Back in chilly Appleton, I'll probably be sharing some of my Red Cross exploits over the next few days, as once we were moved to Texas we did get to participate in something approaching an exploit.
I'd like to start, however, by introducing you to one of the most quietly inspiring people I've ever met: partly because of her own exemplary approach to life, but also because she steadfastly refuses to to be categorized.
Twilight is a 20-year old RC volunteer that I first met in Alabama and travelled with to Texas, where I got to know her. She drives a car, owns a computer, hopes to get an email address, and while she doesn't own a cellphone she can confidently use one (unlike some of our older volunteers!). She wears her pajamas confidently in the gymnasium where both men and women volunteers sleep.
Twilight is also, incidentally, a Menonite. Kind of.
Twilight's mother used to be Menonite, but left her congregation. Twilight's father used to be Amish, but he was kicked out when he became a born-again, which the Amish don't believe in. They now attend a nondenominational church, and so technically speaking that is what Twilight is religiously: a non-denominational Christian. However, her lifestyle is generally Menonite: she veils her hair, always wears skirts and doesn't own a television, for example.
Her reasons for such behaviors, however, are neither blind nor unconsidered. Ask her why she does these things and she'll always have a well thought out answer, not some answer memorized by rote and fed to her incessantly by parents or congregation. She veils her hair because of the passage in the Bible insisting women cover their hair when they pray, and she never knows when she might be moved to start praying. She wears long skirts because she considers them more modest than pants. She is not in any way offended that other women wear pants or even shorts, but she is uncomfortable with revealing herself in this way. She doesn't own a television because there's very little on it she thinks is worth watching.
People frequently think of women in these communities as being raised to be subservient and meek, but that is certainly not the case with Twilight - although I made the mistake early on of confusing her good manners with deference. She ignores minor slights, not willing, I now I think, to sink down to those levels of pettiness. But when she or someone around her is seriously wronged, she'll let you know. Her complaints are almost always, however, attempts to somehow correct the situation, not to merely rant.
She is deeply religious, also considering herself a born-again, but without the judgmentalness society frequently associates with such people. She believes that AIDS probably was first visited upon humanity as divine punishment, but she also accepts that many, many people now get AIDS through no moral fault. She also agreed with me that even if AIDS was a divine punishment, that was no excuse to ostracize or not care for AIDS patients - she sees no problem in one human helping another human even if God is punishing him, as it is not like we're going to interfere with God's plans, if he really has such plans. She never attempted to convert anyone. Indeed, most of what we learned of her faith came from her answers to our questions, not anything that she preemptively explained. If she has any negative opinions about non-born-agains or non-Christians in general, she certainly never expressed them in my presense.
Comments