Its Not Just Murder, It's Suicide...
Have you heard about what's going on in Sudan? Or should I say, what HAS been going on for years, now. Pure genocide. Just like Rwanda, just like the Holocaust. Half a million people dead, 2-3 million displaced into camps, without a place to call home. I just read this article of these displaced women giving a terrifying account about being gang raped by some of the offenders:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528/ap_on_re_mi_ea/darfur_s_misery
And after the Holocaust, we (the allied nations) created this slogan: "never again". But do we, here in America even hear their cries? Or are we so occupied by attaining comfort for ourselves that we do not have time to worry about "those" people over there?
Check these song lyrics by Derek Webb ("this too shall be made right"):
I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
and that’s not just murder it’s suicide
So what the heck are we to do? I think first is to realize that we are deeply connected with "those" people over there. That we are not alive simply to comfort & prolong our own existence; And second, that we cannot give up on the idea that we can make change.
Practically speaking, go to http://www.savedarfur.org/content
(the above picture was taken at a refugee camp in Sudan)
posted by Once Again... at 7:12 PM
4 Comments:
Jon, I saw on a news channel the other that that President Bush is making moves toward the trouble there in Dafur..calling attention to it...just wanted you to know. With all that P.B. has against him, he still knows and cares about the people, both in Iraq and in Dafur...for that reason alone, I am hopeful that God is working through him.
Have you thought about working with Bono? Finding a way to get near what he's doing over there? Just a thought...love mom
What you said about never giving up hope that we (I) can change things is right on.
I have been thinking and talking about people who have more care for animals than human beings and I have to say that what is in front of you makes a difference.
Americans have a thick layer of vision changing fog around them called consumerism it is further complicated by the marketing theories of scarcity (meaning if you don't have their products you are missing out) and to top it off we have virtually no one who knows what its like to truly live without.
I mean, we have poor people in our midst, but there is another kind of poverty that we never see: The kind of poverty that kills.
If its hard for me to understand this kind of poverty so imagine what its like for someone who has lived thier whole life in a money bubble, as in -my fist business was not a lemonade stand it was a major league baseball team.
War is not the answer here, even though the vast majority of these things begin and end with violence. Violence is like a pair of book ends.
What is something that I can do, something viable and real. As for me I dont have very much money, and how much does money help when the people handling it use up the majority of it to make more money? I can't go (not at this stage in my life). I tell you what I have learned.
One. Thinking flows into praying.
Two. Awareness flows into action.
Three. Work hard to make sure that everyday things (you buy) are impacting people elsewhere in a good way (know this, your habits ALWAYS impact someone). ie. buy fair trade, EDUN, don't buy diamonds from SA, use less gas.
Four. Change. Don't feel bad/ashamed about your life here or what you have, feel good about how your living your life and what you give.
Five. Sometimes Change follows bad feelings. Many times we need to feel pretty badly about our current position to change to a better one.
Six. Going backward in life is one of the hardest things you'll ever have to do but its worth it. Meaning: We have been raised since infancy to consume. Retire. Vacation. Build. Own.
Seven. Consumerism leads to blindness.
~
wow, matt...those are BRILLIANT thoughts - you always have a way to express in words what i feel/think/believe...
i hope you didnt copyright this, cuz its gonna be copied & pasted to my journal. thanks for your insight.
(esp the part about money...you're so right...writing a check isnt always the answer. and id even say that many that DO write the checks do so as a way to "shoo off" guilty feelings...as if to say "hey, i did my part! im off the hook for any blame." i would venture to guess that that's not all God had in mind when he calls us to care for the poor. i truly believes he wants us to CARE.
it's why i married him...his brilliance.
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