Dear Panelists:
First, I want to thank you for being willing to take part in the important work of renewing and deepening conversation within our community.
Diversity in background, ethnicity, national origin, age, denomination, sexual identity and theological understanding is a fact of life in our theological school. Such diversity makes our life together rich, and an incomparable learning opportunity; it also makes it complicated, and sometimes difficult. It may be that the gifts and the challenges that our differences bring to our life cannot be altogether disentangled from each other, for wrestling with the challenges is part of the learning. Nevertheless, we can talk together about how to make the best use of this special learning opportunity. We can acknowledge the challenges and the discomfort, and still talk about how to be present and attentive to one another, how to listen to and welcome and make space for one another (not the same as having to agree or conform!) so that we benefit from our diversity rather than merely being divided by it.
Our intention in this forum is to let each of you offer ideas rooted in your own experience and observation of welcoming and being welcomed, of encountering and learning from difference, and to help us think as a community about what we can do to navigate the difficulties well, together. In all of this it is important to recognize that members of all groups in our community report some experiences of feeling shut out or ignored, silenced or misunderstood, marginalized or made light of. Our purpose here is not to fix blame, or to debate divergent positions, but rather to work together at learning how to be a community of learning and formation.
The events both take place in the Refectory, one at dinnertime on Monday the 14th(5:00-6:15), and the second at lunchtime on Wednesday the 16th. (12:00:-1:15) There will be long tables set up at the far end of the Refectory with microphones. Dr Sharon Ringe will introduce our topic, and the panelists. We ask each of you to take 5 minutes to offer your own perspective on both gifts and challenges posed by our diversity. Then we will open the floor to comments and questions from the community.
Please feel free to write, call or come by if any of this is unclear, or if you have questions this fails to address.
Again, thank you for offering leadership in our shared life.
Sondra Wheeler
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Monday 5:00pm - 6:15pm
My First Statement -
First of all, I would like to say that there are
more than 50 Koreans at Wesley. Also, there are around 15 more international
students who came from other countries. So,
it is a pretty diverse community at Wesley.
I think Wesley’s community is very open-minded and
hospitable to the international students and their families. From my experience, I haven’t seen anyone who
said “no” when I asked them to share their class notes or do the proof readings
for my papers. Everyone is willing to
help and support me, which I am very thankful about it. Every time I get along with fellow students
and people were very understanding.
Therefore, I would say, generally, Wesley community has a good
environment for international students.
However, if I must point out the challenge, then I
would say that most of international students are still having a hard time
getting involved with Americans or American cultures mainly because of the
language barriers.
Yes, I know international students all agree with an
idea that most of people around them are understanding and caring whenever they
reach out to them but the language barrier is difficult.
Even though I know or we know that people are open
to us, we become reluctant to get along with Americans simply because it is uncomfortable
to us. It is not just because of we need
to put much more energy or effort to communicate in another language but
because we feel that we make other people uncomfortable as well.
Let’s think this way. Let’s suppose my wife is an extremely good
runner. She runs 10 miles every day within
an hour. But I am an extremely bad
runner. I cannot run even a mile without
stopping. But if we run together to
exercise, I would feel bad for my wife whenever I see her waiting for me. She is so ready to sprint but she can’t
because of me. I know she loves me and
she would wait for me over and over, but I might lose interest or motivation to
run again because I feel uncomfortable.
I think it is the same thing what is happening at
Wesley community.
But there is a hope because as time goes by, many
international students improve their language ability. I know they cannot speak as perfectly as
Americans but at least, they could communicate.
In this regard, I suggest three simply things:
One, people here, please continue your good works by
opening your hearts and understanding international students.
Two, international students should step up more and fight
against their uncomfortableness because many people around us are already open
to us.
Third and most important, I think Wesley Seminary and the leadership need to provide and facilitate more programs or organize systems that would help and support making connection between international students and Americans.
I hope to see both international students and
American students run together joyfully here at Wesley.
Thank you for listening.
Learning points -
1. This event was more about an inter-faith dialogue rather than an inter-national dialogue.
2. But there was a similarity between two categories: language (or communication) barriers. That is, just as an international student has a difficulty in communication, many other American students - despite using the same language - who have different beliefs (LGBT, UU, ...) experienced the same barriers. (isolation, neglect, separation, ignorance, etc.) Many (from a minority side) addressed that they have fears of being neglected so that it was hard for them to come out and interact with others who have different perspectives.
