Our Many (Secret) Lives

So I have had a couple of very interesting days, both over the weekend and at work. Every department is working overtime as we prepare to sail from Liberia to dry dock (more on that later).

One of the things that has been bouncing around my brain for the past few weeks has been a question I asked myself "how well do we know the people around us?". I started thinking about this as I realized how often we call people our friends - why do we do this? I catch myself calling people I've only known for a few weeks or a couple of months my friends. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing - it's just interesting to think about.

And living here makes it even more interesting. I live with 380 people who I really do not know outside of this ship. We have never seen each other "in our natural habitat". Sometimes I look around and wonder if they are the same way back home. It's amazing how many lives we live each day: at home, at work, at church, with our family, with our friends, and with our real friends. Living here each of these separate lives are seen by everyone because we live with our coworkers and eat with our neighbors and go to church with our boss, etc. We really get to see behind the scenes to how people act all the time - like being in a real world case study.

I had a surprise view into one person's "past life" this weekend. Mama Young is an 80 year old Liberian woman who founded and still runs Fatima Orphanage, which we visit every weekend. She loves her children and maintains a well run very nice orphanage (for a non-government supported African orphanage). She is fun and sassy and we all love her. At the end of every visit she gives us prophetic advice, which is always a little funny, a little serious, a little awkward but always filled with truth. She will point at one person and say you need to forgive and then point at the next person and say they are beautiful and need to be happy (in case you are waiting I am not going into what she told me). And then she'll go on a tangent about her younger days and how we are to young to want to get married or be in a serious relationship.

Mama Young truly is amazing! But this weekend I found out that Mama Young was once an advisor to Charles Taylor. The same Charles Taylor who became the president of Liberia after beginning the 14 year Liberian civil war that ripped this country apart and still has it crippled. She actually advised this man as he formed his infamous rebel army, led a coup against the government and set up his own government. She explained to me that he even would come to the orphanage to tape many of his messages to the Liberian people. It is amazing and scary to think how the same person, in this case Mama Young, can influence so many lives through good and through evil. So, how different are you between your many lives? And how are you influencing the lives around you?