Today we took our little girl to a birthday party. Towards the end of the party I was watching the little kids as the host parents handed out the "loot bags", which are little "take away" bags with small toys and snacks .
As parents we know there is ONE cardinal rule when it comes to receiving loot bags. For those of you who are parents to be, learn this rule well: DO NOT, under any circumstances, allow your child to see what's in other kid's loot bags. Grab it, say thank you, and head out to the car. Do not stop, do not linger, do not look back. (Look what happened to Lot's wife!)
You see, here is the problem. The world will be very simple if the host parents simply hand out identical loot bags to every child. "One lollipop for you, one lollipop for you, one for you..." BUT in an effort to demonstrate that "personal touch", parents these days often arrange for "personalized loot bags". That's fine, except that when the kids get to see and compare loot bags, human nature takes over:
"Why does he gets the cool Buzz Lightyear action figure when I only get a frisbee? I don't like frisbees!"
"How come she gets the pink bag?"
"Awww...I want that one instead..."
I was thinking about this in church on Sunday. It occured to me that the same "why-can't-I-have-what-he's-got" question has some serious global implications. For so long, we have lived in world of extreme economic injustice. With the internet and global communications technologies, we can now see with our own eyes on the TV's in our kitchens the devastation of poverty and hunger in the poor nations, where every second a child dies from hunger related illnesses.
Meanwhile half way around the world...
A father whose child is dying because he cannot get the most basic medical care looks on the TV in the hospital. He sees the abundance we enjoy in North America. And he asks, "why can't my child have what they've got?"
I wonder...as a Christian, what should our voice be?
How do we justify the hundreds of millions we spend on ourselves in the form of church buildings, staff, facilities, programming, etc when children are starving to death?
We enjoy low priced products manufactured in countries with cheap labor costs. Most of us don't even think about the labor practice of those countries until we start losing manufacturing jobs.
I wonder...when I hear Christians praying for "economic recovery"...what are we asking for? Are we really asking God to return us to a situation where we can continue to enjoy our own abundance built on the back of an economic system that is unjust and oppressive? A system where we can continue to enjoy the largest and best "loot bags", while the children from the rest of the world look to us and ask "why can't I have what they have?"
I wonder...why is it so difficult for us as Christians to develop a worldview that is global and holistic?
Just some thoughts from loot bagging....
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Conflict
Today I looked at the work of an award winning photographer who "specializes" in war photography. In one collection of images he captured the brutal execution of a government soldier in the midst of the conflict in Burma, home of the longest running civil war on the planet.
The man who carried out the execution was an 18 year old young man who had joined a guerrilla army that was waging war against the government. Listen to the way his (brief) life was described by the photographer:
"when he was 12 years old, Burmese government troops came into his village and killed his mother and father right in front of him... they then bashed him in the head with a rifle butt and left him for dead... the boy survived this ordeal, but suffered the loss of his right eye - and the loss of his childhood... by the time I photographed the executions, he was 18 and a member of a special commando unit... his superior officer told me that the young man often had to be restrained after an engagement with government troops, to keep him from sneaking back to the corpses and eating body parts... when he carried out the executions, it was unimaginably savage and shocking - much of the worst of it I did not capture on film... he was oblivious to the horror, lost in a haze of hate and revenge... each stab of the blade was a way to get back for the loss of his parents, his eye, his childhood... A few months later, this same young man - who had both endured and caused so much suffering, was dead at 18, killed in a clash with government troops..."
When I looked at the images, two thoughts came to mind: First, from a photographer's eyes I felt as though the photographs gave voice to a person who had no voice, one whom the world had "left for dead". It fueled my conviction that art is important, because it helps the world to see the unseen and hear the voices of the muted. Secondly, as a person of faith, I asked "Does the brand of "Christianity" we preach and practice make any sense in that dark corner of the world?" How do we take our favorite lenses of "Right" and "Wrong" and view what was going on in the images?
As Christians, we have been conditioned to shrug our shoulders and say "That's a result of sin." We have developed an eschatology that conveniently offloads our moral responsibilites in the present by saying, effectively, "God will fix everything one day". We have built an entire religion on teaching people how to get to heaven one day in the future. But what about the present? What do we have to offer to the 18 year old commando, and others like him?
More and more, I have come to understand that the Bible looks at sin from a historical, generational, communal, macro and global perspective rather than simply as a list of thou-shalt-not-do's. Again, from a photograher's eyes, that means when I look at an image depicting the evils of the world, whether it is a brutal act of terrorism across the oceans or an episode of violence here on my streets, the question to ask is "Where is my hand in this?" I have learned that if we look carefully and thoughtfully enough, it's always there. Perhaps that's what Jesus meant when He said to those looking at the woman caught in sin: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."
For those who are interested in seeing the work of the photographer mentioned, go to:
(Warning: some images contain graphic violence)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Out of the mouths of babes...
With our little one quickly reaching grade 1 (where did the last 4 years go?), we are going through the discussion that every parent in the city has had one time or another: "May be we should move into a 'better' school zone."
Now, we haven't actually decided to move yet, but when we are both working quite far from where we live right now, it seems to make sense. So yesterday in the car we casually brought up the subject with our little girl.
"Hey sweetie, what do you think of us moving into a different house?"
"NO!"
"But sweetie, you will get a different room, we will live closer to where you will go to school, may be there will be some nice parks nearby where you can play..."
"NOOOO! We are NOT going to move and I don't want to talk about it again, OKAY??"
