Chicago: I Express My Deepest Gratitude

This is titled as an extremely sentimental post because I am an extremely sentimental person.

I am at an end in my time in Chicago, IL and greater Chicagoland area. I've lived here since I was 4 years old, and this city has influenced me in some incredibly praiseworthy ways. I have been surrounded by some incredibly unique people who have had the courage enough to speak truth into a child so lost as I in my days as an unbeliever of Christ. Now I wave goodbye to the city that made me because of my call to the youth ministry at Bible Church International in Randolph, NJ. Before this leave, I'm going to put together a summary of my reflections of my time here -- though largely insufficient it may be. My, what an adventure it has been.

The prominent diversity of Chicago raised me. I was a Chinese kid growing up in a neighborhood thriving in Irish, Italian, and Polish roots; in a school where I knew I was the minority. Lost in the crowd, I followed a status quo of sports, profanity, and crude humor. I knew I was cultured, but did not realized what that entailed besides my differences in appearance. Chicago has been a place where I learned of the beauty and depravity of diversity. It has been a time where I've been able to realize that same beauty and depravity mirrored in myself. I later enrolled into one of the most diverse high schools in the Chicagoland area. The many faces I saw, the many ascents I heard, and the many forms of cultural expressions I saw made my world too big and myself too small to an uncomfortable extent. I shrunk in the face of confrontation with this vastness. I did not want my horizons to be broadened. I wanted to stick to what I was familiar with and so I never involved myself with diversity or culture or race. I didn't understand and didn't care to try to.

When there are differences for one to compare and contrast, one is able to understand themselves a little bit more.

But I evaded those differences and so I did not understand myself. I stuck within my distinct group of Chinese American Christians, and so that became my only reality. Narrow-minded was I; and my own weakness kept me from changing. Maybe what I'm really writing are confessions.

To keep this part shorter than it can go, the grace of God penetrated my self-centered heart. The grace of God called me to recognizing the cultural, racial, and psychological differences within myself. The grace of God called me to confront differences both external and internal. The grace of God informed me of my role within the vastness of human diversity. The grace of God opened my eyes to what the diversity of Chicago offered me. Chicago added to my ability to sympathize and broadened my vision of both beauty -- in the massive cathedrals erected, the endless amounts of cultural foods being offered, the prodigious cultural artists with their magnificent art pieces, and the sundry, sonorous ascents heard -- and the depravity -- the irrevocable desire to be separated, the insuppressible prejudice felt against those unlike oneself, and the natural emotions of insecurity and threat felt when those unlike oneself is in one's territory. These and more are what I've learned. Human tendencies in face of diversity is far more complex than I can grasp, but it has given me a sense of compassion and -- dare I say -- humility towards those who are battling the depravity we find in diversity.

The endless amount of adventure in Chicago made me restless. As I have already mentioned, the city of Chicago is incredibly diverse. It is no wonder that the countless cultural and religious peoples within Chicago desires to make their mark. Each boasts of their own presence. I can travel to a gilded Chinese restaurant for Dim Sum in the morning, to a fuming Italian restaurant for a dipped Italian Beef for lunch, and then a musically jovial Mexican restaurant for dinner; all within my neighborhood. That is just to say that the food possibilities are endless. When it comes to Catholic Cathedrals and Buddhist Temples; also disseminated across the city. When it comes to architecture; sure some are just scraping average joes; while others are remarkable creative structures that are beyond your imagination. Skyscrapers are the mountains of the urban Midwest. We need them. Because something fabricated deep within the human being naturally moves us to look upward. We are captivated by it. It was as if we were made for it. And if I was to keep going; the list extends to the nightlife, the improv, the many views of the city, the lakeshore, among other things.

The sobering fact is that this diversity is only a reflection of the cultures consisted in our world. This makes my world bigger, and myself smaller. My God greater, and me less.

It makes me want to travel.

Chicago is not the biggest city in our country, nor is it the most diverse. It may not even be the most fun or have the best beaches. This last part of Chicago has kept me humble. It has kept me loyal. It has kept me authentic. Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure other places keep people more humble, more loyal, and more authentic; so I'm not trying to say this is a distinguishing thing for Chicago itself. It is a bit more subjective. As a big city, we don't really have the superficial things to boast about because we are not number one, so we may become tempted to say, why stay in Chicago? Why not move up in the world to the Big Apple or LA? My answer may be simple and unsatisfactory. It is simply because this is my city. I grew up here. I watched it change from Sears Tower to Will... Sears Tower. I've watched neighborhoods change and I've watched people change. It may not be the best city boasting number 1 in anything in particular, but it is a place I love and will probably always call home. I will never be sick of this place.

Lastly, this place has made me Christian, which is probably the reason I've said any of the things prior to this last point of reflection. It has led me to the love of God, the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. And to Chicago, and everyone in it, I say a warm and affectionate thank you.

Until I return!