When a missionary moves to a new country, one thing that they begin to work on is assimilating into the culture. This is not an easy task, but as time goes on, the missionary will start to notice that they are becoming more and more like the culture they are living in. Such was the case with me at a certain language class activity.
One of the things that stands out with Japanese culture is a group mentality. Most people don’t “think outside the box.” They act as a group and don’t want to be rejected by their peers.
At this language class activity, we were having a competition in the form of a quiz. The answers were multiple choice. You lined up in either line A, B, or C based on what you thought was the correct answer. You scored points based on how many correct answers you had throughout the quiz.
There was a question asked that I was 99.9% sure I knew the answer. I even remembered having a conversation with a Japanese lady about it. BUT I was the only person in my line. I started to second myself. I thought maybe the people in the other line knew more than I did about it, so I joined their line before time was called. We were all wrong. If I had stayed in my line, I would have been the only one with the correct answer!!!
When I told my husband about this later, I told him, “I’m becoming Japanese. I didn’t want to stand alone.”
As I thought about this over the next few days, I thought of the many spiritual applications to this situation. The most obvious one is the fact that sometimes, if we want to stand for truth, we have to stand alone. It may be easy to stand for truth and do what is right when you are with a group of like-minded peers, but what about when you have to stand alone? Are we willing to take the stand or do we find ourselves giving in to fit in or be part of the group?
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
~I Corinthians 15:58
*photo taken in beautiful Asuke in the fall
Very good. On the other hand, a missionary told me that their neighbors cleaned their front steps every day and they thought it was a waste of time. I wonder if they would have better influence and success if they gave in and cleaned their front steps too. Rise up to their higher standard. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteIt does make a difference when you make an effort to adapt to their culture.
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