Deja Vu
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As the French say, Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. The more things change, the more they are the same.
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There I was on Saturday afternoon. Hungry again. It seems like I've been doing this 40 Hour Famine thing for half my life.
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And I was watching my son play basketball. Richard's first game. In the Boronia Buffaloes, under eights. Cute, eh? Seems like it was more than 10 years ago I was doing the same. Watching my other son in the Hong Kong International School under-14s.
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Just like his brother before him, Richard covered himself with glory by the happy strategy of being mostly where the ball wasn't. Another deja vu, because that's how I played rugby.
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To be honest, I find comfort and security that some things just keep on keeping on. History repeats itself. Sometimes that's a good thing.
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There are some universal truths. And a few experiences that everyone must go through for themselves. Like your first game of competitive team sport.
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And some others that are worth preserving and celebrating year after year. Like the 40 Hour Famine.
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When so much of life seems to be changing fast, it's nice to feel connected to a few things that are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
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Jamais Vu
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On the other hand, if you had told me a few years ago that I would be giving advice to the AFL, I wouldn't have thought it possible.
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But when Essendon footballer, Michael Long, finally allowed his resentment to overwhelm his patience and blew the whistle on racism in sport, World Vision found itself part of the response.
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I've learned a few things about racism in recent years. Most of it I learned overseas.
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As I have talked with oppressed and suffering people I began to discern a common pattern.
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It goes like this:
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I didn't have to look too far to see that the same pattern exists in Australia. Although, to be frank, it took me a while to believe it. Beams in our own eyes are usually harder to see than specks in other's.
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This blindness is common everywhere. I wondered how people in oppressing groups could not see how their language, their media, and their behaviour were all rooted in racism.
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Then someone pointed out a racist joke. One I had made.
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I was shocked and offended. I didn't mean to be racist.
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Of course, I didn't mean it. But that did not make it less racist.
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I begin to see the built-in racism within our society. Women are more conscious of it, I have discovered, than men are. I am sure I know the reason for this. Women are also the victims of built-in unconscious oppression.
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As uncomfortable as it is for many of us to admit it, our society has built-in racism. It is even in our language.
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When some commentators said, "It's just part of the game" they were being more accurate than they imagined.
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Thankfully, we do not have to accept evil just because it is part of the game.
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Praise God that he is giving us new insights these days. We can see how our society encourages and rewards conformity. And how it discourages, and punishes the non-conforming minorities. The blacks, the disabled, the migrants.
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A truly inclusive society will learn to overcome this built-in tendency. Within the Kingdom of God "there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him." Romans 10:12
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With Ray Walker's help, and the involvement of the chaplains to the AFL clubs, World Vision has played a small part in bearing witness to the Kingdom of God in which there is an equal place for all.