the gist of the story is that Johan and another one of his cronies used to tease Kyle until he would break down and cry. For some reason, it is fun to see your fellow classmates cry when you are in 4th grade. After graphing out the teasing occurrences and determining the correlation coefficient, I determined that this was happening often enough to warrant a trip to see the principal. And, nothing like a talking to from the principal to bring an end to a situation.

That was all two years ago. This year Kyle and Johan are in the same class. And, guess what? Yep, good friends. It is Johan, who is often in the same study group as Kyle (by choice mind you). It is Johan, who has invited Kyle away for the weekend to celebrate his birthday. And, it is Johan, who was first to offer help with getting Kyle from class to class while Kyle is on crutches after his surgery.

I have found that it is often the people that I butt heads with the most that I later end up enjoying the most if given the chance. I'm not sure how Kyle and Johan became friends, but I suppose it started when one of them took a leap and pursued the other. It might have been a seemingly insignificant leap, but it was enough to turn the tide of a relationship gone awry.

Observing this new relationship between Kyle and Johan has made me wonder, Who in my life might wave back if I would just venture to wave?

Polarized Society

The events of the past few weeks show just how far South Africa still has to go as we move and work toward a society that reflects the Rainbow Nation. Race relations are tense as a result of a couple of events. Recently, the leader of the ANC's (the ruling party of South Africa) Youth League, Julius Malema, publicly sang the "Shoot the Boer" song (click here - and scroll down to find lyrics to the song). A Boer is another word for an Afrikaner, which means "farmer." My wife, Daleen, is an Afrikaner. Then this past weekend Eugene Terre'Blanche was hacked to death on his farm. Terre'Blanche was the founder of an extremist white group called the AWB (Afrikaner Resistance Movement).

Events such as these don't help us to heal from our divided past, but rather open old wounds. They heighten tensions between races, which has led to several bomb threats in and around Pretoria. One of the bomb threats was at the mall where we normally shop, and another was at a bank in our suburb. As far as I know, no bombs went off and no one was hurt. And, unfortunately, this is not the type of press we need just before the Soccer World Cup that will take place in South Africa in June/July. South Africa is a beautiful country with a lot going for it, and these type of events overshadow the reality of life for the vast majority of people.

Won't you please pray with us for the nation of South Africa. Pray for true reconciliation and healing of the wounds of the past. May we learn from the past rather than repeat it.