Tolerance and Compassion...
I read an article this morning.
I read a similar one the other day. It's a story of how poor hungry people in Haiti are eating dirt because they cannot afford to eat real food. You can read the article here
On my various trips to Haiti I have never seen this first hand, but I have heard of the rising food costs and I have seen how those costs have affected the many people in that little part of the world. What my heart is responding to this morning though is not the pictures of little kids eating little piles of dirt mixed with shortening and salt for breakast. (although it does break my heart.) What compelled me to write this morning were the comments listed under this. I love that we live in a land where we can say what we want...freedom of speech is a beautiful thing...but I was ashamed of my fellow countrymen. What echoed through many of the comments was an utter lack of compassion for a people who could use a little good old fashion love.
I feel like the world sees us like the spoiled child who is given whatever they want whenever they want it. A child that goes through life with a total disregard for the people around them. Perhaps that is what we are...I believe though that we have something to offer, more to offer than the image we sometimes portray to the rest of the world...if only we would open our eyes.
In this country tolerance is preached. In America we fight for the right to pray in school. We fight for the right to end abortion. We fight for the right to choose abortion. We fight for the right to get a better tax break. We fight for same sex unions, fuel efficiency, green living, and so much more. (Bob barker just gave 1 million dollars to a college in Springfield so they can start an Aminal Rights program...can you imagine how many PEOPLE could be helped with those resources...not that I'm a huge advocate of just handing out money. I know bunnies and penguins are important to the circle of life and all, but what about PEOPLE) In America we fight for our rights, and yet we often neglect the fight when it comes to the poor and underprivileged. The number of people who will die today because they cannot afford to eat is staggering. Do we really care? What about compassion, why aren't we teaching kids compassion in the 2nd grade. How do we help them to love their neighbor. Is it something that can be taught? Of course, I'm a Christian, so loving your neighbor becomes a pretty big thing. And it's true that the goal of my life is to share the Gospel so that others will be become Christian...but I think a little compassion could be spread across the board to believers and non-believers alike. I don't know if we can teach compassion...but I'm pretty sure we can show people what it looks like.
Maybe if we all just tried a little bit of "compassion" on...we might just see that it fits.
3 comments:
So...I read your post the other day, but I just read the article and a few of the posts. I'm not sure how incredibly arrogant and ignorant we can be! And I wonder how this happens to us?
I don't think we need to teach compassion to 2nd graders. After having worked for several years with 5-7 year olds, I believe we can "learn" compassion by watching our children.
None of those posts were made by 7 year olds. Those posts were made by people who have endured a lifetime surrounded by people just like themselves--unsympathetic, callous, and hardhearted. The question becomes, how do we stop the cycle?
It will take followers of Jesus Christ stopping the lip-service and living the life. A life not curved inward. A life dying each day to self. An almost insurmountable calling.
Good point!
Most 5-7 year olds are way more compassionate than most adults.
I think that's why it becomes important to live a life worthy of the call you were given...but realizing that we have no chance of doing that on our own...we're curved inward!...but that with God it is no longer an insurmountable thing.
When I was younger and I would get frustrated with people my mother would say, "Rachel, the only person you can really change is yourself." And while that's a worldy approach to the situation, in this world the only person we can change is ourself, of course the person really doing the changing is God. And our change lives point to Christ...
What have you learned this week??
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