San Francisco

I recently got back from a trip to San Francisco with my parents and my friend Stephen. I had a blast! We spent four days in the city and then spent a day in the redwoods north of the city. Every day we were there was crammed full of activities. Every morning we would get up early to see the sights, be gone all day, and then crash in to bed late at night, exhausted but happy. I never knew that one city could contain such steep hills and so many of them. I immediately fell in love with San Fran when I found out the amount of restaurants to be found in the city limits. I was ready to move after eating a sundae at Ghirardelli’s square.

As much as I loved the climate and the food, the thing that really intrigued me was the cultural diversity San Francisco has to offer. The diversity began at its very roots. The city was founded by Spaniards and then was held under Mexican rule. It stayed Mexican for a number of years until America won it during the Mexican-American War. Soon after that gold was discovered and thousands of people from dozens of ethnic groups populated the city.

I know that all cites have cultural diversity, but San Francisco’s diversity is different than any other I’ve seen. In SF, all the cultures live in borderless harmony with each other. The city does have its cultural “sections” (such as Chinatown) but there is plenty of variety and a lot of “boundary-jumping” so to speak. On a tour of the city, our tour guide pointed out a building on Russian Hill that used to be a French Church but currently serves as a Chinese Catholic daycare. Go figure.

As much as I hate to say it, I was very unsure about going to San Francisco because of its homosexual population. I had a preconceived notion that everywhere I’d look I would see openly gay couples, dressed weirdly and waving their rainbow banners. To my surprise I actually didn’t see any openly gay people the entire time I was there. It occurred to me that the last word in the term “gay people” had never registered in my mind. Gays are people. They aren’t freaks of nature. They are normal people who have feelings and interact with others. They show emotions, they laugh and cry and become angry just like me. They are thinkers, dreamers, and builders. They are sinners, just like me.

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught about judging others. He said:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured against you” (Matthew 7:1-2)

I think what really makes God sad is not that homosexuals have chosen the lifestyle they have chosen, but that we as Christians have created a gap between us and them. I think that what God really wants us to do is love each other. To love our fellow sinners. And not to love them just so we can get something out of them or so we can “win them over” to God’s side. But to love them because Christ loved us.

peace

davis