You guys may not know this about me. I work in a big city most of the time - within the financial services industry - but I came from humble beginnings. Went to a small christian school when I grew up and really got a sense of community. Please don't turn this into a religion thread - I don't care about any atheist, muslim or any other view - just live and let live. And what's wrong in having a christian community? Any sort of community is good.
ANyways, I may be ranting, but I decided to help give back to my community. So every weekend, I drive down to my hometown - a little small town near the outskirts of where I work, and I run a christian community youth club. There's some really good experiences we have. Particularly when we get non-christians to join for a session or two. Contrary to popular belief - we do not try to "convert" them, we just try to understand their perspective. Working in a multinational corporation, I've learnt to appreciate diversity and I try to teach this to the kids in my class.
An example of this, would be a chinese kid who recently joined. His parents are buddhist, probably borderline atheist from what I can gather, and I'm quite suprised they let him in. Naturally, it was difficult for the regular kids to connect with him (little common ground due to the little overlapping activities). Nevertheless, we make a genuine effort in emphasizing with his world view and try to be accommodating. He's good friends with one of the regulars - a sweet little boy, very lovable and very affectionate. This regular - lets call him Marty for now - doesn't tease the girls or fight with them and is always complimenting the boys! What a darling of a child! Always well-dressed, never gets his uniform dirty - I was never like that as a kid. Although my parents probably secretly wished I was.
Its funny though. Each individual is different. You would think that the father of Marty is quite the gentleman himself. He's such a blabbermouth. Always speaking his mind - not that that is bad, but you need to appreciate the rules of any forum of conversation among adults. No, I don't need to hear the landscaping on your house. I certainly don't need to hear about your company providing you smartphones and why do I care if you went to a Hmong Festival? We had a flood recently, and I was unfortunate enough to be stuck in the church grounds with him while the floodwaters tided away. Gosh he couldn't help himself. Talking, and talking and talking. He was taking pictures, fiddling with his smartphone - as if he was uploading his pictures onto the internet.
Man I would PUNCH him and get him back in LINE. He's a class fellow though. I'd hate to call him out, but I needed somewhere to rant.
ANyways, I may be ranting, but I decided to help give back to my community. So every weekend, I drive down to my hometown - a little small town near the outskirts of where I work, and I run a christian community youth club. There's some really good experiences we have. Particularly when we get non-christians to join for a session or two. Contrary to popular belief - we do not try to "convert" them, we just try to understand their perspective. Working in a multinational corporation, I've learnt to appreciate diversity and I try to teach this to the kids in my class.
An example of this, would be a chinese kid who recently joined. His parents are buddhist, probably borderline atheist from what I can gather, and I'm quite suprised they let him in. Naturally, it was difficult for the regular kids to connect with him (little common ground due to the little overlapping activities). Nevertheless, we make a genuine effort in emphasizing with his world view and try to be accommodating. He's good friends with one of the regulars - a sweet little boy, very lovable and very affectionate. This regular - lets call him Marty for now - doesn't tease the girls or fight with them and is always complimenting the boys! What a darling of a child! Always well-dressed, never gets his uniform dirty - I was never like that as a kid. Although my parents probably secretly wished I was.
Its funny though. Each individual is different. You would think that the father of Marty is quite the gentleman himself. He's such a blabbermouth. Always speaking his mind - not that that is bad, but you need to appreciate the rules of any forum of conversation among adults. No, I don't need to hear the landscaping on your house. I certainly don't need to hear about your company providing you smartphones and why do I care if you went to a Hmong Festival? We had a flood recently, and I was unfortunate enough to be stuck in the church grounds with him while the floodwaters tided away. Gosh he couldn't help himself. Talking, and talking and talking. He was taking pictures, fiddling with his smartphone - as if he was uploading his pictures onto the internet.
Man I would PUNCH him and get him back in LINE. He's a class fellow though. I'd hate to call him out, but I needed somewhere to rant.
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