Rogue's Gallery: 0006 Ken Obi

Ken Obi is the other senior FE that is out here in Iraq, he is the guy that went to visit my family when he went home for vacation. I call him Ken Obi for several reasons first off at first glance he looks like a kindly old man I would suspect he is 50 or so. He is a bonified master of the system, he has a past that is surely filled with violence, and he is a strong believer in the force.

Ken was one of the last people that was drafted in the US to go to Vietnam they ended the draft a few weeks after he got his papers (talk about dumb luck). From my discussions with him I can tell that he has probably killed a lot of people and maybe some with his bare hands. I didn’t gather that from anything he has said directly however there is this lifelessness that you get from him (and people that I have met here that have been out fighting) when his mind takes him back to that time.

His teaching style is different from Shen’s, Ken is more apt to show you how to do something step by step or he will just do it himself to get it out of the way then explain it to you when time permits. That style is more akin to how I like to learn and teach. It was funny because as he was showing me how to clean this projector I couldn’t help thinking. Just let me do it and I’ll figure it out I’m sure the documents are here somewhere. That being said he and Shen are very capable and could probably run the show here in Iraq by themselves. Their styles much as their personalities complement each other. And they both have a power to them when you are around them. Watching them talk or being in the room with them would be like showing up to work and Michael Jordan and Joe Montana are in your cube having a chit-chat.

When I first got here we were in the process of getting to know each other and while I was unpacking I put my Bible on my nightstand. In reality the only reason it is here is because it is a gift from my parents and it has my Mom’s handwriting in it. He gets excited because he believes that I too am a man of faith. Turns out that Ken Obi is a conservative Christian and has been biting at the chops to have someone else he can speak faith to and with. I’m thinking I have to be here with this guy for six months and this can only spell trouble for me. I feared that he would attempt to proselytize and I quickly went into a defensive mode pulling my favorite quotes from Nietzsche from my mental hand basket. The idea of having to sleep in the same room with someone of his conviction bothered me. But, something strange happened. We agreed with each other on many issues social as well as spiritual.

I mean he is from Jesusland no doubt with his requisite hate of all things Ted Turner and a firm belief in destruction of the US from within via the conspiracy of the liberal left but, on the other side he also can respect that someone may have a different point of view than him. That to me is commendable, from watching TV in the states you wouldn’t think it could be possible for two people with divergent viewpoints on how the world works could agree on so many matters about the world. But, guess what when you actually talk to people then you can agree. The second day or third day I was here he told me the story of how he reconnected with God. And I don’t care how you feel about God or Church or Christianity, or Religion when someone finds something, someone, or some being that can help them find focus in their life you can’t do anything but respect that. He goes on to tell me about how when he was younger things between he and his wife weren’t always great and that she left him for another man. I won’t get explicit in the details but I could tell where he was coming from. In my mind I was like why is he telling me, at the time a complete stranger. I mean this is some highly personal stuff and I don’t know if I would have shared it with him. He said that when he was at his lowest he went back to Church and had a talk with his preacher about his situation and from there he was able to re-establish a connection with God and from there he was able to work on himself and with that new found self love through the Power of God™ he was able reconnect with his wife and they were able to work out their problems and they have just recently celebrated their 20^th anniversary.

Usually I tend to blow these testimonials off because I only see them on TV and usually they have some dude being cured from cancer or blindness or rickets or something like that. But, I could tell from his words that he reached a spiritual transformation and I don’t care what you believe or don’t believe when someone finds the strength to accept his missteps and move beyond that to better himself that is a good thing. As the days went by we talked more and he shared more about himself and his faith and I nodded in agreement never really commenting but I agreed with what he said. I’m never one to discuss what I really believe because I’ve found so few people that agree with my point of view. It’s too much effort so I usually just go about my business. We began discussing several hot button issues in the States and I thought he was going to go all Holy Roller on me. As I said we have pretty much agreed on several topics about the world. However, his response on these issues totally blew me out of the water. He said to me I don’t agree several things that some people do at all. It’s not for my family and me but, I think there is a real problem in the way the some of these debates are formed. He said that people that claim to be Christians forget that we are required to hate the sin and not the sinner. God loves his creations and as a Christian I should aspire to love his creations as He does. It is not his way to hate. For one to say that one sin is worse than the other sin means to me that you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be a Christian. I know what I want for my family and me and what I think we should do to meet him when we pass on but I can’t know his final wisdom. And it is for him and him alone to decide what is right or wrong. I have too many sins on my plate to worry about someone else’s.

I was amazed at the wisdom of his statement but it came out as uh-huh, yeah I can see that. As the weeks have gone by I have come to respect him more and more not just from his wisdom and his professional demeanor but, also the fact that he is a really good person. He has made my stay here almost enjoyable. I think we make a good team.