The Smaller Different World

One of the facts of my life is that I have moved almost every five years of my life until I came to Henderson,N.C. and we have now been here almost 16 years. While that has made maintaining friendships difficult, it has had the blessing of showing me how many different ways in this country we can do things, and it has shown me how very much we are all alike.

I have had the blessing of being able to travel to different countries. I have been to Mexico, Costa Rica, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Canada. Again, the education has been how much variety there is in doing the same things. All children play with dolls, but the dolls are look so different. We all keep warm in the winter, but the way it is done is so different.

Vance Granville Community College had a Cultural Fair about a week ago. That fair brought to Vance County the educational opportunities that all my travelling has given me. There in that room was a chance to see how many different ways there are to do the same thing. And some of the ways that other people do things are really good. At least it looked that way by the number of people who came by the Latin American booth to get food.

The Cultural Fair at Vance Granville Community College is a little piece of what we are all beginning to understand. Especially in light of the G-20 meeting in London. This is a great world getting smaller. There are more and more people who want better education, better homes, better transportation. better quality of life. There are lots of ways of doing those things, but some of those ways will have to change if we hope to preserve the earth.

God has given us a great planet and many resources. One of the greatest resources is the variety and creativity of all these different cultures and traditions. We are invited by God to be stewards of the earth. We have only a few years left to do that or we will have passed the tipping point for the preservation of all of us. God has given us a great world. God has given us great creativity in an amazing variety of cultures. Now we have to all come together to find the best way forward for the good of all of us. One thing is for sure. The American current standard of living and the way we support that standard of living cannot be the standard for the next three billion people in India and China. Out of the God-given creativity of all of us we have to find a different way.