Author: Charles Dittmeier

The Cambodian Cyclist

This is a photograph of the quintessential Cambodian bicycle rider–riding serenely, even gracefully along a city street, sit stiffly erect, pedaling oh so slowly. I can’t do it. I can’t ride that slowly, nor can I ride in the near middle of the lane. I have to stay over near the curb to let faster traffic pass me on the left.

It’s wood…and more

This is a doctor’s waiting room. Note the heavy wooden furniture! This furniture is the goal of every business operation. Acquiring the 100-pound chairs on the left means you have arrived. You are the real thing, whatever your business is, be it a dentist office, a car wash, a bank, a metal fabrication shop, whatever. The Cambodian culture is obsessed with luxury woods that bestow respect and esteem upon their owners.

Hong Kong, too…

Our Asia superior in Hong Kong reported today that John Clancey was arrested under Hong Kong’s new draconian state security laws. John was a Maryknoll priest in Hong Kong right before I came. He left Maryknoll but stayed on in Hong Kong as a lawyer working for civil and human rights. He must have been doing good work to get Beijing riled up. Hang in there, John!

This is the way the BBC reported his arrest.

Politics and Theology

The incredible events in our nation’s Capitol Building are more than politics. They are also indicative of our theology. Here is a link to an article by Jim Wallis in Sojourners magazine. Read the full article and reflect on how to respond, but for me these were the ideas that struck me the most.

In addition to the political ramifications for our democracy of the attempted coup, there are also theological questions Wallis raised:

1. Truth is a central tenet of Christianity. “Does the truth matter to Christians and Christian leaders who supported Donald Trump?”

2. “[T]he biblical abomination of racism and its ideology of white nationalism…stands at the core of the Trump base…. This is no longer just politics, it is theological heresy, and one that needs to be exorcised from white Christianity in America.”

I encourage you to read the article.

New Cabinets for a New Year

A big problem in the tropics is termites and we had them big time in our kitchen cabinets and in the door frame to the right of the man standing on the left above. Finally the landlord decided to tear out the old cabinets which was great except for three days of thick dust when they also jackhammered off the wall tiles.
We had no cabinets for almost three weeks and then suddenly on New Year’s Eve a work crew shows up and installs the cabinets above. That’s a simple sentence but the work wasn’t. The top photo shows them making the cabinets on the kitchen floor–more dust!—and the bottom photos shows them on New Year’s Day after they finished sanding and staining them. Now maybe we can get back to normal in the kitchen.