Making Reparation

Making Reparation
LEVITICUS 5: 1- 6: 7

When my wife and I knew we were in love and wanted to get married, my wife’s parents opposed the match for various reasons. I was a mere would-be pastor with no career prospects to compare with Ann’s as a physician. I was too informal and not polite enough; I didn’t shake hands, I didn’t wear a suit, and I had long hair. In Ann’s parents’ culture, I was behaving in an offensive and disrespectful fashion. Although I wore casual fashion, it “escaped me” that I was causing offense by not wearing a suit. Being a young man, my response would in any case have been “Tough, we are going to marry anyway, deal with it,” which would have rather proved their point. Since then, I have learned in some ways, but I still get into trouble because of not understanding people’s expectations. I have discovered that many U.S. students are sensitive about professors using certain four-letter words. It is easy to offend people accidentally, behaving in an offensive way through not realizing the way other people think. It can “escape you” that you are acting offensively. Westerners do this routinely in other cultures...