The issue of social injustice has been hitting me frequently, and like most Americans it hits me, then I go back to doing whatever I was doing unchanged. The movie Hotel Rwanda puts it best. When the main character saw that there were American journalists in Rwanda getting the story of the tragedy going on there, he was happy because he thought this was a way for Americans to learn about what is going on and help. The news journalist informed the main character that America would be horrified for a brief moment and then go back to eating their dinner unchanged. Wow! How true?
Today I was listening to a sermon by my favorite pastor, Rob Bell. He is at an amazing church in Grandville, MI (right outside of Grand Rapids), and I had the priviledge of attending his church while I was going to school up there. Anyway, in his sermon he is talking about the fact that 1 in 10 people in Grand Rapids are unable to pay their food bill. Forgive me if I am stepping on any toes here, but I doubt those are the rich dutchmen living in Grand Rapids!
He also gave another statistic of tragedy that is happening in Sudan at present time. He mentioned that the devastation taking place in Sudan right now is equivalent to our 9-11, multiplied by 100,000 or 200,000! That statistic is staggering to me. So, again, what are we going to do about it?
I really am afraid of sounding self-righteous here... and forgive me if I come across that way (it is not my intention!), but I am to the point where I am getting physically sick when I see a wealthy American, and it is not sick with jealousy! I would like to think if I were in a position of wealth that I would do so much more with it than buy BMW's and extravagant houses!
We are by far the wealthiest country, and all we do is continue to obtain more more more... We are living in a country where we are lining up for a $600 game console a week before it comes out, where in other countries people are lining up for their daily portion of food. Does this seem a little out of balance? It does for me, and it makes me want to weep!
As Jason and I continue to raise Kaelyn, and any other children in the future, we want to teach them how to be content. But, how do we do that in a society that is continually telling us we need more and more and more to be happy? The truth is, stuff makes us happy, but that happiness is temporary, then we need more stuff to make us happy. Maybe stuff isn't where happiness is! Maybe happiness is living life to the fullest that we were intended to live life?
I'm sorry if I am getting preachy here, but my heart absolutely aches when I see people here in Southern California drop $2,000,000 on a house, which is definitely not a necessity, and that money could feed an entire starving country. Now, I am not saying that we are all supposed to live in mud huts and eat off the land. But, can't we as Americans be a little more generous and helpful to those who are even within our boarders who can't provide for themselves?
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