Thoughts…

So right now I am sitting on a plane that is headed for Dublin, Ireland.  I am cramped behind a seat that is reclined to its max. I have my tray down, and am listening to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in the airplane headphones.  Every once in a while I look up to see some crazy child making some mistake, misjudging the value of candy.  Interesting and quite hypothetical, I would say, not really about candy but more about instruction and respect.  I enjoy it except for one thing.  The new movie completely leaves out Charlie’s mistake that he makes with his grandfather, a staple in the original film that brings home the point about obedience and our individual accountability to a supreme being.  This idea seems to be replaced by a spin that the new movie tries to throw on the importance of family.  Acceptable but it ends up being very predictable (which seems to be a negative attribute to most films).

However, the point of this journal has little to do with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and more with my trip to Northern Ireland.  I was fortunate enough to land a seat on my 5-hour flight (Newark to Dublin), next to a guy named David, that actually is a student of Queen’s College in Belfast (this is the university that we are going to be “staying” with).  He is presently taking classes in Portland but is taking a break to go home.  He is arriving in Dublin and then is going to look for a bus ride to Belfast.  I am hoping there will be a way for us to take him along since we are going to be practically going straight to Queen’s.  It would be nice to save him some money and it would also be nice to continue a “friendship”. 

Looking back (as now I am settled in Northern Ireland, and suffering from Jet Lag poisoning) I guess my situation on the plane does echo the main theme of the first Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (in a way).  I have to be careful how I act with this guy.  I can’t just eat all of his candy, or think I know better than him and so put myself into the situation to get shrunk.  I feel as though I am selfish and want to take the drink that will make me float even when it may be something I really shouldn’t do. 

I have to be careful of this when dealing with people that I first meet.  I feel that it is especially taxing when explaining our trip to people of Northern Ireland.  I find it difficult to just say to someone, “yeah we are here studying you”; it seems very harsh and categorical.  Even to say something like “We are here to learn from you guys” infers a study of mistakes and then placing blame on this sole individual for these mistakes, as she is part of what we are studying.  So maybe something more impersonal, “We are studying the conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants in Northern Ireland.”  I feel uncomfortable saying this because if who I am was in their situation, I would feel uncomfortable.  However, I am learning that the Catholic/Protestant issue in Northern Ireland is not a “hush-hush” situation.  People know it is there and do not really argue its presence or feel “classified” by it.

So I have decided to follow Charlie’s lead and determine my words through careful analysis and concern for “the other”, an idea that Aquinas, Levinas and God all seem to agree on ;).  This obviously will not happen all of the time as I am virtually a horrible person but I will try my best, and through the grace of God, I might be able to accomplish this quest for righteousness.  I don’t know if anything else can be asked of me, however this test can only be graded with time.

Cheers…