Introduction to Jacob Bibee

…Oh, everyone believes on how they think it
Oughtta be, oh, everyone believes
And they’re not going easily.
Belief is a beautiful armor,
It makes for the heaviest sword,
like punching under water
You can never hit who you’re tryin’ for…

-J. Mayer, Belief



Wow, what can I say about Jake? A young man who went from being just one of those people you see from time to time when he came in for a cup of coffee, to being a co worker, what a tremendous gift. In a lot of respects, I have grown to understand him despite our obvious differences. I’ve come to see him as an incredibly brave man who holds onto something with a grip that not a lot of people share- faith. His devotion to scripture has both guided and shaped who he has become as the married, all- American man in his mid twenties that he is.

Our first chance to really talk, unfortunately happened during our first training session together at work. Understanding that getting into political/ religious conversation on the clock can get hairy, there wasn’t a lot of room for either of us to really listen or understand the other person. Despite how different I realized we were, I could tell that he meant no harm; it was important to me, in that first conversation, that I let him know I too, mean no harm.

From the things he had to say about wanting to go to Iraq as a proud American soldier, to his religion, I knew, that if he were willing, he would be the most obvious choice to interview for this project. I call him brave and that has absolutely nothing to do with his desire to fight the war. It takes a tremendous amount of courage, faith, and confidence to say things that you’re aware are not the most popular heard beliefs amongst your peers. I gave him the option of anonymity, like I’d given everyone else, but, with great pride, he shared his thoughts with me. He walked into the interview concerned that he would lose my comraderie; after putting his mind at ease, he allowed me to see what makes him who he is. The more difficult it was for me to hear, the more I knew I needed him to say the things he did. I offered minimal protest when I disagreed, because, agree or not, proposition 8 passed because a lot of Californians believe as he does, but are not willing to talk about it- least of all, with me.

His views, though not necessarily popularly held, need to heard just like everyone else’s. If people choose only to hear the things that are easy and the things that they agree with, there is no growth for anyone. It’s interesting, after our first initial interview, the roles reversed over cleaning an espresso machine and sweeping up mystery beans: he began to ask me questions.

Like I said, Jake…what a tremendous gift.