After living in the midwest for seven years, I thought I was safe. I lost much of my Long Island accent, started to like Krispee Kreme, sometimes even more than DunkinDoughnuts and I even think that the corn fields in June is a beautiful sight. But I never dreamed that I would one day become a stock car racing fan - it happened. Last week, while on vacation with Amy's family, Biggie and I went to the I-44 Speedway in Lebannon Missouri with Amy's dad and brothers and loved every second of it. I liked it so much that I went back to Lincoln Speedway in Lincoln, Illinois, this Sunday night where "The Real Deal Don O'Neal" won $10,000 in prize money.
All of this reinforced a valuable missions lesson. As people who are going to serve cross culturally, we always need to remember that just because something is different (take stock car racing, for example) from what I would consider normal and good, it does not mean that said thing (take stock car racing, for example) is wrong. How eye opening it is, indeed, to find that I have been so prejudiced against such a terrific cultural experience in my own nation!
4 comments:
Ahhhhhhhh, the smell of racing; I sure hope you were able to add that to your memory banks as well.
I wonder if the R.I.P. Biggie ever raced. I bet he would have raced like Koopa on the original Mario Kart... Tough to get him goin' and tough to stop him.
I always use Koopa on Mario Kart double dash! Kudos, dewey3468.
Racing??? Don't worry, I'll keep you in my prayers. Hey man, thanks for the info on your New Zealand trip. I passed it on to the Missions people. Things here are pretty good right now. Gimme a shout back sometime. Peace.
Yeah Baby....I love your picture of Biggie at the track.
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