In Love

They say
"Love is blind!" 

I don't know who 'they' is, but love should not be blind.

I understand what it's supposed to mean: Love does not see the negative things in others.
I also understand that to be unhealthy. If I see my brother eating sand and choking, I'm not just going to let him continue because I love him and chose to overlook the negative. Love sees the negative, addresses it, and learns to forgive it.

"Love is patient, love is kind." Why don't we live by these rules? Love keeps loving in spite of the negative. Love is not only for romantic relationships and love is not just expressed physically.

Jesus met up with this woman at the well in John 4. She was basically the outcast of the outcasts. Even the marginalized people didn't like her. She was a Samaritan and a woman.

I want to point out is how Jesus shows His love. (Note: love is shown, not just talked about or thought about). She asks Him to provide her with a life source that never runs out: living water! He agrees and the dialogue goes down like this:

Jesus says, "Go, call your husband and come back."
She replies, "uh...I have no husband."
Jesus agrees, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
[Insert your response here]

The conversation continues (read the rest here!!). But the point is, Jesus calls her out, because He loves her. He's not trying to get a good laugh, nor does want to hurt her. He touches that sore spot so she can realize that love is not blind to her pain, her shame or her sin.

So, tell me again why love is supposed to be blind?

He wants to heal the pain, take away the shame and keep us from sin. That's the kind of love I want. Don't you? *If you're not feeling this love and what to, holla at me. We can talk.*


Deuces,
   Ife 'Quipayan' S.

P.S. I'm just feeling extra loved today because God sees me (in all my nastiness and downfalls) and still loves.  Welps...gotta go write this paper and study me some Arabic. Chao or should I say Ma'salaama!?

Student-Morning-Dread syndrome

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

I'm a senior in college!!! 3 years of experience under my belt and you would think I've figured it all out.

False. 

I woke up early and the first thing I felt was fear and disdain for my lifestyle as a student (late nights, early mornings, half-baked assignments, no breakfast, 4 hours of work ahead, strange smells in the kitchen etc). Those emotions, for me, create a cycle of being stuck and not knowing or desiring to move forward. I hate those moments. What makes it worse is when I can't catch a break to figure it all out. When I have that break, I just want to sleep (but really though). I call this the SMD (Student-Morning-Dread) syndrome. Define it however you like.

Earth to Ife. Halllo?

As I'm sitting here in my bed really late this...dusk, I'm really thinking about my future. (Buckle up, this one's a doozy). Don't fall asleep on me here.

No, just joking. I am thinking about my future, but I won't be sharing it (much) with you.

So I have 2 blogs and realized when I was writing in the other one that I really don't want to be a lawyer. Eso.

On to the rest of Chile. I think I want to come back to Chile after I finish college. I have been thinking that I really don't want to leave right now. I don't know what it is that is making me feel this way (I haven't fallen in love so I can rule that out), but it's strong enough to make me consider leaving and starting over.

Maybe that's it. Starting over. I actually don't want to talk about this right now. It's too late and I'm not thinking correctly. The blog isn't a sounding board so I won't bore you with my preliminary thoughts. I have lots of them if you want to hear them...later. Just let me know. I might just share.

Then, I am here to talk about my week. My first full week back from el norte and intense work. I've stayed in most days of this week and probably eaten way too much, but that's okay. I'm not going anywhere soon. I am working on my project that is due in a month and therefore have no classes or no obligations...speaking of obligations....

He has none. He's a 30-algo year old man with 2 kids under the age of 10 and lives in the home of his mother. My host brother in el norte. Codename: Stephen. My host mom suggested we get married. Chiste, obviously, but I was like "What? He's not married?" And so is the case of many young men here in the lovely Chile.

(Disclaimer: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION DOES NOT APPLY TO EVERY FAMILY AND DO NOT APPLY IN ALL ASPECTS.)

         I'm not going to be really extensive because I do have a 3 page paper to finish. But here's what I've noticed. There are a lot of babies having babies and baby daddies with no obligations or little obligations to the children they have, and there are a lot of 'grown men', digamos, who still live with their parents.

It is very much a cultural thing. The family setting is a very powerful organization of people and is very important. The mothers take very good care of the children (pretty much until they get married, but sometimes after that....). They do their laundry, cook, make their child's bed, etc.

Example:

  *Macarena (a very popular Chilean name) is a 25 year old that lives with her mother. She has a 3 year old daughter. She is not married to *Rodrigo (the father of the child), but sometimes spends the night in his house with his parents who take care of their daughter *Juliana. For Rodrigo to be living with his parents at the age of 30 is not anything to be ashamed of or to be made fun of as it is sometimes the case in the US. Rodrigo works, has a car (which is something pretty rare in Valparaiso) and brings in his own income; however he does not live on his own. Rodrigo's mother does not mind taking care of her granddaughter when her son has to work or is out with friends. Rodrigo does run errands for his mother and probably does some chores. This is a not always the norm.

Another scenario is that Rodrigo does not do chores, and in fact in incapable of cooking himself a meal. He has a girlfriend (off and on), carretea (parties) a lot and attends the university (say he's 25, not 30). He still has a daughter, but does not spend time with her. He lives with his mom and she does everything for him. Cooks, cleans, makes his bed and does his laundry.

Okay, basically, after an unfortunately drawn out blog (which I apologize for), the lifestyle is different here in Chile. I personally think that it spoils the young children and does not make the younger generation responsible for its actions. When you continue depending on your parents and are not given any form of independence, it can create an atmosphere of non-chalant-ness (?). Because mom and pops give you a place to stay and food and a roof even if you have kids that you don't support and spend countless nights not contributing positively to society and its growth.

Whatevs. I'm done. Earth to Ife. Wow.. what a rant. Remind me NOT to write when I'm tired.

*These names are used to protect the identity of the people involved in this story.