Thoughts
on Reentry:
The Trip Back to Familiar
By Laura Hamilton, LASP Intern
LASP Fall 2003 Newsletter
“Reentry is a choice to introduce the ‘new self’
to loved ones’ memories of the old. In choosing to truly
reenter, one often selects conflict, isolation, the disappointment
of others, and confusion over the comforts of acceptance, appeasement
and the status quo–acting in faith that the positive outcomes
of confronting such challenges will much outweigh the choice
to allow the ‘new self’ to commit suicide by walking
silently down the path most traveled.” --Trevor Poag,
former LASPer and Assistant Program Director
There is something mysterious that connects the hearts and minds
of former LASPers. Despite where we were before LASP and all
the places we’ve been since, there are certain LASP cultural
phenomena that many of us share. We have shared staff members,
host families, church communities, bus routes, and perhaps an
affinity for POPS’ ice cream. We have come face to face
with paradox, injustice, poverty, cross-cultural communication,
hope, vision, truth, and love; and we have strained at times
to see how God will weave it all together in what one former
LASPer refers to as “His sovereign tapestry.” Our
attempts, however, to recognize and reconcile these intricate
patterns within a Latin America context may be only half of
what we hold in common. We all had to return home, to reenter,
and take a trip back to the familiar.
Regardless of how we might have tried to prepare for the journey
home, many of us did not find the “familiar” very
familiar at all. It’s as if we walked into a closet full
of familiar clothes, started trying on old sweaters, pants,
and shoes, and found that some of them didn’t fit the
way they once did. A series of choices then presented themselves:
Do we throw away all of the old clothes? Walk around wearing
ill-fitting ensembles? Make alterations to fit the new measurements?
The changes we experienced undoubtedly vary in degree and long-term
impact, but what can we learn from our individual reentry accounts?
What can we learn from the LASP community?
In part, the reentry question intrigues me because my personal
history with the exercise has not been stellar. Initially, I
yearned to connect my post-LASP self with pre-LASP realities.
Regardless of how much we talked about what might change when
we returned home, I was not prepared for how difficult it would
be. I thought that I would have a clearer purpose and direction,
but mostly I was confused about the tensions that pulled within
me from North and Central America. And when the gap between
the two seemed too wide, I chose to jump into the canyon rather
than try to figure out how to build a bridge. I stopped engaging
the process of trying to link what I’d learned to what
I’d always “known”. I avoided the questions
that still lingered after a semester of discovery and challenge.
I sought out distractions and unplugged from my family, my friends,
and myself.
Over the past two and a half years since participating in LASP,
I have re-engaged the process and invited the questions I forced
into hibernation to awaken within me. Throughout this time,
I have often revisited my reentry experience and scraped to
identify the triggers that caused me to retreat. I wish I had
answers. However, since I do not, I want to continue to draw
from you, from the stories of other LASPers who have been worn
thin throughout this journey, those who have chosen to continue
examining past and present perspectives, and those who have
picked up pre-LASP lives without too much friction. How might
we evaluate what makes reentry so hard for some and not at all
hard for others? What does the tension consist of? How can we
deal with it in a healthy way and still stay sensitive to that
which Christ has awakened in us? I invite you to revisit your
reentry story, whether it was fifteen years ago or just six
months ago. Was the experience a defining chapter in your life?
Have you used other LASPers as resources to dialogue and “dig
deeper”? What are the overarching consequences and rewards
of staying connected? Of moving on?
Part of my motivation in returning to LASP was that I wanted
to, once again, confront the reentry process head-on, walking
alongside students who might face the same challenges I did
upon returning home. I believe that your experiences may help
me to be even more effective and supportive of current and future
LASPers in their attempts to share what they’ve learned
in Latin America with friends and loved ones. For this reason,
I welcome your ideas and reflections regarding your reentry
experiences. I hope that in the process of rethinking your “trip
back to the familiar” you are encouraged and challenged
as well. laura_beth@lasp.co.cr “Certainly,
travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that
goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
--Miriam Beard
|
Contact
us