The question I get asked the most is: Does he understand Bisaya?
Okay so that question isn’t directed to me, nevertheless it is about me. The question I then get asked is “How long will you be staying here?”
The third most asked question to me is: “What do you think about the President?”
The President in this case is the new POTUS. I answer this question with a shrug and reply that I do not like him. People then ask me if I voted for him to which I answer “No, I did not.”
I then get a why not? Why don’t I like the new Potus and why didn’t I vote for him?
In Bisaya, while I can understand and speak, I am still limited so the answer I give the questions is simple. I do not like him and did not vote for him because I am a Christian.
I believe in planting seeds of hope, faith,love and truth. Living my life walking in the light, following the light. The new Potus plants fear, deceit and hate.
Yes I understand Bisaya, and I can communicate through gestures and pointing that which I have no words for. More importantly I can speak from my christian heart which says these things happening to our neighbors in the US, these Executive Orders are wrong, and are incompatible with my beliefs as a Christian: they are incompatible with the Old Testament and the New.
This is not theology or interpretation that can be understood differently. Leviticus 19:33-34 says:
33 When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
First I am a Christian. Then I am an Earthling. A Neighbor, a brother, a son, a man, a millennial, a wanderer, an activist, a musician, a geologist. And way down the line somewhere I am a United States citizen. My identity is in Christ first, followed by the community of Creation. Identifying myself as part of organization and state of an exclusive nation is not high up on my list.
Yet if I stand by and am silent while these things are done in my name, I am still complicit.
I will not be silent. Even though I do not reside in my passportland. Even though I may not be fluent in their language, I will not be idle.
From Dust to Dusk 