Monday, April 21, 2008

Charity

We recently watched Idol Gives Back on TV - it was American Idol's show that brought to light the needs of the poor people in the US and in Africa. I sometimes wonder if the US is the only country where the poor people have obesity problems. The needy in America, while I agree they are needy, are not nearly as bad off as the poor people in Africa who are facing things like genocide, malaria, starvation and whole generations wiped out by AIDS. Their situation is much more dire.

Much to Bob's dismay, I recently put two genocide movies on our Netflix list. One was a ficticious account based on a real situation in Rwanda in which a school was a shelter for refugees until the UN bailed out. The name of the movie was "Beyond the Gates." (Not to be confused with "Beyond the Gates of Splendor" which is an excellent documentary I've also seen.)

The other movie was "The Devil Came on Horseback." It was a documentary about a marine-turned-photographer who went on assignment in Darfur. The movie is named for the Janjaweed, a radical muslim group that sweeps through Sudan raping and killing entire villages. The government looks the other way. The photographer was certain that if the people in the US knew this was happening, we would do something about it. He brought his pictures back to America, but got very little support in comparison to the enormity of the situation.

I read Mike Huckabee's book "From Hope to Higher Ground" back when he was seeking the presidential nomination. I enjoyed reading the book and seeing his optimism. He's a crusader like me. The funny thing is, the line that stood out the most in the entire book was not anything Mike said, but what his daughter Sarah said. She was only eleven years old when her dad took her to the holocaust museum in Israel. He wasn't sure how she would handle all the gut-wrenching images. At the end of the day, she signed a guest book as they were leaving the museum. She wrote, "Why didn't somebody do something?"

The other day, I was filling my dog's water dish from our drinking water system and thinking, "There are people in this world who drink worse water than my dog." I took the thought a step further... "We have cleaner water in our toilets than some people have to drink."

It's frustrating to be an American sometimes. Modern technology can bring the images of people in need right into your living room. Then all you need to do is pick up the phone and pledge a few dollars to clear your conscience. It's just that easy.

One time, I mailed some money directly to a woman in Darfur. She had emailed me when I was webmaster for our church. We corresponded a little bit. I often wonder what became of her. Somehow it isn't very satisfying to just throw money at a problem. I'd like to do more - after all I am a crusader.

I just finished reading Brent and Deanna Higgins' book about their son BJ, "I Would Die for You." It's very challenging and inspiring. God really got ahold of him and used him. Maybe God is ready to move this generation away from their living rooms and out to the mission field. Time is getting short and people are dying both physically and spiritually.

Will the next generation look back at ours and ask, "Why didn't somebody do something?"