where would I fit on the pyramid?

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a local diner, having a breakfast meeting with Ben. We were discussing all forms of ministry and life related issues when next to us a conversation got so loud it was impossible not to hear. Two young adults were discussing what immediately became clear as a high school cheerleading team. Presumably, these two were coaches, advisors, or maybe camp directors. That I will never know. What I do know is that the conversation made me as sad as I have been in a while. As plain as day, one coach said to the other, "What do you do with the ugly girl? You put her in the back where she belongs."

No joke, direct quote. Ben and I sat there stunned. Walking around today has left me wondering...where would I have gotten placed in the pyramid? Where would any of us have gotten placed? I'm pretty sure our hearts couldn't handle hearing the answer to that question... What does it say about the world when the ones given charge over our young people use that kind of matrix to make decisions? What hope do any of us have if that's the message being sent to all of us? Is there any wonder people make some of the decisions they do when that kind of garbage shapes the way we see the world? Most days the world is harsh and ugly, and people who think like that only make it harsher and uglier.

Today is a sad day. Perhaps no more sad than other days, but the cold, vicious nature of the "real" world was simply booked on the main stage this morning. Personally, I'm tired of the main stage being filled by this kind of act. Acts that disregard real, honest humanity in favor of culturally embedded and captive ways of thinking that are as shallow as Josiah's kiddie pool out back. Acts that fail to see that we have allowed movie stars to determine the value of a human being and that we have in large part just accepted their determinations because we like the flavor of their Kool-Aid.

There is only one thing that keeps my head above the water on days like today. That (to quote Jason Gray), everything sad is coming untrue. Everything sad is coming untrue. That buoys my spirit, because I remember that Jesus asked people who weren't the best and the most beautiful to follow him, he asked regular gals and guys, people who likely would have been "in the back, where they belonged" by anyone else's estimation, these folks had a place in Jesus' movement. The scene in the diner this morning is no surprise, right?

I think Ben was right, perhaps there is no better reason for us to invest ourselves in the world (our schools, our neighbors and our neighborhoods) than simply to be a different voice, a voice that says, "There is another way. You don't have to be defined by these silly and shallow notions of what beauty is and what gives you self-worth... ...there are other ways of seeing the world. There are other definitions of what true beauty is, different ways of measuring how much value you truly have..." Come to think of it, I think I'll move to the back of the pyramid anyway, I'm not sure I want to be chosen to be the lead in this play...the scary part is, most days I feel like I play the part all too well.