There I was nurtured in my faith and observed it in action. We were baptized there, had birthdays, family gatherings, church services, ceremonies and celebrations there and even buried our dead through holding family services there. But I knew that there was more.
As a child, I remember praying a lot and speaking to God about a whole of things but especially about keeping my family safe, that still continues today, but now I see a whole new onslaught of ideas and theories that threaten to tear the very fabric of our cultural and spiritual beliefs. It's driven by the premise that if it feels good - do it, as long as it's consensual, it's nobody elses business.
And now with the declaration of a very real war of a super religion that causes unprescedented persecution on Christians and innocent victims globally through beheadings and other vicious attacks, it is a warning to stay vigilant. There is a Maori word that I've learnt as "kaitiaki-tanga" which for me means guardianship and that is what I count myself to be as a guardian of the values that have been passed down to me from my parents, our forefathers to pass on to the next generations.
I've recently heard a speaker talk about allowing our youth to choose their own realities and not have the 'baggage' (assumedly cultural and spiritual) that he had growing up. To me that's a neo-liberalist way of thinking that flies in the face of cultural and spiritual aspirations of people. Our youth need to learn to understand and appreciate their uniqueness and point of difference - into their family, aiga, whanau that they are born into.
The speaker above echoes what I believe in too, that we have a limited time on this earth (and he may be seen as having a radical faith) but we do need to, otherwise if we don't stand up for what we believe in - we will fall for anything...
No comments:
Post a Comment