Third Culture Kids study the culture around them to try to fit in. Let me explain that statement. Third Culture Kids (TCK’s) are children of parents of one culture (country, language, norms) who are growing up in a different one. Those children end up loving two countries, speaking two languages, and balancing the norms of both places. To do that, to survive, they become careful students of history, language, and culture.
One example. I grew up in a country where every home had bars on the windows, triple locks on the doors, and with nothing of value ever left outside. All stores had shutters, and nothing was ever put outside, day or night. So, when I came to the US almost 50 years ago, I could not believe Kmart would leave all kinds of stuff outside. I still marvel that mulch is still there at Home Depot in the morning.
Why am I telling you this? We just had elections. Historical elections. More money was wasted on these elections than ever before in history. Other history was made, I’m sure. And prior to election day a lot of questions were swirling about the legitimacy of the elections (thankfully, at least at this stage, those issues have largely gone away.) But those questions made me look at how much trust we as Americans put in ourselves. And this goes way beyond mulch in the Home Depot parking lot.
When I voted, I went into a room staffed by retiree-aged people. I don’t know them, I never will. And yet I trusted my license to them, I trusted the ballot they gave me, I trusted their instructions to get my ballot into a scanner, a machine that I trusted to translate my pen markings into a digital database that would be aggregated to counts from around town and Palm Beach County.
And I trusted that a bunch of average people around Florida would be equally trustworthy. And then, we Floridians (the land of hanging chads) trusted the people of Georgia, with different systems, to do the same. And the Peach State has to trust the citizen counters of, say, Montana, to do the same, and successively, collectively, all of us have to trust each other to count well, report well, and live with the results. It’s a huge amount of trust. It’s a citizen-driven endeavor unparalleled by anything else. It’s just amazing when you think about it.
The devotional I’ve been reading lately is called “Verse of the Day.” For election day, curiously, the verse was Romans 13:1, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.” The authorities that exist have been established by God. Wow! As an American steeped in democracy and the Protestant work ethic, that’s hard! But recall for a minute where Paul was coming from: Jews had no love lost for the Roman authorities, and Paul himself was imprisoned by the Emperor. Submit? Trust? Really?
Yes. We are called to trust. And while I greatly trust those volunteer poll workers, those employees of the Board of Elections, and the officials they announce as winners, ultimately, I trust a good God, who is above any and every power and principality and politics. I confess I don’t trust myself half of the time, never mind others. But I do trust the Lord, wholeheartedly, even in the political sphere. Trusting everything to Him is a better way. Paul knew it, I’m learning it, we’re all better for it.
Still hanging the day after,
Craig
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5,6 (KJV)
