All Of Us Have To Come Together

My friend Sam Harrelson posted the video of Obama's speech in Canton, Ohio  from 2 days ago. No matter your affiliation, I think you should check it out here.

There was one line in particular that stood out to me above all the others:

Yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort; black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, Democrat, Republican, young, old, rich, poor, gay, straight, disabled or not. All of us have to come together.

That is my sentiment exactly. I am tired of the division that both parties exhibit and the division that we as individuals exhibit and the superiority that we feel to those who have different views than we have or who express different religious beliefs. We do not all need to be the same, but we do need to work together. We need to grow in our understanding of each other and stop relying on stereotypes that are perpetuated by our ignorance and our lack of desire to search out the truth about other parties or other religions or other people. There are plenty of issues that we can and will differ on, but there are also plenty that we shouldn't. We need to "unite in common effort" against poverty and against genocide and against imperialism and against hunger. 

This is not a democratic issue or a republican issue. This is not a Christian issue or an Islamic issue. This is not an American issue or an European issue. This is a humanity issue. This is a issue that should resonate within each and every one of us because we are humans and there are fellow human beings that are suffering. We have fellow human beings who are not given the dignity that they deserve as a human. We have fellow human beings who are discriminated against because they have a certain skin color or because they have a certain belief system. 

Our world certainly is not perfect and we will never see it become perfect, but that is no excuse to resign ourselves to accepting the way it is. We must not sit by while injustices prosper. 

This is about you. This is about me. This is about us. All of us have to come together.

The World in Which We Live...

For those who do not know, today is the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s death. Most of us are familiar with the work of MLK and, hopefully, we respect his work. He was indeed the type of man that we need more of in our world. He had his shortcomings as we all do, but he spoke with wisdom words that must be heard. I have been reading his speech, “Beyond Vietnam – A Time to Break Silence” and came across something quite profound. Part of his speech is pasted below:

Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: "Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King?" "Why are you joining the voices of dissent?" "Peace and civil rights don't mix," they say. "Aren't you hurting the cause of your people," they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.

The last line struck me hard and I began to think. Do I truly know the world that I live in? Do those around me truly know the world that we live in? True, times are different from what they were in 1967 when MLK gave this speech, but much is the same. Do I know how much injustice is in my world? Do I know how many children die of starvation each week? Do I know that 84% of the world lives on less than $10,066 a year? Do I know that more than 1 billion people live on less than U.S. $1 a day? Do I know that there are 781 million illiterate adults worldwide and that 64% of them are women? Do I know that more than 6 million children die from malnutrition yearly? Do I know that there is genocide going on in Darfur? Do I know who is working against these evils? Do I know the good work that the United Nations is doing? Do I know how much inequality still exists not only in our world, but in our churches and our homes? Do I truly know the world in which I live? Do you know the world in which you live?

I am not saying that we should all go out and protest the current war because that’s what MLK did. I am simply saying that we need to get to know the world we live in. Our world is in desperate need of redemption. True, we need redemption in the form of salvation, but we need so much more than that as well. We need to care for all of creation the way that God does. The world has a deep need and we have the resources necessary to not only alleviate, but to erase the need and the pain and yet we do nothing about it. On this anniversary on MLK’s death let us remember him for sure, but let us also reflect. Let us see our world for what it really is. The facts are gloomy and can be disheartening, but we can offer hope.

Here are some sites that you should check out:

• ONE
• Compassion
• Kiva
• JesusGreaterThan
• UN Millennium Development Goals

Note: Statistics taken from Compassion.

UN Millennium Development Goals

If you haven't heard of the good work that the UN is trying to do you need to.

The UN has developed a list of 8 goals that they wish to see accomplished by the year 2015. The 8 goals are:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

Their website outlines each goal and also monitors how these goals are being met. Please check out their site and see how you can be a part of meeting these goals.

Changing the world...

A friend of mine just recently left me a message saying that he loved my new blog and that it felt like we were sitting in my room changing the world again.

The truth: we never changed the world.

We talked a lot about the world, but we never changed it. Does that stop us? No. We see need for change in our world and we desire so badly for it to happen. The change is not just needed in religious areas (though there is great change possible there), but also in the political realm and the scientific realm and the music realm and the food realm and the publishing realm and the entertainment realm and the realm of people's desire and the lack of reading realm and the healthcare realm and the worldwide poverty realm and the familial relationships realm and the holiday realm and so many other realms.

The truth is that we lived a completely screwed up world, but this does not stop us. We do not allow ourselves to get depressed and pessimistic about the situation of our world. Rather, we imagine. That's right, we imagine. You may be asking how imagining can do anything to change the world. And you'd be right to ask. But I'd also have to say that if you are asking that question you have not imagined often enough or hard enough or deep enough. We imagine, just like John Lennon. We imagine a world that is better than the one we currently live in and we imagine what it would take to see that world come to fruition and then we work with every ounce of our being and our soul to be that change to this world. We help raise awareness for issues like the genocide in Darfur and the utter poverty in our own country and the amazing omnipresence of hypocrisy within the religion that we claim as our own (Christianity).

I echo John Lennon when he said, "You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one." I have been told countless times in my life: "Thomas, one person can't change the world." I reply that yes, one person can. How many times have we seen it. Jesus pretty drastically changed the world (and I don't say this in a super-spiritual-look-at-me-the-good-Christian way, but in an honest way that any student of history, especially religious history, as I am, must admit) and Ghandi wasn't too shabby either. Should we mention the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. or Tim Berners-Lee (step over Al Gore, he actually did create the Internet) or Mikhail Gorbachev or Frances Crick, James Watson and Rosalind Franklin (the three who discovered DNA). And just so you know that I recognize the other side of the coin. Let's talk about what Adlof Hitler and Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini and Osama bin Laden. I hope you get my point. We have the ability to do so much more than we tell ourselves that we can.

I am trying to change the world by changing myself and being the change that I want to see. You can do the same.

P.S. If you are looking for maybe an organization or two to get involved with there are two that I would suggest you start with, as they are doing what I'm talking about in the area of poverty and equality. They are making things happen and truly changing lives. The two organizations are Compassion and Kiva.

Francisco da Silva Neto

Say hello to Francisco. Francisco lives in Brazil with his father and mother.

I sponsor Francisco through Compassion. I was writing him a letter tonight and thought to let you meet him and to consider sponsoring a child yourself. It only costs $32 a month and my wife and I each sponsor a child. Compassion is a fantastic organization and currently helps more than 900,000 children in 24 countries. Please consider it. Besides, how big of a deal is $32 a month to you? I can promise you that my wife and I are strapped financially as we have been married for 6 months, are both graduate students and both work part time at out church. We don't have a ton of money, but we do realize that we can use the money we do have for good, to help those who have far less than we do.

For more information you can visit Compassion's Website or click on the banner on the right side of the page.

Kiva

My wife and I were watching Business Nation on CNBC tonight and heard about a company called Kiva. The whole premise of this company is to connect entrepreneurs in third-world countries with people just like me and you who loan them small sums of money. This is the excerpt from Kiva's website:

"Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the
developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a
business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic
independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can
receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are
repaid, you get your loan money back."

This idea is extremely appealing to me as it can directly link me with an individual who is an entrepreneur in a third world country. These loans are often as little as $500 or $1000, but the kicker is that it isn't one person supplying all of it. These entrepreneurs receive small loan amounts from numerous people. These loan amounts can be as little as $25. What an awesome way to actively help fellow humans and actively work to help aleviate poverty.

Anyway, check it out and get involved. We're definitely going to. The website is http://www.kiva.org/.