Peace Shall Destroy Many

"After all, we are all displaced Germans, at least ethnically , and because we haven't had a true home for four hundred years, we subconciously long for one." Pg. 27

Back in 1978 when I entered Christopher Dock Mennonite High School as a freshman my adviser rather “strongly” encouraged me to take German instead of Spanish as my foreign language elective. It is obvious to me today that as an African American living in the city of Philadelphia (now and back then) it would seem common sense that Spanish language would be more beneficial to me in the long run. Even though at the time it seemed odd to me to take German as a language, I wasn’t able to articulate any reasonable objection to my adult guidance counselor. It wasn’t until reading Rudy Wiebe book “Peace Shall Destroy Many” that it really hit me in full measure the significance of the German language to the Germanic ethnic Mennonite in the early 1980’s. Though I have been part of the Mennonite Church for almost 25 yrs and have been well versed in the German heritage connection to our denomination – it wasn’t until reading Wiebe that the cultural value and identity of what it “means” to be Mennonite connected with a specific language. Ironically it gave me a greater appreciation for why my guidance counselor sought to direct me into his namesake Germany. Obviously I can never be confused as German!
Yet I find it also ironic that for four years of my young life I sat and was passionately taught by a ethnic German (Mr. Reinford), in a classroom filled with the majority of ethnic Germanic Mennonite peers who willingly opened up a new world to me through the language, the traditions/history, surnames and food, of which I even grew to appreciate. Yet as I reflect on that time in my life and recall the pride in which I was introduced to German ethnicity and their willingness to share that heritage with me, rarely if ever do I recall passion, freedom, openness, and concern for my well being as it related to my Christian faith and being invited into the Mennonite faith understandings.