how much difference can you make?...one man in the middle of all this mess...
I was going to write about the election. But in the middle of typing out that post, I got a phone call from my Dad and it changed the entire direction of this entry.
He was calling me from a phone, outside a slum city, somewhere in India. He is there with a group of people for a missions trip. A group of doctors, laborers, journalists, and others who have given of their time, money and safety to travel to the second most populous country in the entire world to make a difference. I got a call from my Dad, a hero.
So I ask myself....how much difference can we really make? Can we, on our own or with the help of a few others, change the world? The pessimist in me says it's only a dream; the kind of sappy, movie-of-the-week sap that doesn't pass intellectual muster. But the optimist in me says, Yes, odds can be defied, lives can be changed, people can be saved, this world can be saved.
I'd like to think that in these trying global times, a spirit of compassion would be seeping from our collective ears. But as the days pass, you can't help but choke on the selfishness that abounds. I'm as guilty as the next person, fawning over the newest CDs or my guitar or any other habit that does nothing to enrich the lives of others. We have this unbelievable and insatiable desire to please ourselves when there are so many around us who hurt.
And this isn't just an international thing. I'm proud of those people in India, but that doesn't have to exlude the hurting who are in our own lives. There's a person you know right now who is hurting; that person may be you, it may be your neighbor. I get up in the morning, and eventually the thought crosses my mind that there are a lot of people in this world who have a hurt that I can't comprehend.
All I can do is listen and be there for them and do my small part to be a shoulder for them. I guess the thought also crosses my mind that I can't be anyone's savior; it's not my job. But I can be a friend, I can be a listener. I can be someone, who in the midst of all the negativity, has the guts to say to someone, "No, I'm not going to judge you or think badly about you. I'm just going to be here for you."
It's doesn't take Superman to save the world....he doesn't exist. It's our job. What will you do to help someone? What will you do when something as simple as an encouragment from your mouth could save someone's life? I hope you, like me, will gather strength for this journey....that together we'll be there for someone who needs us....
That is my hope.
He was calling me from a phone, outside a slum city, somewhere in India. He is there with a group of people for a missions trip. A group of doctors, laborers, journalists, and others who have given of their time, money and safety to travel to the second most populous country in the entire world to make a difference. I got a call from my Dad, a hero.
So I ask myself....how much difference can we really make? Can we, on our own or with the help of a few others, change the world? The pessimist in me says it's only a dream; the kind of sappy, movie-of-the-week sap that doesn't pass intellectual muster. But the optimist in me says, Yes, odds can be defied, lives can be changed, people can be saved, this world can be saved.
I'd like to think that in these trying global times, a spirit of compassion would be seeping from our collective ears. But as the days pass, you can't help but choke on the selfishness that abounds. I'm as guilty as the next person, fawning over the newest CDs or my guitar or any other habit that does nothing to enrich the lives of others. We have this unbelievable and insatiable desire to please ourselves when there are so many around us who hurt.
And this isn't just an international thing. I'm proud of those people in India, but that doesn't have to exlude the hurting who are in our own lives. There's a person you know right now who is hurting; that person may be you, it may be your neighbor. I get up in the morning, and eventually the thought crosses my mind that there are a lot of people in this world who have a hurt that I can't comprehend.
All I can do is listen and be there for them and do my small part to be a shoulder for them. I guess the thought also crosses my mind that I can't be anyone's savior; it's not my job. But I can be a friend, I can be a listener. I can be someone, who in the midst of all the negativity, has the guts to say to someone, "No, I'm not going to judge you or think badly about you. I'm just going to be here for you."
It's doesn't take Superman to save the world....he doesn't exist. It's our job. What will you do to help someone? What will you do when something as simple as an encouragment from your mouth could save someone's life? I hope you, like me, will gather strength for this journey....that together we'll be there for someone who needs us....
That is my hope.
posted by gabe at
9:43 PM
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