My Provincial, Petty Prejudice
My preacher’s Sunday sermon dealt with Jesus’ defiance of a "provincial, petty prejudice" in His encounter with the Samarian woman at the well. Rather than absorbing a deeper message, I immediately pondered my own provincial, petty prejudice.
I don’t like southern Johnson County. I live right on the boundary of what’s now considered the county’s old and new development. Yet forty years ago my house was located in what was then the hinterlands.
Yes, I’m a hypocrite.
The south’s overwhelming blandness and soulless development irk me. And I swear that drivers become incrementally ruder the further south I drive. I get it- humans lose their spirit when there’s no sense of place. This intersection of Blue Valley Parkway and 119th Street is typical. It’s indistinguishable from suburban Denver, Dallas or Sacramento.
Maybe I’m just jealous of nice sidewalks, basements that don’t smell like mausoleums and bathrooms big enough to contain two people.
Forgive me, Jesus.
posted by Happy In Bag @ 9:30 AM
4 Comments:
At 7:04 AM,
Anonymous said…
At the Ann Taylor Loft at Town Center Plaza with my wife on Monday (after a free meal at Bravo), I remarked: "the air feels weird in a place where the people have no soul."
That not only flies in the face of something my preacher says; it flies in the face of what I say, 'cause I am a preacher. But it's a Wasteland out there, in the fineds T.S. Eliot sense.
At 12:18 PM,
Happy In Bag said…
That's harsh, Rocky. I kind of regret my negative post.
At 10:29 AM,
Anonymous said…
My subdivision has a beautiful lake with docks, playgrounds, gazebo, benches and trails that connect to more trails that connect to more trails, and so on and so on.... There are kids playing up and down our street, the roads are clean, the utilities work, our power doesn’t go out in storms, all our neighbors talk to us over the back fence or while we walk on the unbroken sidewalks, other neighbors have impromptu parties for the whole block, our kid's teachers hug them and call at night to check on them if they are sick, our kid's teachers are not afraid of our kids, our kids test out above all national averages, our 1st grader had over 75 hours of documented community service this school year and was only one of many to do the same, our kids are in public schools, most of the moms volunteer, we recycle, we go to church, we visit the Overland Park Arboretum which you have posted about before, we can walk to a coffee shop, the grocery, several restaurants, a couple of bars, and within a five minute walk we have apartment renters, 1950’s splits, condos for sale, mid-priced homes, expensive homes, and really expensive homes, we have the Deanna Rose farmstead (arguably one of the best free places to visit in KC if you have kids). And lastly my immediate neighbors consist of an East Indian couple with two children, a retired couple who get lots of visits from kids and grandkids, a lesbian couple who share recipes and gardening tips, an empty nester couple, a single mom with two daughters, a superintendent for a construction company, a Black single mom, a KC Chief, a couple of DINKs, and several traditional 2.3 kid families. Very diverse. We go downtown often and have many friends in Missouri and are not as concerned about where others live as those who like tear down JOCO. I could go on but if you don’t stop to really look and only take the time to look at the admitted disaster that is 119th and any cross road then you won’t be convinced anyway. Thanks for the time to read this – we are doing just fine with our souls.
At 10:37 AM,
Happy In Bag said…
Kansouri- Point well taken; I deserve your admonition. Generalizations are almost always silly and unfair. Thanks for posting.
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