Children at Play

About a month ago I was in the final weeks of preparing to run my first half-marathon here in town. A friend of mine let me borrow a copy of her book "Born to Run," by Christopher McDougall. What captured me about this book was not only Christopher's amazing gift of story telling, but also his fascination with simplicity when it comes to running. Good portions of the book are devoted to questioning how much we really need when it comes to running. He investigates the running patterns of an ancient tribe in Mexico, tears apart the running shoe industry, and reevaluates our diets when it comes to running. My favorite quote of the entire book comes after he has watched the children of this ancient tribe, called the Tarahumara, play a soccer style game through Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons as if it were nothing. The children easily cover five or six miles while playing this game and Chris begins to wonder:

“How do you flip the internal switch that changes us all back into the Natural Born Runners we once were? Not just in history, but in our own lifetimes. Remember? Back when you were a kid and you had to be yelled at to slow down? Every game you played, you played at top speed, sprinting like crazy as you kicked cans, freed all, and attacked jungle outposts in your neighbors’ backyards. Half the fun of doing anything was doing it at a record pace, making it probably the last time in your life you’d ever be hassled for going too fast.”(Pg. 92 - Born to Run)

It saddens me that we seem to pacify kids energy and educate them out of their creativity. We don't want our kids to go off and explore the neighborhood anymore because they might get kidnapped, so instead they sit at home and stare at screens all day while becoming obese. We shove math and science down their throats until they eventually pass at the expense of giving them space to see if they dance, sing, or love to make art. I recently stumbled upon an amazing collection of books by an artist named Shaun Tan. The book is called "Lost & Found" and is an amazing collection of three separate stories. The first being an exploration of ones self which he wrote while struggling with depression. The second being a tale about what happens when we take the time to observe the world around us. The third being a tragic retelling of the exploitation of native peoples. The second story was made into a short film, the trailer of which you can watch here. I have included artwork from throughout the book in this post.
The three stories Shaun creates make me wonder to what extent young people will find joy and fulfillment in life if they don't explore the world around them sans screen. The first story reminds me of the danger and eventual loneliness we all feel when we isolate ourselves from one another and creation. The second story could easily be a parable for the beautiful things in life we miss when we become too busy or self important to observe each other and the world. The third story is a lament of the exploitation that can happen when we follow the dictum of "the majority rules," and forget how to live alongside the minority who are different from us.

Gabe Lyons brings into question the popular societal concept of "majority rules," in his book "The Next Christians, The Good News About The End of Christian America." He notices a HUGE difference between societies concept of "the most good for the MOST people," and Aristotle's concept of "the most good for ALL people." (emphasis mine) Can you see the difference?

"The common good is defined as—"the most good for all people." Aristotle first conceived it, but Thomas Aquinas, a thirteenth-century Roman Catholic philosopher, honed it well as a Christian conception for how Christians ought to live alongside others who were different in society. This strict definition of the common good doesn't prefer one human being over another; instead, it values all human life and wants what is best for all people—Christian or not." (Q Conference by Gabe Lyons)
We often see how society prefers the "most good for the most people," because it is an easy majority rules option. Gabe Lyons argues that what Aristotle taught, and Aquinas expanded on, shows us a way to live in a pluralistic society for Christ. Shaun Tan's final story in "Lost & Found," shows how imperialism and colonialism, on whatever continent it happens, is not the most good for ALL people. Tan's art makes me wonder in what ways things like running and art can bridge the gap between different cultures. Especially between people who have been pushed to the fringe by the majority. Most of us are sharing in the benefits reaped by such exploitation. But can their be healing? Are things like simplicity and art ways to present an offering of healing? N.T. Wright has some wonderful insight into this in his book "Surprised by Hope." He writes this;

"When art comes to terms with both the wounds of the world and the promise of resurrection and learns how to express and respond to both at once, we will be on the way to a fresh vision, a fresh mission."

Amen. May it be so.