honors response 12

The book presentation about The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck in class this past week got me thinking, again about the discussions we have had in class this semester.

One of the themes that the group had presented on what community vs. individualism.  What I took from it was that the family in this story was that each member put in their part in order to make sure that they, as a family, survive.  They stuck together as they were traveling from Oklahoma to California, through thick and through thin.

This made me think, what if we did this in our daily lives? In all aspects of our lives?

If we focus on our community, our brothers and sisters in Christ, then maybe, just maybe we could solve one of the many problems of this world that we have talked about in class.  I'm not saying that we could fully solve multiple issues or even just one, I don't think that that would be possible, however I do think that we could help it out a little.  In class we've been talking about how we can help change the world as individuals, but what can we do as a community to help the world?

One statement that was made during the presentation was don't let fear control you.  That hit me hard.  We are always so focused on ourselves and what we can do to change the world.  But then we get the over-consuming feeling that we are simply just one person, whatever we do as an individual will not change the world, unless you're Justin Bieber (which by the way, I saw him in concert this past Wednesday and what God is doing in his life is absolutely incredible).  It gets to the point where we just put aside taking action because we don't think that we can have and effect.  But if we ban together as a class, or even as a school, we could make some sort of a difference.

Our soccer team has a saying, "what we do, we do together".  Although we overuse that statement on the team, especially when it comes to our punish (when 100% it involves a ridiculous amount of fitness), it can really apply to us.  As Christians, God tells us not to do life alone.  We should come together as a community, as one, to make a difference.