(By the way, that was an exact quote)
End of discussion.
We were a little puzzled, so we probed a little further. We asked if it was because she likes her room, or the backyard, or if she thinks we will leave all her toys behind...we assured her that she will have all those things even if we move to another house. Neither one of us expected what came out of her mouth next.
"Yeah, but we won't be living beside Uncle Lou!"
Louie is our next door neighbor whose family have become quite good friends with us. They are immigrants from Europe from long ago (I always forget which country :-P ) . Louis is one of those guys who is always looking out for his friends and neighbors. He bought a snowblower this winter and I always see him helping others clean their driveways after he finishes his. In the Summer time, whichever one of us is out mowing the lawn, it's understood that we will do each other's front lawn while we are at it. When it's nice out, Louie is always sitting on his front porch with a beer and when we pull up to our driveway, Taylor always makes it a point to go over to give "Uncle Lou" a hug before going into our own house. She has become quite a hit with our neighbors!
What struck us about the conversation was that while we thought she didn't want to move because she was attached to "things", the truth is that at this young age, she has learned to value her "community". Something that as adults, we are prone to lose sight of.
It reminded me that as parents, it is all so easy to model a lifestyle that places the pursuit of success above everything else. Even in the church, it is so easy to forget something so simple and fundamental: people are important. People are more important than ideologies. People are more important than property. People are more important than institutions. People are more important than numbers and statistics. It still saddens me to think of the people who have been left behind and abandoned by the church in the name of progress, growth, politics, etc.
Meanwhile, in our own little situation of deciding whether to move or not, our little girl has just given us a whole new dimension to think about.
Now, we haven't actually decided to move yet, but when we are both working quite far from where we live right now, it seems to make sense. So yesterday in the car we casually brought up the subject with our little girl.
"Hey sweetie, what do you think of us moving into a different house?"
"NO!"
"But sweetie, you will get a different room, we will live closer to where you will go to school, may be there will be some nice parks nearby where you can play..."
"NOOOO! We are NOT going to move and I don't want to talk about it again, OKAY??"
(By the way, that was an exact quote)
End of discussion.
We were a little puzzled, so we probed a little further. We asked if it was because she likes her room, or the backyard, or if she thinks we will leave all her toys behind...we assured her that she will have all those things even if we move to another house. Neither one of us expected what came out of her mouth next.
"Yeah, but we won't be living beside Uncle Lou!"
Louie is our next door neighbor whose family have become quite good friends with us. They are immigrants from Europe from long ago (I always forget which country :-P ) . Louis is one of those guys who is always looking out for his friends and neighbors. He bought a snowblower this winter and I always see him helping others clean their driveways after he finishes his. In the Summer time, whichever one of us is out mowing the lawn, it's understood that we will do each other's front lawn while we are at it. When it's nice out, Louie is always sitting on his front porch with a beer and when we pull up to our driveway, Taylor always makes it a point to go over to give "Uncle Lou" a hug before going into our own house. She has become quite a hit with our neighbors!
What struck us about the conversation was that while we thought she didn't want to move because she was attached to "things", the truth is that at this young age, she has learned to value her "community". Something that as adults, we are prone to lose sight of.
It reminded me that as parents, it is all so easy to model a lifestyle that places the pursuit of success above everything else. Even in the church, it is so easy to forget something so simple and fundamental: people are important. People are more important than ideologies. People are more important than property. People are more important than institutions. People are more important than numbers and statistics. It still saddens me to think of the people who have been left behind and abandoned by the church in the name of progress, growth, politics, etc.
Meanwhile, in our own little situation of deciding whether to move or not, our little girl has just given us a whole new dimension to think about.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
"You encouraged people..."
Yesterday I had an interesting lunch date.
It all started a couple of weeks ago when I received a call at the office. It was a bad cell phone connection, and the person on the other end spoke with a bit of an accent so I wasn't able to pick out everything that was being said. Towards the end of the phone call he said, "I would love to invite you to lunch sometime to talk face to face." I heard the words "Invite" and "lunch", which immediately translated into "free" "food" in my dictionary, and promptly said "Yes!".
Over a delicious meal of Indian food, my friend told me that his agency is very interested in having me involved with them. Apparently I gave a speech at one of their sponsored public events, and afterwards the staff and leaders of the agency all wanted me to come on board with them. I expressed how honored I was by the invitation, but was curious of what was it about the speech that drew such a response. He thought about it a little, and said, "You encouraged people. And we want you to keep doing that with us."
I guess during this time of global economic doom and gloom, a dose of encouragement goes a lot further than in other times.
It all started a couple of weeks ago when I received a call at the office. It was a bad cell phone connection, and the person on the other end spoke with a bit of an accent so I wasn't able to pick out everything that was being said. Towards the end of the phone call he said, "I would love to invite you to lunch sometime to talk face to face." I heard the words "Invite" and "lunch", which immediately translated into "free" "food" in my dictionary, and promptly said "Yes!".
Over a delicious meal of Indian food, my friend told me that his agency is very interested in having me involved with them. Apparently I gave a speech at one of their sponsored public events, and afterwards the staff and leaders of the agency all wanted me to come on board with them. I expressed how honored I was by the invitation, but was curious of what was it about the speech that drew such a response. He thought about it a little, and said, "You encouraged people. And we want you to keep doing that with us."
I guess during this time of global economic doom and gloom, a dose of encouragement goes a lot further than in other times.
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