I Dream In Another Language // Sueño en otro idioma

Watched this Mexican film yesterday and the different layers enfolded made for much musing (which is why usually after films like these I will be quiet for awhile to let thoughts form and settle; after which I can scoop them up again or let something stir them up).

Today at the hospital with 奶奶 (except that I call her nai3 nai3, and not nai3 nai as in proper Mandarin), I caught her at a rare alert moment where she was in the present. It was bittersweet to be able to tell 奶奶 that it was dark because it rained, and be understood; yet also parroting the phrases spoken in Hainanese back at her because I really couldn't figure what she was saying. 

Was reminded of Zikril in the film again- how the language represented a kind of power and alternate worldview, reflecting a beauty of human connection that the dominant lingua franca does not. I wonder how the Hainanese worldview is like- from my rudimentary vocabulary of phrases and watching nostalgic videos of Hainan, it appears to be one that values kinship and celebrates the beauty of the island. 

Another musing was that I easily empathise and enter people's realities- the magic realism of The Enchantment in the film, the romantic longing of a grandfather to be reconciled to his best bro, the tension with Catholic beliefs about same-sex attraction. 

Perhaps that's why I struggle a bit when it comes to cultural beliefs or LGBTQ- There is a beauty in these- and I rarely say this to avoid stumbling people, but I do see refractions of God's goodness. The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it- and He has pronounced His creation good. Tarnished as creation is, is it not more realistic to see goodness because our God is good and great, and is reconciling all things to Himself through Christ?

#Sabbathreflections- Haven't had that in awhile; where I force myself to sit, talk to God and reflect.