When I found out that my first (and unfortunately, only) week of Chi Rho camp was the first week of my internship, I was reminded about something that one of my English teachers from high school told me. He said that he could picture me teaching junior high school. Junior high school kids are notoriously awkward, just like yours truly. Junior high age is also when kids tend to start asking this “big questions” – think morals and ethics. It’s fantastic to see when kids that age are presented with a question, and you can visibly see their faces light up in awe, because they’ve never been asked that question before. Even better still is when kids ask adults questions that are deep, as they continue to develop their critical and abstract thinking skills.
My first camp was Oakridge Camp in Anadarko, Oklahoma. This was my first time in Oklahoma, and I quickly fell in love with the rich red color of the clay. Also, from the opinion of a native Illinoian, I believe that Illinois is flatter than Oklahoma.
I lead a camp-wide activity on Tuesday morning at Oakridge, the Privilege Walk. The Privilege Walk is a very popular activity that I’ve even utilized in a freshmen seminar that I assisted with this past year. However, this walk that I led was an edited version of the typical activity. In the activity, the facilitator reads a statement, and if the statements applies to you, the participants walk either forward or backward according to the statement. Some statements include, “If you have health insurance, take a step forward” or “If you’ve ever had to miss a meal because you could not afford food, take a step backward.”
We did this activity during our orientation, and after discussion with Phoebe and the interns, it was decided that it was best to create an edited version. The walk unedited has the potential of creating tension and separation among campers. Instead of coming together to the camp community, we as facilitators would be enforcing criteria that would create barriers among campers, which could discourage opportunities for campers to be open and share their experiences in small group. The edited version of the walk involves campers being intentionally handed an index card with letters and symbols on it. Each letter and symbol corresponded with a statement from the walk. For the sake of time and to narrow down topics of discussion, I shortened the list from 40 statements to 27 – one for each letter of the alphabet and a star symbol. I had the campers lined up, and one by one asked campers to step forward or backward depending on their letter or symbol; “If you have an H, take a step forward. If you have an X, take a step backward.”
I was then able to discuss briefly with the entire camp (about 57 campers).
How does it feel for some of you to be in the front and others in the back?
I was next to my friends, but now we’re in the back and they’re up front.
Why might this be?
Because some people had more stuff than I did.
What kind of stuff?
Money, better job, went to school, I worked harder.
Maybe you did work harder, and maybe that helped you! Would there be any situations where working harder might not help? Why did I have someone intentionally hand you a card instead of allowing you to pick one out yourself?
What was most beneficial was the debrief that followed in small group. I had the opportunity to go to several small groups and go over the key. In addition, Rev. Michael Davison, one of the co-directors of the camp, typed up my key for the walk and played it on a PowerPoint during Tuesday lunch. During debrief, I would ask campers what letters they wanted to know more about, and how those letters would correspond with privilege or lack of privilege. These conversations became extremely personal for campers. One phrase that I heard several variations of was, “Not every letter matched my life, but this letter did, because of this.” And the conversations would deepen from there.
Even as I write this, there’s a flood of conversations and emotions that keep playing in my head. There were stories shared and hidden jokes created, tears shed from discussing loss of close friends and family, campers not understanding why some people hate people that are different than them, and some random discussion about glow sticks and Vines.
Kierkegaard often references the lilies of the field and birds of the air in his edifying discourses (see Mat. 6:24-end for reference). In a discourse discussing joy, Kierkegaard writes that the lily and the bird are joyful teachers, and “that joy is communicable” – indeed, the best teachers of joy are, in essence, joyful. In one of the songs I learned during my first week of camp, the line states that, “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love.” In essence, what I can give in my conversations and workshops and conversations is perhaps a combination of these things and more: joy, love, peace, justice. I hope that I can continue provide a space and environment for more campers to open up and share their stories and ask their questions, and that I can serve as a teacher for joy, love, peace, and justice that these campers may find comfort and hope in.
I would like to thank everyone at Oakridge Camp who welcomed me with open arms, including staff, counselors, and the dream trio of co-directors: Michael, Bill, and Tara Dew. Also thank you to Rev. Dr. Lisa Davison and Michael for providing wonderful food and providing me a place to stay before and after camp. Also, Braum's is fantastic.
