\n
![\"sochi](\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/sochi-toilets-2.jpg\")
<\/a>What’s wrong with this picture?<\/p>\nLet me give you a hint, it’s not the toilets!<\/p>\n
With 5 kids and one toilet there have been many times when I wished we had this exact set up in our apartment.<\/p>\n
In fact any parent with more than one child and only one bathroom can immediately see the convenience of this configuration and the great amount of stress it would relieve them of.<\/p>\n
We shouldn’t\u00a0laugh at Russia for their water closet ingenuity, we should\u00a0thank them!<\/p>\n
So what is really wrong with this picture?<\/p>\n
What’s wrong with this picture is what you don’t see, the person behind the camera!<\/p>\n
Here’s the problem, Westerners are snobs. We love to travel, see new places and then send home pictures of how terrible it is so that we can laugh at our gracious hosts behind their backs. \u00a0I know that sounds a bit harsh but it’s true.<\/p>\n
Russia has opened her doors to the world for the Olympic games. They invited us and that means we are guests. I don’t know what kind of homes these photographers grew up in but I grew up in a home where I was taught that when you’re a guest you’d better be on your best behavior, always say “please” and “thank you”, try all the food even if you don’t like it and make sure you complement your host!<\/p>\n
It’s just good manners!<\/p>\n
I’ve never been to Sochi but I’ve been in Russia and it is an amazingly beautiful place with rich culture and wonderful people. There are a million other things they could be taking pictures of yet strange toilets and unfinished buildings seem to be the hot topic!<\/p>\n
Can you remember the last time you had guests over to your house for dinner? Did they go into your bathroom and take pictures of your toilet and then send them to all their friends commenting on it’s terrible condition and wondering how in the world anyone could regularly use it?<\/p>\n
Probably not! If they did I’d be surprised and you’d be shocked and offended.<\/p>\n
And yet we wonder why much of the rest of the world seems to think that we are stuck up!<\/p>\n
Let me tell you why I’m really so worked up about this, the truth is I’ve seen it happen before and it wasn’t at the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n
On many occasions I’ve witnessed the odd spectacle of an American on a short-term missions trip in a Ukrainian village walking into an outhouse with an expense digital camera in hand.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately I’m pretty sure that my experiences aren’t unique!<\/p>\n
This bothers me because it’s indicative of a greater problem. We tend to assume that our culture, our country and our bathrooms are better and that’s nothing less than arrogance and pride at work in our heart.<\/p>\n
When I get a chance I \u00a0warn missions teams not to photograph their hosts toilets. It’s rude and it doesn’t communicate the love of Christ very well.<\/p>\n
After all I’m sure you have a few places in your house that you’d rather not have the rest of the world see!<\/p>\n
The point is this, we need to stop searching for and publicizing the faults of others, that’s what snobs do!<\/p>\n
Instead let’s start showing the love of Christ which “covers over a multitude of sins,” that’s what real missionaries do!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before you get too far I want to warn you that this post is about Russian toilets and Western snobbery so if either of those offend you then feel free to click away right now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-3681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-missions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/sochi-toilets-2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-Xn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":131,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/mr-stubs\/","url_meta":{"origin":3681,"position":0},"title":"Mr. Stubs","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"February 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The kids have always wanted a pet, so here he is. 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