cause God is AWESOME. :)

sigh. i really gots to write this paper. :p
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what i did for my sabbath this past friday:
i participated in the Day of Silence, a rally meant to "bring attention to the name-calling, bullying and harassment -- in effect, the silencing -- experienced by LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) students and their allies." participants go on a silent march wearing ribbons on their arms and tape on their mouths, passing out leaflets that say:

"Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is cauesd by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address to these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today."

it turns out that two weeks ago, on april 9th, an 11-year-old boy hung himself because of anti-gay bullying. and here's the thing: this boy did not identify himself as gay. homophobia transcends boundaries and affects even those who are not directly affiliated with the LGBT community. here's the article if you're interested:
http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/2400.html
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when i woke up friday morning, i did not imagine myself to be really participating in this march, or at least to the extent i did. i simply thought i was just going drop by and say hello to some familiar faces.

...but it turns out that God had a different plan for me:
He wanted me to be engaged, to go deeper.

it was somewhat nervewrecking when i placed the tape over my mouth. i was unconsciously thinking of numerous reasons for me not to continue, for me to take it off.

...but good thing God pulled me through it all.

to bulletpoint the rest:

• as i marched, i passed out a lot of leaflets to people i knew: iv and livingwater folks. i saw a lot of confused expressions as they clearly knew who i was and clearly knew that this was not something we (christians) normally do.
• during the march, i decided to do a prayer walk, for this campus, for the LGBT community, for the church.
  THANK GOD that prayer could be spoken in silence.
• UIC (unity in christ) apparently was planning on having worship on the same day, at the same time, and at the same place. many of us (christians) were nervous because of the possibility that hostility might break out between the two communities, but God was in the midst of it all. as i concluded my march, i came and sat next to my brothers and sisters, in front of the DOS tent, tape still covering my mouth.
  ...i suppose this is what the strengthfinder test meant when i was a "bridge builder for people of different cultures".

to copy off what my friend said over gchat:

he said that uic wanted to have worship

etc etc

but then jamie emailed him

telling him that day of silence was also that day

and they didnt know that

so they talked about it and some ppl wanted to cancel it

cause they were scared of the conflict

but david felt that they should just do it and respect them when they get there

so he said they were just worshipping
and then when the march came in front of them
like literally in front of them
they stopped playing
and i duno if they were nervous or not
but then joanne kim was there (hi jojo)
a clear part of the march
and she had red tape on her mouth
and she sat down with the worship team
or they talked to you or something (? you had tape on your mouth so i duno how that happened)
so it ended up being friendly

cause they could see that you were with them as well

LOL you go jojo
and that someone from their march
came and gave them ribbons and stuff

how crazy it is for me to be here. i would have never imagined for me to be here a year ago. PTL!! :)


and, to commemorate it all!! :D