Al Staggs Performing Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Tuesday, November 10^th the Robinson Teaching Theater was filled with all sorts of people.  Everyone from Whitworth students to senior citizens occupied the room.  We were all eagerly awaiting Al Staggs one act based on the imprisonment of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

This was a man who during the war had joined the German Abwehr, in attempts to assassinate Hitler.  Before he had this opportunity he was arrested, thrown in jail, two years later executed by the German military.  Before his arrest he was a pastor involved with the helping of people, form Harlem to the persecuted Jews.  He believed in many serving the greater good, while seeking justice for those in need.

His teachings have become widespread and known throughout the theologian community.  He did not believe in the separation of two worlds.  God was part of this world that we live in and he suffers just like his people.  Therefore it is the duty of the people on earth to accept divine suffering, but also instill justice in the world. This is exactly what Bonhoeffer was attempting to do when he was part of the Hitler assassination plan, or when he was in jail and still lending his pastor hand to the people around him.

During WWII he saw from first hand experience the deterioration of the German Protestant Church under the power of the Nazi regime.  This was tragic, but he also saw it as an opportunity to reform the Christian religion.  Christianity could mold into a no religion religion.  Basically, people would see God unclouded by a metaphysical appearance, and base their beliefs off of faith. This idea is an extremely rash and hard to implement, but I would have to agree with his beliefs.  The idea that a religion could be based off purely faith and what the people thought rather than a metaphysical appearance would cause the belief to become much more personal to the individual.  By increasing the individuality of the religion, there would be much less struggle about interpretation, causing less confrontation in the future.

To start his speaking ability was not what I imagined a US Ambassador to be capable of.   How he managed to say aaah… so many times is beyond me.  I am not trying to solely judge his knowledge off of how he presents it, but rather just mention that his lack of public speaking greatly detracted from the point he was trying to purvey to the audience.

As Crocker presented his information, his presentation was based on three basic lessons, which he then incorporated into the rest of the lecture.  These three lessons were set on the premise of how we entered the war, what we were doing to accomplish our goals, and how we were going to exit the war.  While he was talking I couldn’t help but wondering how much of a role he played in the Iraq/Middle East conflict.  He was present for the Lebanon and Beirut bombings.  Crocker is fluent in Arabic, and has a long standing of experience under his belt.  All I could think of is how this man allowed for our country to go to war.  His claim was that the war was a necessity for the threat of WOMD as well as to overthrow a dictator.  Nowhere in his speech did he talk about Islam, education, and the Middle Eastern society, which resents us like a five year old resents Brussels sprouts.  How could this man possibly put our country into this state of war? The ambassador talked of learning from history and knowing what you are getting into.  Well he defied both of those words of wisdom.  Does he remember Vietnam?  Does he remember that fighting religion and fundamental beliefs of a society hasn’t worked, even though its been tried thousands of times dating to before the birth of Jesus?  Unfortunately I never had the chance to ask these questions.  Instead of content about the war and Middle East, I learned something greater.

I learned what I believe a US Ambassador and politician in general should do.  They should think with common sense.  This might be a random rant, but Crocker was not deserving of this position.  To put our country into the foreign affairs with no legitimate plan for action is preposterous to think about.  Upsetting an evil dictatorship is fine, but what about the ten plus other dictators that inhabit the earth?  I know the answer to this question, and so do most who use their brain at least a little.  We need to lead our country into a new direction, a direction based off of common sense.  The only problem is how?    I am a patriot of this country, I believe in our soldiers and support them, but to put them up to a war without a plan is the worst thing we could do for these young men and woman.

The person I interviewed was my Grandfather, Lou Boudreau.  He served as a plant manager for Procter & Gamble for thirty years.  As a manager his main tenure took place in Jacksonville, TN where he helped the start up of the Pringles potato chip plant.  During this time he and one other manager controlled and managed over five hundred workers while in the process of making and distributing Pringles chips.  After Tennessee he and the family moved to Wyoming, Ohio where he spent ten years, before finishing his career by spending three years in China facilitating the distribution of product throughout the region.

By far his favorite part of the job came in the managing, facilitating, and interacting the workers of his divisions.  He loved to talk to people, work with them and solve whatever problem came up, with the most systematic answer that worked for everyone.  His managerial duties kept him going through the thirty years.  Second to this came his ability to solve problems.  Didn’t matter if the problem was with production, distribution, or an employee matter, my Grandpa found a logical reasonable solution that benefited the company and the employees.

One major con about his job that I have personally witnessed in my Dad’s life was the constant moving his family faced while he was following his job around the country.  They moved three or four times just in my Dad’s twelve years of education.  This makes it very difficult to get settled into a community.  Another major con, which my grandfather was able to deal with well, was bad news.  It could be anything from layoffs, to employee arguments.  Although he handled them well and orderly, they would impact him after the workday was finished.  All in all there were very few complaints to be had.

He found his job while he was still a senior at the University of Florida.  He was married and about to have my Dad.  A job was necessary, so with his soon to be engineering degree he applied for five or six jobs.  He was offered jobs to every single one, P&G was just the best offer, with the highest paying starting salary, which he needed for his wife and soon to be son.