Dr. Sharon Ringe pointed out two things regarding to this issue:
- Marginalized people need a supporting group
- They need to step up and interact with others (Voice up)
The key was this: hearing one another with a true heart is an act of loving and caring, which is taught by Jesus Christ.
3. I realized that there is a common ground for both inter-national talks and inter-faith talks. That is, how to build a better communication between majorities and minorities, or havings and not-havings.
The key is, a better solution can hardly be found from the minorities but it can easily be found from majorities. When privileged give up their money, power, dignity, or pride, there will be a difference.
4. Question; What if there is no grey area in faith issue?
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Wednesday 12:00pm - 1:15pm
My First Statement -
Hello everyone,
Last time, on behalf of an international student community,
I shared about couple of things.
One is that Wesley community is overall friendly, hospitable
and open-minded to international students and their families. And I used an example that how people
generously share their class notes or do the proof-readings for the
papers. I can feel that everyone here is
willing to understand and help and support international students.
Secondly, I mentioned that even though the Wesley
community has a good environment for international students, but still there is
a gap between Americans and international students, which results in minorities
feel isolated, neglected, or ignored. And
this is mainly caused by the language barriers.
American students and faculties would say, “Oh, that
is okay. We totally understand your
language difficulties. You are
international student. Just feel free to
come and talk to us.”
Yes, we know that you are welcoming and
open-minded. And we know that you are
ready to listen to us.
But here is the thing. A language barrier always brings out
uncomfortableness and all human beings hate and want to avoid
uncomfortableness.
Like I said last time, this uncomfortableness is
caused by two main reasons: one is that when international students talk in different
language, they need to put much more energy and attention to it, which is
uncomfortable.
Another is that international students feel uncomfortableness
when they talk with Americans because they feel that they make them uncomfortable. It is pretty obvious. Like you all know, most of international students
speak very slowly with a lot of uncomfortable grammatical errors and weird accents. It must be really uncomfortable to listen to
that. And international students know
and feel about it so that they reluctant to have a conversation with Americans
rather they avoid or hide.
Regarding this fact, I also suggested three simple
things last time:
One, I asked people here to continue your good works
by opening your hearts and understanding international students.
Two, I asked international students should step up more
and fight against their uncomfortableness because many people around us are
already open to us.
Third and most important, I think Wesley Seminary and the leadership need to provide and facilitate more programs or organize systems that would help and support making connection between international students and Americans because it is so hard to deal with individually.
Here, I want to add up few more things that I
learned from last session.
First of all, I found out that this event was more
about an inter-faith dialogue or inter-theology dialogue rather than an
inter-national dialogue.
Secondly, however, there was a similarity between
two which is a language barriers or communication barrier.
I thought only international students felt
isolation, neglect, separation and ignorance in this community because of our
lack of language or communication skills, but I surprisingly realized that
there are so many other American students - despite using the same language -
who felt the same difficulties.
Many from a minority side addressed that they have
fears of being neglected so that it was hard for them to come out and interact
with others who have different perspectives or I can say who have different
languages.
Lastly, I realized that the challenge for both inter-national
talks and inter-faith talks is the same which is to build a better
communication between majorities and minorities, or havings and
not-havings.
And my thought is that a better solution can hardly
be found from the minorities but it can easily be found from majorities. When privileged give up their money, power,
dignity, or pride, there will be a much difference.
But my last question would be “What if there is no
grey area in faith issue?”
Thank you for listening.
Learning points -
1. There should be an institutional work to deepening individual relationship.
2. Try to take the risk to build a relationship.
3. As a whole community, we cannot accept or agreed to everyone's thoughts but we could still love and respect one another.
My thought: We cannot reach to the goal to have a perfect community (love and respect one another) by our intellectual efforts but only it is possible through Holy Spirit. So, we should ask ourself before saying love or understanding or a whole community that am I faithful, sincere, and humble before God? Do I have the same heart that was in Jesus Christ? Only the Holy Spirit would make things perfect. That must be the first priority before our intellectual endeavors.
