This is getting old...

(Oh yeah, two new posts today)
I was reading a few articles today by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. You may know him for some of his really powerful on the ground pieces from places like Darfur, Tibet, and other hot spots around the world. In one of his articles about the worsening conditions in the Central African Republic, a neighbor to Sudan's Darfur region, I noticed a very critical reply which ran something like this:

"Nick, Your thing seems to be righteous indignation. I find that a very cheap way to feel superior. Can’t you find a new shtick? Yes, it’s all very sad, tragic even. So what’s new? You bore me."

What sticks out most to me is the last sentence. You bore me. How have stories of genocide, destruction, group rape, and kidnapped children become boring to the audience? The article relates an aid worker's account of 1164 reported rape cases in a year (and probably many more unreported cases) in a country with a population of only 4 million. The youngest victim was 4 years old. And many of the rapes are performed by armed groups of 6-7 or as many as 18 men. That isn't boring, that is ridiculous!

Yet, unless something is new (like natural disasters, election results, or kittens being stuck in trees), it is difficult for it to grab people's attention. Stories can only be run for a few days before they become old news. This means that entrenched situations lose all focus because they move so slow and the population's attention quickly turns to more interesting updates. It is very difficult to keep people attentive to problems that are systemic and not just a single event which is easy to cover with a news team.

Also, people can only handle so much reality. At least I think this is true for the majority of Americans living in the safety and security of our own country. It is difficult to even comprehend the truth of the destruction and pain being experienced in these various "hells on earth," and after a little while it is easier to just give up and be bored than to care. Caring means being moved to action, and action is hard to maintain when you don't see quick results from your efforts. It may be easy to go to a concert for Free Tibet or Darfur awareness because we want to see the band they bring in, but it takes a bit more effort to be informed, assertive with your rights as a citizen (letters to congress and such), and to actually take steps to in some way see situations actually changed.

Finally, there has to come a realization that we can't do everything. You can't be educated fully about every issue. You can't just throw money at every problem. And if you try it will become overwhelming. I understand the frustration of the guy who replied to Kristof's article. What am I supposed to do about this? So there is another place going through some crazy shit, what do I care? My only response is that "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matt. 19:26)

When I turn to the words of Jesus about the suffering of this world, I see how we are to pray: for God's kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10). Looking around at this world, it is easy to see that this has not been the case in many places. In fact there is a lot of hell breaking out on earth. Where are the peace-makers? And let's not restrict peace to the absence of violence, it's much better understood as an active fruit of the Spirit.

As the Body of Christ, the universal church is called to action. Also, it seems like Jesus is pretty specific about how we should act, check out the sheep and goats parable in Matthew 25:31-46, and John the Baptist instructed his listeners to share their second cloaks and their excess food (Luke 3:11). Also, I referenced 1 Timothy 2:1-6, which instructs us to pray for the leaders of this world that we may live in peace, in my Burma post.

So I don't have answers to the question of what to do, but I am searching. I think that search will probably take a while, and I don't expect to ever have a definite answer. I know that the wrong response is apathy. I know that I am called to follow Jesus, I know that God loves those who suffer in this world, and I trust that he will lead me in a path that will allow me to in some way affect the least of these. As with all of my posts, I am not an authority on anything, just a fellow seeker. I would love to hear what people think about this, or ways that other people have found to react to the suffering in our world.

I close with one of my favorite passages from Isaiah:

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice, and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free, and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"
-Isaiah 58:6-7