His advice to a youth would be to work you tail off.  Doesn’t matter if you are working for a degree, for minimum wage, or for a multi-million dollar corporation.  The way to succeed in business and life in general is to work as hard as you possibly can.  Do not be afraid to share great ideas, because these are the type of things that can get you ahead.  When working never give up on anything.  If you can’t find a solution, find another way to look at the problem.  If you have a bad boss, work around it and rise against him.  His advice would be to work hard, share ideas, and never ever give up.  Most importantly enjoy what you are doing.  Be passionate and proud of your work, because if your not, it sure can be a long thirty years.

To start, I was a fourteen-year-old high school freshman riding my bike to my first job.  Every Saturday morning I would wake up at seven thirty, ride my bike two miles and referee three to four soccer games.  During this process I would stand in the middle of the field baby sitting all of these parents kids, making sure that no one was to aggressive, or got injured.  After my first game ever I was bored!  But in a four-hour period of work I could make up to sixty dollars.  To a freshman this was a lot of money.  So I continued to ref because I liked the money and it was easy.

My next job came the summer before my senior year when I started to work at a golf course cleaning clubs, carts and kissing member butt.  I loved this job because I got free golf, a paycheck, and worked with some really cool people.  This was my ideal job to have.  Although it got mundane and repetitive the benefits of the job was to good to stop, so I continued through the summer, school year and then the next summer.

With the jobs I held came a new found appreciation and take on money.  Before money was simply used to buy baseball cards, candy, and maybe something cool.  As I got older money paid for a car, gas for the car, trips to various places, golf equipment, and many other things that started to come into my daily life.  This new view on money did not change me too much.  I have always been somewhat frugal, but I have always been able to enjoy what I earn.  Each time I buy a meal I see it as an hour of 8.40 minimum wage work.  Working for a paycheck was rewarding at the same time.  I felt nothing when I simply cashed the check into my bank account, but when I was able to go somewhere, do something, or see someone because of the money I made; then I felt like I earned it.

I have two dream jobs.  My first dream job is a pie in the sky idea that I think would be the greatest job in the whole world.  Being a member of the PGA tour and traveling around the world simply to play golf.  A second dream job that I am not quite sure what it would be, maybe a teacher, but a job that pays well enough to live off of, and more importantly a job where you can make a difference.  Whether you are helping one person at a time, or a whole classroom, I would love to help people in any way, shape or form.

What I did not particularly like about the book is that it did not address the full workings of the countries governments and happenings.  I feel if these issues had been addressed and presented, then it would have been much more relatable and understanding.  But overall it was really good, as example the paragraph above.

This book speaks large amounts about our foreign policy and how we are choosing to go about the whole Iraq/Iran/Pakistan conflict.  For one thing we infiltrated Iraq on the basis of the threat of weapons of mass destruction ( in which we have found none), as well as the overthrowing of an evil dictator involved in a mass genocide of his people.  I can believe in the idea of liberation of people under a mass killer, but how we go about the reconstruction is totally counter to the ideas that Mortenson lays out in his book.  The United States is approaching the rebuilding and formation of the government solely through a political means, through our own form of a democratic election, without considering the Iraqi’s culture, religion, and way of life.  By disregarding these keys elements of Iraq society a US made government will never form, and sooner or later, Al Quiaeda will be quick to sweep back into Iraq.  What Mortenson argues for the building and developing of countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, is to build the country through the basics: education, good relations, doing it their way.  The process of sitting tea with everyone is impossible, but through cultural understanding and patience for another’s views, the US would make much more progress, much quicker.  The Taliban and its grasp on Afghanistan is a whole other subject.  The basic ideals that I believe Mortenson tries to express is building a country and culture on education, and the up and coming generation, rather than changing the government and views of everyone all at once.  Education and youth are the most effective ways to help a countries growth.

The cultural differences are numerous in this book, but the ones that stood out to me the most were the relationships between the people.  Before they talked about anything else, they would ask about health, family, and then business.  Family and health always came first.  The Pakistanis took the time to listen to the person rather than get right to the point.  Developing a personal relationship, by drinking tea, or numerous other ways, was a part of daily life and interaction.  This is what stood out to me in the cultural differences.

In four years I have absolutely no idea what I want my life to look like.  I don’t know what I want to be, how I want to get there, or any of the above.  But I do know a lot of stuff.  In the next four years I want to take the Whitworth model to the fullest and truly grow in the mind and heart.  At first when I heard this slogan that Whitworth oriented itself with I just thought it was an outside phrase to emphasize Whitworth and help you want to learn more about the school.  As I have been here for over a month I am starting to change my initial opinion of what I thought this motto meant.  Each day I start to realize more and more what the mind and heart is, and what it requires to help these grow.  I have many questions that go unanswered on a daily basis, but I still question and seek these answers in many ways.  Anyways in four years I want my life to be an improvement on what it is now.  As of right now I love my family, friends, education, and everything that goes along with it.  Over the next four years I believe I can help advance all these relationships that I hold dearest to me through the motto of growing the mind and heart in a person.  Basically what I am trying to iterate is that in the next four years I want my life to be just like it is now.  Maybe with a cool girlfriend, and an improved golf game, but if it stays just how it is now, I would be thrilled.  But I would love to improve my heart as well as mind.  It sounds silly to try to improve your heart, but I believe through compassion, experience, empathy, and strong values you can grow exponentially as a person.  Intellect will come with my diligence in hitting the books and I know I am well capable.  It would be nice to have a greater sense of direction in my life, but I would not fret if it stayed unchanged.  Four years from now is a long way, but right now I am on a solid path to reaching my life in the next four years.

