Raised in song

Inside the Georgian Orthodox Church, the spirit of worship is eerie. Tangible. Quiet. Deep. People stand silently, repeating the sign of the cross. Over the loud speaker, a woman recites the prayers in a quick clear voice. It reminds of the shabbat services I attended on my kibbutz in Israel. The prayers are shockingly similar to the sound of the Hebrew utterances of prayer. The walls of the church are plated in gold. Jesus, adorned with a hold halo, held by the virgin, also encrusted in gold. Thin flaming candles illuminate the dark spaces of the church while the head priest moves into the center of the altar to lead prayer. The women respond in raised voices, with melodious notes reaching our ears, filling the chamber of the church with hauntingly beautiful tones. Everyone stands, silently lighting candles or for some, responding in prayer. The songs remind me of the eerie melodies of "kyrie eleison," a song we sang in church years ago. Every inch of the walls are used for paintings, murals of the Christ child and angels, or the apostles. More people join the service through the thick oak door, letting themselves in with a thud of the brass handle. Adorned in thick winter coats, they silently file into the service and begin their signs of the cross.

The first church we entered since arriving in the Republic of Georgia, I was stunned to see such a familiar concept, Christianity, in such an unfamiliar way. And yet, the odd comfort of being in the presence of others with the same religious background brings a strange sense of camaraderie. The more I travel, the more I realize how engrained our perceptions are in our histories. My perception of the world is through American, Christian, Protestant, Floridian, middle child eyes. Our experiences define us. What I am interested in, academically speaking, is how those levels of perceptions develop our sense of self and sense of "other." I always wonder how I am perceived in different parts of the world. Is the same me seen as different in the Arab World, in Israel, in Europe? How do cultural perceptions mold our perspectives of each other. How do you perceive others? In this day and age, perception and your respond to said perception is everything. How our media warped the American perspective of Muslims is a perfect example. We must challenge our perspectives and discover our own views, relying not on other sources, but on ourselves, to create our perceptions of our world.