Subtle Sympathies, Delightful Incongruity

Post-Church tea at the Chaplaincy was all abuzz with news of the recent rugby and/or football game. England got all hyped up because their team, which almost lost to the American team, just last week beat the French in the finals and either is moving on or had moved on to the next finalist game against South Africa. I get these things confused because I don't keep up with them. And also, England is having an interesting time in rugby and in football right now.

So, in one of the sports they just lost. I think in rugby. And they're sad.

And in one of the sports South Africa is, or was, a threat.

So at the Chaplaincy, the one South African girl was wearing a little pin version of her flag, which got joshing attention from the other people at tea. This turned into a historical (an historical) conversation, "they [the South Africans] always say, 'you and your redcoats started the war, but really we didn't have redcoats then, it's a complete fabrication.'" Or something to that effect. And they went on about the angry farmers in South Africa and then to other parts of the British empire, meanwhile this girl sat there quiet. Meghan Gibson and I, as two K'Nex students, knew a little of what she was going through, as a citizen of a formerly colony turned rebel turned independent state sitting around at a table in her 'Mother Country.' I leaned over and said, "don't worry, we used to be part of the Empire too."

I don't know what good it did her argument to have the crass Americans side with her, but I hope it helped. That's the first time I've really felt like America was a colony, not a superpower. And I guess that's sort of the European political mindset in a nutshell: everyone is a tiny state with its own specialties, and they all have to get along to work. Concordia must be achieved. Or maybe I'm completely wrong. But treating America as it must have been in its infancy and teenage years, before the World Wars, and not just as THE power in the world...was a new experience. And one I felt like sharing.

The second was a simple repartee with a friend of mine, James Bennett, and some other people in the Chaplaincy. I mentioned the Manga version of the Bible, endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. This thing does actually exist, it's the whole Bible done in manga form, and it's not a joke, it's an honest manga Bible. Anyway, I mentioned it, and James turned it into "well that's all well and good, but I'm just for the Pokemon version of the Gospels to come out."

Me: "Go, Holy Spirit!"

James: "Zechariah the Tax Collector, I choose you!"

Matt, another friend: "Gotta save 'em all."

Me (miming throwing a pokeball, "catching" Peter): "I will now make you a fisher of men."



I think there might've been more to it, too. Just felt like sharing.