Blue pill or red pill?

BYU invited a famous New Zealand carver and tattoo artist named Rangi Kipa to come and teach for a bit. Look and read about his work, it is fascinating. I had the chance to have a really great conversation with him while waiting for Joe.

The whole conversation spanned many different topics, but I will limit this entry to a question that Rangi asked me...

At some point, we talked about the cushioned lifestyle I grew up in, in contrast to his. I stated that I felt like my conviction of some truths would be more solid if I had experienced higher levels of hardship, whether it be wars, hunger, poverty, or terrible manifestations of inhumanity. For example, it would be more convincing if I could maintain the conviction that people are basically good, if I had experienced first hand, the inhumanity of real discrimination. He then asked me a question from the movie, the Matrix-- the blue pill, red pill question (remain without venture in my priveleged lifestyle or go and try to understand the rest of the world). "Are you willing to venture away from your comfortable lifestyle?" I was trying to be really honest with myself and him, and I said, "You know, I really hope that I would". 

After reading "What students don't learn abroad", I understand that leaving the U.S. is the first step, but not the answer to understanding the rest of the world. It is not enough. I am taking that first step soon, but boarding a plane is not equal to taking the venture pill. It is possible to travel through the world, sheltering myself, without paying attention to the different ways that people live, think and suffer. "What students don't learn abroad" maintains that "students return from study-abroad programs having seen the world, but the world they return to...is more often than not the world they already knew".

Nobody will see if I take the red pill or the blue pill; it is a matter of complete integrity. In a formal decision to do this field study, I choose to take the venture pill. I hope this decision will sink from my head to my heart as I wrestle through discomfort, lack of familiarity, and fear in order to find meaning and understanding.