Currently I am doing a great job in reaching my goals for the next four years.  Never before have I wanted to read, study, and learn as much as I feel on a daily basis.  I do get tired and I still procrastinate, but overall the passion for learning intellectually for me has never been better.  I can only hope that it will continue to grow as I find a field I truly love, along with authors and professors that I can relate with.  Along the growing of the heart I believe I am doing just as well.  My comfort level is being changed and challenged everyday in the new people and experience in which I encounter on a daily basis.  Everyday I meet someone new and experience something different.  These constant changes allow for me to grow as a person through listening to others, voicing my opinion to others, and simply through experiences I see and am involved in on a day to day basis.  I am right on the path to where I want to be in four years.

There are no current adjustments that I could think of making at this moment in my life.  I love everything that I am participating in and I hope that the joy and wonder I feel on a daily basis can continue for the next four years.  If so it is gonna be a damn  good four years!!!

On September 22, 2009, Whitworth held a community-building day where students of Whitworth had the ability to reach out into the Spokane community and help in many ways possible.  Some people walked dogs, others helped at a retirement center; there were many different possibilities of service.  I had the chance to visit the Habitat for Humanity store, which was located close to Gonzaga U.  The primary purpose of the Habitat store was to collect old and used housing appliances, furniture, building materials and many other items, that were then sold to contractors and the general public.  Profits made from these sales would then go the main Atlanta headquarters for Habitat, as well as help build affordable houses in the Spokane region.  The store raised enough money each year to help fund the building of six houses just last year.

When we arrived for the hours of service we were led through a maze of home everything.  We ended up in the back with stacks and piles of everything from toilets to tiles.  The man in charge ended up having us stack, clean, sweep, and organize the outback of the store.  So we put the same items together, picked up garbage, and made the place look better than when we arrived.

Community-building day was a very good thing in many ways.  The first way was that it benefited the Spokane community and was helpful in someway or the other to the people who live in and around the area.  The second benefit was the image it reflects onto Whitworth.  With a school sending out over five hundred kids to contribute 2-4 hours of service creates a great name and image for the school and its reputation.  Thirdly and most importantly, it was a good learning experience for the students.  It showed various ways in which you can benefit other around you, it was simple, only took half a day, and we got to miss class on Tuesday morning!  The CBD was a great way to develop the students, community, and Whitworth as a whole.

The community that was built was the greater Spokane community as well as anyone associated with Habitat for Humanity.  Also the Whitworth community was growing at the same time.

Frosh Seminar

As I was awaiting the convocation commence I noticed the large freshman class that I would be spending the next four years of my life with at Whitworth.  From my seat in the far back I was able to see all sorts of people.  Some students were preparing for sports, while it was easy to tell others who had rolled out of bed five minutes prior to the assembly.  What I saw that was really intriguing to me was the mixture of races that were represented among the class of 2013.  Along with the various racial medley I also knew that many of these students had differing religious, political, and moral view points which would become clashed over the next four years of study.  It was very interesting to me that many of these students I would see and become familiar with, from these introductions our relation would grow.  I was looking upon potentially up to six hundred new friends and acquaintances.

Once the teachers started to enter I also saw further diversity.  All of the professors had on a black graduation gown, but each professor had their own insignia and colors representing their various class, background and major.  Again I thought how I would interact and learn diligently from many of these teachers over the next four years.  The people presented in front of me with a doctorate degree, were the people who would help make possible my college education.

Then Bill Robinson stepped to the microphone after the reading from the scripture.  I personally am not a Christian follower, and do not spend time studying the bible and what it has to offer, but what Robinson presented was opportunistic to me.  It allowed me to question what I thought and how I acted upon those thoughts.  Being patient to make new friends, along with the knowledge that my actions in the first few months were most likely to follow me through my next four years.  But what I really took from President Robinson was the idea of respect and grace for one another rather than letting our ideals and judgment impair our vision of others.  Although I am not a follower of the faith I believed in his quote “we need more passionate servers rather than careful servers.”  This is how I hope I can fully take advantage of what Whitworth has to offer me and my future at this university.

After reflecting on this during the prayer and scripture, it was time to stand up and pay respect to the faculty as they exited.  Everyone was excited to leave and so was I, but the words of Robinson and how they related to the story of St. Francis and Jesus left an opportunity in my mind that the next four years is what I make it.  To go into everything with passion and an open mind is ideal for a great chance of success.