i spent three days in a village in padre garcia (municipality), batangas (province), luzon (island), philippines (country, duh). my group was working with an organization that builds cheap housing on donated parcels of land for the poverty-stricken people of the region. imagine a townhouse development scaled down about 1,000x and that’s the village. so we got to bushwhack, paint, mix cement, and the like. similar to habitat for humanity, i assume. and while the work being done there is very noble, of more note are the people. if i may paraphrase from burton:

these people really love jesus. like, really, really love jesus. faith is such an integral part of their community, the way that they love being christian, it almost makes me think that they actually believe in it. my present struggles with my own faith are rooted in the fact that i never chose to be a catholic. this crisis has provided an avenue for self-exploration et al. that has helped me to know myself much better, but not without cost: it’s not easy to cope with someone challenging everything that you thought you believed in, especially when that someone is yourself. and in seeing these people, they provide a strong counter to that particular grievance (not choosing, that is), in that they are more concerned with the faith itself and less with the philosophy of choice and are perfectly  content with that. what’s more, they are affected by the faith they practice. the values and ideals that are supposed to be instilled in followers of christ (you know, the ones that appear almost nonexistent in most american churchgoers) are with these people at all times. their christianity doesn’t start when they enter church for a sunday service and end when they walk out the door; it lives and breathes with them in everything that they do.

and it thusly raises the question: would i rather: a) be able to choose for myself, be completely aware of my choice, and subsequently struggle with the ramifications of having to make that choice, or b) be blissfully ignorant of the fact that i even have a choice and just live my life the way that i was taught to?

my new filippino friends all seem to go with the latter, and they seem to be all right with it. i watch them laugh in the face of unspeakable poverty. i watch them offer their food from their supplies, not their surplus. i watch them sleep on the floor so their guests can have the bed. so much love and purity and happiness (starkly different from american life) is due in no small part to the faith that they practice.

when the end result is love and hospitality and true humanity, what does it matter if you’re a christian of any denomination or a buddhist or anything else? and what does it matter if you chose to be that or not? i think that such an end justifies the means (and the means of the means, if you can wrap your mind around that).