The Conduit

THE CONDUIT

Conduit [kon-dwit, -doo-it, -dyoo-it, -dit]
(Noun) – a fountain (Archaic)
– a similar natural passage
Legal definition
– a mediator, a go-between, an advocate

The more I am alive the more I realize how much information is skewed as it is passed from individual to individual. I remember when I was younger I would play the game telephone with my cousins. For those of you who do not know, in the game telephone players sit in a circle close enough to whisper into each other’s ears. One player comes up with a saying or a phrase of his choosing. This participant then whispers it into the ear of the person next to him. The listener may not ask for a repeat and is then to pass the message he or she just received to the next person in the circle. The messaged subsequently moves around the circle until it makes it back to its creator. The last person shares what the message turned into by the time it made it all the way around the circle. What may have started out as “I have brown hair”, may have turned into “he uses Nair.”
I believe that this game is a comical and yet accurate analogy of what often occurs in academic, social and spiritual environments. Interpretation is, by definition, “a conception of another’s message or behavior”. Whether I admit it or not, I sit in my Psych 105 with a personalized set of biases and beliefs just like the other hundred students in my class. My beliefs and biases are composed of choices made and learning experiences that I’ve had.
Socially, telephone may be the most accurate description of interactions of people at all ages. Whoever said people are easier to be around in when you get older clearly didn’t live very long. I have been blessed with excellent friends in all areas of my life and do not deal with the “telephone game” of misinterpretation and hurt very much at all. However, I see it happening around me daily.
I was walking on campus the few days ago when two elders from the Mormon Church stopped me. They asked me where I was going and I truthfully told them that I was headed to a small group for my church, Resonate. “Oh, Resonate. . .” they said with slight disgust, “People from that church don’t like us very much.” “Huh,” I said. “Why is that?” “Well,” said the more outspoken elder “A lot of people have really bad views of Mormons in general.” “Oh man,” I smiled “That is something we share. A lot of people have really bad views of Christians as well.” Misinterpretations about people, their behaviors and messages are happening all the time and much more than we think.
This long-winded lead in is just to say that in all areas of our lives it is necessary to strive for wisdom and to always be conduits (mediators and advocates) of the truth. The goals of this blog are to write with wisdom and truth while giving you, the reader, the window seat view of life of a student living in the ever-changing world of academia. My hope is that you will laugh (as I do) at the lack of sagacity of some people, morn for the disparity of others and lastly be filled with encouragement and joy as my friends and I learn the true purpose of our lives and strive to be conduits of truth.

1 Timothy 2:5 (KJV)
5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…”