chris and becka warner

Moderation, frugality, and self-discipline. I came across a quote this morning from this article and thought it was quite the observation:

…but it occurs to me that the Netherlands is a great example of a prosperous culture in which modesty and frugality are deeply embedded in the national psyche. They may not have religion any more in Holland, but they are faithful to the ideal of unostentatious living, and self-discipline. As I always tell people, the reason soft drug legalization can work in Holland but would be a big problem in America is the same reason that all-you-can-eat pizza buffets wouldn’t work in Holland. It goes deeply against the grain of the culture.

A more interesting question: Christianity has played a very influential role in Holland’s past. Could it be that current cultural values of moderation, frugality, and even humility find thier roots in this religious past? But if this is true, then why is it that in America, which is currently a very religious nation, the cultural norm is excessive consumerism, materialism, and ostentatious behavior? Fascinating.

Immigration is on my mind these days, for obvious reasons. To put it bluntly: this is the first time we’ve ever experienced being rejected for a visa, and it’s not fun. Even though it was Aidan who was rejected, it’s hard not to take it as a family rejection (like what are we supposed to do-just send him home!?)

But the truth is that in our broken world it’s a privilege, and not a right, to stay in another country. It’s been our privilege to stay in the Netherlands these past eight months.

Sometimes we can take it for granted; that the world is full of borders, and that these borders do not have to open for us. By “we” I mean all of us who were born in certain countries; countries like America, Canada, a Western European country, or Australia; in which case we are largely used to crossing borders effortlessly. I know others most certainly don’t take this for granted.

It seems to me that this is one of the great injustices of the world: your nationality will largely dictate how much you are able to travel. As someone who loves to travel, this seems painfully unfair. And I know that as an American citizen, a holder of one of the strongest passports in the world, I will rarely, if ever, feel this injustice.

One incident always stands out to me when I think of crossing borders and immigration: I remember crossing the border from Burundi into Congo. I was a little scared, this being only my third or fourth land crossing in Africa-it was Congo after all. (Later on, I would come to appreciate African border crossings for the colorful experiences they are.) I labored through the Burundi side, crossed over to the Congo side, and soon it was my turn to duck my head and enter the little shack that was serving as an immigration office. Inside, I sat on the wooden stool as the man clumsily flipped through my passports and immunizations. I paid the fee, fifty USD if I remember correctly, and he stamped a visa into my passport. He waved my immunization booklet at me, menacingly, and sent me next door to a similar shack, where a woman took my passport and booklet, flipped through it with a look of disgust, and tossed it aside. She wanted a bribe. Something about not having the right immunizations, and therefore I would have to pay for them to be done (which really meant “give me a little something because I know there is no way you are going to take a potentially dirty needle with God knows what inside of it in a shack in the no man’s land between Burundi and Congo”). I had done my research, and I knew that I had met the legal requirements. So I said no. The lady didn’t like that, so she continued to press her case, threatening to hold me there if I didn’t pay up.

It’s not that I was against bribing, which in these situations is less about morality and more about economy (for example, our bus driver had to pay out numerous “gifts” during our journey, just to use the road.) But I was cranky from the bus ride, and I knew what I had, much like Paul in Acts 22: a citizenship that gave me an advantage, and an expectation of a certain level of treatment. I picked up my passport and walked out. She didn’t stop me. She couldn’t. If she had, she would have been going against the unspoken hierarchy of power and passports. Mine was significantly higher up the chain then hers, and we both knew it.

Had that woman visited my county and attempted the same, it would have gone much differently. But most likely she will never make it to my country, because she will have to acquire a visa first; a visa that will probably cost her thousands of dollars, a lot of time, and even that will be no guarantee that it will ever materialize, purely because of the lettering on her passport.

After considering this, I later realized the arrogance in what I did. Even though I was “right” in the sense that I had done nothing wrong in refusing to pay the bribe, I was wrong in my attitude toward that woman, as a visitor. The attitude came from a sense of power, and the assumed rights that go with it. It was a subconscious posture-I wasn’t even aware of it until I reflected on it later, and then I deeply regretted it.

I’ve thought of my experience in Congo often as I’ve passed through immigration in various parts of the world; it helps me remember that my presence in any given country is a privilege-not a right-and a privilege that few in the world have. For whatever reason, God, who determines when and where we are born, saw it fit to give me an American nationality. It’s not completely without its downsides, but at this point in time, it sure makes crossing borders a lot easier, at least in most places. But I don’t want to take that for granted, or lord it over others.

So as much as I would like to scream, “it’s not fair” about our current situation, I will restrain myself, not only because life is rarely fair, but because there are others who have far more reason to say those words than me. For the eight months we were here, and however long we stay if we come back-it’s our privilege.

I mentioned earlier that this was my main interest in the elections.

Here’s a study by Barna that has a lot of stats-I thought it was interesting. A few surprises.

And here’s some more research that asked some slightly different questions. Again, very interesting.

Here’s a BBC article on the future of the religious right. One of many that I’ve come across.

Sinterklaas! It’s one of the most important Dutch holidays (Christmas is a different holiday). The actual day is December 5, and though we originally planned to celebrate with our Dutch family, sadly we’ll be gone by then. But this weekend we experienced a little of the festivities: yesterday Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands (from Spain, of course) and today he arrived in Amsterdam. There was a parade through the whole city, which happened to go right by our building. We got back from church just in time to climb up to the third floor and snap some pics:

One of the things that’s a little different about this tradition: instead of elves, Sinterklaas is helped by Zwaarte Pieten, or “black Petes.” (You can see them in the pictures above). And yes, they are black! Becka and I thought this was absolutely scandalous (can you imagine if Santa had little black helpers!), but the politically correct explanation these days is that Black Pete is black from the chimney soot (although it seems the tradition originally did have a connection to slavery-which is why there are still demonstrations and protests). I like this line from the Wikipedia page on Zwarte Piet: “Foreign tourists, particularly Americans, are often bewildered and mortified.”

The scandal of Zwaarte Pete aside, it’s a very festive time in the Netherlands. Holiday decorations are up throughout the city, and it’s beginning to feel a lot like Sinterklaas.

Well put.

The cult-of Obama: yikes, this is creepy. It’s hard not to like the guy, but this is taking it a bit far…

The end of blogging? I’ve been holding out against Facebook, Twitter, and the like, because 1.) they just don’t appeal to me, and 2.) I don’t have time. I use Flickr, but not so much for social networking. But it’s getting difficult to not be on Facebook-a lot of people in our organization use it for business. My question with all of this stuff: is it really helping people relate to each other, or are we just playing “create your own reality?”

A journey into the most savage war in the world. I’ve read through this article before-horrific. I reckon the DRC is one of the darkest place on earth.

Rwanda ditches French. Will Burundi follow?

“…a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.” I haven’t been W.’s biggest fan, that’s for sure. But I do agree with this article. Our treatment of him is a reflection on our culture and the character of our nation-and that should make us very concerned.

Cell phones and global poverty: “…an increasingly transitory world, the cellphone is becoming the one fixed piece of our identity.”

A Dutch perspective on the elections.

Stingy Christians in an age of opulence.

Lesson’s from the election.

What Dutch people believe about the afterlife: “The survey shows that the better educated are more likely to seek spirituality in the new age or Zen movements rather than the main religions such as Christianity and Islam.”