About

This is the start of GlowWords. A personal blog for whatever thoughts I see fit to put out in the world. The name was inspired on a trip to New Zealand and my eldest child's fascination with the glow worms there. This site is a pun on that. But it also plays on so much of my life being lived in a terminal where the words literally glow on the screen. It is also an aim, to write words that give light. To put something meaningful, or at least beneficial out into the world.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

It's the start of Black History Month and I'm reminded of a conversation I had in grad school. My work supervisor invited me to lunch with of few of his friends. The conversation of affirmative action came up, and the comment was made "I wouldn't want a doctor who got in on affirmative action operating on me." The table seemed in general agreement. I responded "Even if they got into school on affirmative action, it doesn't get them through the training. They still have to make it through on ability." I thank God for giving a clear, simple response and courage to share it. It seemed everyone was reconsidering the point.

There' a lot of talk about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion lately. The general thought seems to be that it's a way to put people into positions who couldn't make it on ability. But if you've ever been through DEI training you realize that's not what it is about. In my experience DEI looks at discovering ability where you might overlook it. You might overlook someone because you mistake cultural or even personality differences for inability. Prejudices can also bias you against candidates or supporting your current coworkers. DEI attempts to educate so that bias doesn't override good decision making. In some cases it standardizes merit-based hiring to ensure candidates are qualified and not hired due to bias.

Of course it's not perfect. Nothing in this world ever is. But if you're a Christian like me and the idea of more inclusive workplaces bothers you I ask you to consider the following texts.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:28

In the church we are called to be united with those who are different from us. This is not a shallow unity where we have a common faith but keep to our own. We are to be "one," a concept that is used for the deepest relationships in the Bible.

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people," - Revelation 14:6

To those who are outside of that unity "in Christ Jesus" we are called to take the gospel to without partiality or discrimination. The kingdom of heaven will be made up of people of "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." If you're finding yourself uncomfortable with people of different languages, cultures, or color being given positions consider that in the kingdom of heaven all are to be joint-heirs with Christ. If you're uncomfortable with them here, you'll find no comfort in heaven.

Escaping an Oppressive Life

I recently re-listened to Professor Brian Moriarty's 2011 talk, An Apology for Roger Ebert. The late film critic had waded into the discussion of whether video games can be art, receiving tremendous backlash. Moriarty makes a defense of Ebert, discussing whether video games can ever be "sublime art" or will always just be kitsch, emotional baiting, or cash cow entertainment. But something else caught my attention as I listened. In discussing a painting by James Northcote, he drops in a little aside:

In the early 18th century... there were generally two classes of people in Europe: the well-to-do and the near-starving. Get used to it. We’ll be there again soon.

24 years later that warning seems a little on the nose. We're now in a country where trucking, once a reliable job that could support a family, sees workers abandoning it because they're losing money going to work. A country where the top 1% have as much as the bottom 90%. And a world where buying products labeled "Fair Trade" means conceding only 20% of the content is fair trade as the supply chain is so dark and slavery so prevalent throughout they can't confirm it is 100% fair trade.

Looking at the bleak world around us, it is easy to sympathize with Clive Barker's retort to Ebert in defense of video games as a pass time:

I'm just saying that gaming is a great way to do what we as human beings need to do all the time — to take ourselves away from the oppressive facts of our lives and go somewhere where we have our own control.

But then there is Ebert's response:

I do not have a need 'all the time' to take myself away from the oppressive facts of my life, however oppressive they may be, in order to go somewhere where I have control. I need to stay here and take control.

A Brief Story

I graduated from high school just a couple of years before September 11, 2001. One of my high school friends started working in restaurants. The culture was one where co-workers would yell and swear at each other a lot. It was pretty much expected.

At some point he started working in a restaurant in Southwest Michigan. One day he started laying into and cursing at his boss. It was just another day working in a restaurant for him. But his boss stormed out. His coworkers said they'd never seen their boss so furious.

When his boss returned, having calmed down, my friend still had his job. He realized in this job it was expected that everyone treat each other with respect and patience. And his boss didn't just expect that of his workers, but of himself too.

But then one day his boss didn't show up. They didn't know where he was. No one knew where he was. He just disappeared. Or rather, he was disappeared.

His boss, Ibrahim Parlak, had entered the US seeking asylum. But politics changed, and he had been taken into custody with aims to deport him.

That might have been the end of the story, but one of the patrons to Parlak's restaurant lifted his voice to draw attention to his case. That patron was Roger Ebert.

Entertainment and Life

In this world of war, injustice, and suffering it is easy to seek the comforting escape that entertainment provides. And the world is flooded with entertainment of all sorts in every type of medium. Its abundance does allow us to pull away from the oppressive facts of the world around us all the time.

Yet, the man most famous for consuming entertainment in my lifetime also finds a need to engage with the world around us, No matter how oppressive. Whatever we may gain from enjoying entertainment it consumes our time. Time that could be spent with family, re-connecting with old friends, engaging in the community. The more time we dedicate to it, the more time we lose for those around us.

When we escape from the wider world around us, it is still moving on. As we hide from the oppression it doesn't disappear but tends to grow. The world loses our voice and our strength. As the comforts of this world grow large darkness seems to ride in its wake. We need to make time to confront and challenge the oppressive facts of life.

We need to make time for the joys found in engaging with the world rather than escaping from it. Community building, strengthening family ties, and reaching out to those in need. Helping those who are falling into despair, anger, or hopelessness, and finding the joy of joining others in truly escaping the horrors of this life.