Making a Difference

Sort of related to my last post, I was challenged this weekend at youth group about how I am making a difference in today's society. We watched a movie called "To Save a Life" - if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it (It's out in Blockbuster, I know that for sure). Without giving away too much of the plot, it focuses on how one person can make a difference in the world, how one event can change your world for the better (or the worst) and the different things that can come out of that event or person. It's quite powerful, both with the negative and the positive spins it takes and really proves a point.

Anyways, it just continued my thought from my last post as I continue to search myself for what type of difference I am making to the people around me. Jesus calls us to go make 'disciples of all nations' (Matthew 28:19) - are we doing that when we ignore others? or blow them off to hang out with someone 'cooler' - what does that even mean (I'm going post-modern on you now, courtesy of my professors at Brock University) - why do we even care about social stigmas?

Last night in class, we talked about social class (working class, middle class, upper class) and how teachers are aware of where their students are, and subconsciously create expectations for each student based upon the class they are in and base their teaching off of that. It's almost inevitable that people do that, but why is it inevitable? When you compare a class society like Canada, to an almost class-less society like Finland - you have to realize that social class is completely made up and reinforced within Canada (and North America in general). Who does this class society benefit? Well, it definitely doesn't benefit the working class.

Well, this post didn't quite go where I expected it to go - it's not well thought out and my points haven't been developed much - but this is what is going through my head as I struggle to figure out how I can make a difference in Windsor, in Markham, in Ontario, in Canada. I don't necessarily have to do anything big, but how can I reach out to someone who needs it? How can I be aware of these people and not ignore them? Okay, I'll end it off at that - time to eat and get on with my day...