How fascinating!

In high school, I took Spanish as a second language. At first it was easy: I had no problem learning nouns and simple phrases like “¿Como está?”

Then I learned that, in Spanish, adjectives usually followed nouns, unlike English in which adjectives usually come first. After that, we started conjugating verbs, which was sometimes confusing. And THEN, the hardest thing of all for me: learning when and how to use prepositions.

The rules didn’t make any sense to me. It was all so different. I said to my teenage self, “this is dumb!” and I gave up learning Spanish.

Now I’m trying to learn Portuguese. I’m running into many of the same challenges I encountered when I tried to learn Spanish. But this time, instead of saying, “this is dumb!” I say, “How fascinating!” And instead of giving up, I say, “This is going to take me awhile, but I’m going to keep trying!”

I like to think the difference is that I’ve matured a bit since high school.

In the same way, my attitude toward different faiths and religions has grown. Growing up, trying to be the best Christian I could, I didn’t understand other religions – and I didn’t want to. They were dumb and false.

I think differently now. As I learn about other religions, I am more likely to think, “How fascinating!” I find myself wanting to learn more; and the more I learn, the more I am fascinated by the differences, as well as the similarities.

Portuguese and English are very different languages; yet they have the same purpose: to enable communication among people.

Christianity is very different from other religions, yet all religions – Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and others – all seek to find meaning and connection in a world created by a benevolent, loving power that we call God.

The more we learn, the more we understand; and the more we understand, the more likely we are to find peace in our world.