{"id":95,"date":"2010-08-16T09:55:38","date_gmt":"2010-08-16T14:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ipsinaction.com\/ips\/?p=95"},"modified":"2024-06-20T15:42:06","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T15:42:06","slug":"take-off-your-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/?p=95","title":{"rendered":"Take Off Your Shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christoph Soyer, IPS<\/a> Student, M.A. Pastoral Counseling<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In the book of Exodus, there is a wonderful story: Moses was tending to the sheep, when he saw fire flaming out of a bush. The bush, though on fire, was not consumed. Moses wanted to approach the bush in order to see why it was not burned, but a voice \u2013 God \u2013 said: Come no nearer. Remove the shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. This is a deeply meaningful phrase for me: Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I would like to share with you a very important experience I had in the summer of 2008. Alongside eight young adults from my\u00a0parish, we all joined the World Youth Day in Sydney. We went to Sydney as a part of the Jesuit program called MAGIS (Latin: more). Before the WYD and the gathering with the Pope, there was a special program. The core of this program was called an experiment. The experiment was centered on the idea of having a spiritual experience in an extraordinary environment and in an international group.<\/p>\n

Our group went to Indonesia, where we lived for 6 days on the \u201cgarbage mountains<\/strong><\/em>\u201d of Jakarta. This is difficult to describe in words, so I would like to share several photos as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It is a huge area, all the garbage is brought there in a heap; when you enter, the smell is awful; on the garbage mountains are villages; our village consisted in about 30 barracks<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo of our village; we lived in the ‘large’ building on the left.<\/em><\/p>\n

The work of the men here is incredible. They work on the mountains with a cage on their backs. Everyday, about 800 cars bring garage to this area. Bulldozers collect the garbage and unload it some feet above.<\/p>\n

The next bulldozer does the same and moves the garbage closer to the top of the mountain. The men are gathered around the bulldozers, collecting the garbage that falls down. It is \"\"<\/a>very dangerous work and if they are not attentive, they get buried under the garbage.<\/p>\n

There are all kinds of garbage (glass, needles and syringes, organic waste, etc.). The men sift through the piles, collecting the garbage that can be recycled (plastic, paper, aluminum, and so on).<\/p>\n

Back in the village, the women separate the recyclable garbage (black plastic). Then it is sold. It is a very desolate situation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What made the situation a little bit better for us were the children. You could play with them for hours and hours. The games we played were simple games, but the children really enjoyed them. The parents, in the background, also enjoyed watching us. However, they never played with their children<\/p>\n

This is a Taiwanese girl who could draw very well. She sketched almost ever\"\"<\/a>y child in the village.<\/p>\n

From our group, everyone was touched by the calamity of the situation, but especially moved by these wonderful kids.<\/p>\n

What I found especially bleak was that there was no inspiration. The question, \u2018What do you want to do with your life?\u2019 is senseless. So, too, the question, \u2018What did you do yesterday?\u2019 or \u2018What will you do next week or next year?\u2019. Here, life means being born in garbage, living in garbage, working in garbage, and dying in garbage.<\/p>\n

Our week here in Jakarta was not any kind of \u201cpoverty tourism.\u201d It was not just traveling here and there, observing, being shocked, and then going to the next restaurant to have a good dinner. It was not about a casual observer\u2019s curiosity without getting involved.<\/p>\n

As each day passed, we realized the importance of our spiritual framework: Morning Prayer with a special spiritual focus, Eucharist, time for personal reflection, and group sharing. I especially found the sharing to be so important, so moving, and so profound!<\/p>\n

The central question was indeed the sentence from Exodus: Remove the shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. Yet, it seems almost paradoxical to talk about holy ground in this context. Removing your shoes\u2026 what could this possibly mean in this particular situation?<\/p>\n

Here is what it meant to me:<\/p>\n