March 23

Megan* and I first met when we sat next to each other the evening of my first “excursion” in Burma. It was a long table located somewhere in a dimly lit garden. This was after we, along with more on the bus, the Shwedagon Pagoda, and everyone had dirty feet—a must for walking around from Buddha to Buddha.

I now know that Megan attends Concordia University in Wisconsin. That evening, with her splendidly woven, French-braided hair, she looked fresh from a Norman Rockwell painting of a girl milking a cow in a spotless barn with a kitten sitting in the doorway. (To me, Megan was a girl who just came from a pagoda in Burma.) Alright, I should have picked up enough in my first sighting of Megan to know that this young woman who had just tiptoed out of Dodge, was mid-way through this voyage including Japan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore, had not yet pushed beyond the boundaries of her upbringing. I immediately noticed that she chewed the inside of her mouth.

Megan is a psychology and communications major and will graduate next year. She works in the education abroad office on her campus and saw the SAS brochure, made a U Tube video appealing for funds to go, and collected enough money to pay for her trip. Megan told me she was a Christian, and I rattled on about the Jesus Seminar—theologians, historical Jesus, etc. etc.. She listened, bit the side of her mouth, and finally said, “Can I ask you something?” “Sure, what is it?” “Why would you want to look into that?”

I've been around Megan now in various contexts as she continues to bite the inside of her mouth. She was on the cultural tour in Mauritius where we visited two Hindu temples, Catholic Church, Chinese pagoda, and Muslim mosque. Megan is also in the religion class I attend, and I was stunned when she asked the question, “What do Muslims think about the Bible?” This was after the teacher already talked about Islam considering Jesus to be one of the prophets (“Peace be upon His name”—which is what Muslims say following saying the name of Jesus.)

Megan CHOSE to go to a meditation retreat in India to learn how to meditate with others in a monastery. When it came time to meditate, she thought it might be evil, so she started reciting verses of the Bible in her head.

Last night I sat with her at dinner and she told me that SAS has encouraged her to see people as “more multi-dimensional than in her small community where everyone is the same.” “What are you going to do with that when you get home?” I asked. “I think I might go into Milwaukee.”

I think Megan is a courageous young women who is working to understand a bigger world than that of monochromatic origin. I hope she continues to learn and be open to more ideas and views of others, and I applaud her curiousity.

*Megan is the name!