I love Quakers!

I spent last weekend at the FWCC Section of the Americas Annual Meeting in Canby Oregon. It was great to catch up with many friends: Kathy, Jeff, Rachel, Alyssa, Nancy John, Patty, Sharon, Lorraine, Alivia, Ann, Dorsey, Susanne, and a bunch more!



The four-day weekend was full of committee meetings, business meetings, interest groups, worship, panels, worship groups, and lots of catching up. There were a few moments that really stood out to me, but I'm so far behind on blogging (and everything else!) that I'll just share one.

At a Young Adult Friends (YAF) committee meeting, one woman wondered if YAFs were even interested in these FWCC meetings. She grew up in the 60s and felt she lived in a very homogenized environment. It was very exciting for her to come to these conferences and meet people that were so different from her. But, she noted, people growing up today are surrounded by diversity and people with different beliefs. Perhaps it is not such a thrilling thing for young adults to meet people who are different.

My response to that was that I liked coming to these diverse gatherings and discovering our similarities. That is thrilling to me because there is often so much attention put on our differences. I'm a bit of a peace-maker so it's important for me to find that common ground and figure out how we can communicate with one another. Building relationships with different people helps them become "us" instead of "them."

Anyway, if I had more time I would write a lot more! Perhaps I will one day...