Danielle says:
As an American serving in the country of El Salvador, my heart has been broken by recent news stories featuring children from El Salvador and other Central American countries who have immigrated to the United States. It is an incredibly complex issue, but it has been hard for me to read the negative comments about Salvadorans that I have come across on social media and in news reports from the U.S. Many of them make broad and general statements without fully understanding the history and social issues facing this region. Has anyone ever felt this before? How has your perspective changed about your host country since moving overseas? How do you feel when your host countries are the topic of media coverage in the United States? How do you engage your friends and family, particularly when the issues are polarizing ones? I would love to hear your thoughts, if you have experienced this, and how you have handled it.
I find that my perspective on news and events is very different from that of almost everyone I know in America. Mainly I have to step back from discussing and sometimes even following the news. I get too upset myself, and I'm afraid that I could distance people, if I said (wrote) what I really think. So, I guess that my answer is that I just don't engage much at all. I do rant to my husband!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should get involved more often?
My perspective has changed so much. My dad literally stopped talking to me for awhile over my differing perspective on what happened in Benghazi a few years back. One of the gifts of being an expat IS that differing perspective. Once you love a place and its people, the American perspective no longer shines so brightly that others can't be seen. It is painful for me to listen to people disparage those who practice Islam... or group them all with terrorists. But I do understand because I was once there. I do engage and I try to focus on differences versus right/wrong - leave any convicting of a need to change or modify perspectives up to the Holy Spirit. But in that engagement, I try and remember that God commands us to pursue a spirit of unity, not of dispute and disagreement.
ReplyDeleteI don't know... does that actually respond to your question?
the post at a life overseas today actually touches on this same question: http://www.alifeoverseas.com/when-people-hate-my-home/
DeleteLindsey Lautsbaugh, the author of the post, gives some great suggestions.
Thanks for the link Richelle! I think what you are both saying is great. My perspective differs a lot, particularly with recent news about El Salvador, because I live here and understand the "other side." Sometimes I just want to say nothing but I actually got brave enough to write a blog post about it, and several people thanked me for my opinion so I think it is worthwhile to share our thoughts, but it's still a tough balance.
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