Amy Winehouse, Oslo, Somalia ect. (this tragic world)

This past weekend we were saddened by the death of the incredibly talented, but tragically enslaved singer Amy Winehouse. Before that we heard the horrific reports of a lone man, consumed by hate and bigotry, who injured and murdered almost a hundred young people in Oslo. In addition we continue to get reports of the widespread famine in Somalia, and the factions that keep relief from getting to them.

In addition Japan is still reeling from the earthquakes, New Zealand the same and Haiti is still in dire straights. There is not enough time in the news to cover it all.

Add to that the incredible deaths in the drug cartels in Mexico, the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan. The violent regimes in Burma, Libya, Syria ect.. This world seems like a pretty shitty place.

My dear friend in the Navy is currently stationed in a country that is a near the middle east and the gulf. He does much aid work, and humanitarian work (the thing the forces do more of than gets reported and for which I am proud of). And he sees every day the horrible atrocities done on a small scale. Women with their genitals mutilated (90%), young girls with acid burns for going to school, kids that have suffered severe beatings, and just simple starvation and disease. These things almost never get reported as they are poor, and small, and insignificant.

In the park this weekend we ate breakfast with a homeless guy who was missing one of his front teeth, had stitches in his gums and lip, and staples in his head after being attacked with a pipe and a wooden pole or bat. The police responded 90 minutes after they were called. While two weeks earlier the cops responded in ten minutes because another homeless man urinated in the bushes (before the public bathrooms had been opened up). Of course no one hears about this, who cares about the little stuff, especially when we have the big stuff to worry about.

Mother Teresa said, "you don't need to to great things, just little things, with great love" Gandhi said, "you must be the change you want to see in the world" I challenge you today, I challenge myself today, to start to live in a way that makes the world a better place. Love the unloved. Care for the uncared for. Don't worry about what you can't do, and do what you can. Write a letter to a congress person about Somalia, or Burma, or Afghanistan. Start a group around Ched Myers book Sabbath Economics and live a different economy. Invite a homeless person, or struggling family to share dinner with you. The problem is not too big, our imagination is too small. Christ died and rose to redeem this world, lets live like that is true.

rev