By Chelsea @
You Will Go Out With
Joy
to all blog followers this isn't my post i found this from a blog ( follow link) again not my words!!
Stick with me for just a
few minutes, okay? This post might be a bit difficult to read. It was definitely
difficult to write, mostly because the ones most likely to feel conviction over
such things are the ones who are already doing their part. I promise that
tomorrow's post will be much more optimistic.
I wrote this post more than a week before I actually published it. I've been tweaking and editing this post for the past week. I've prayed about whether or not there's any grace in this post, I've tried to fill it with conviction rather than condemnation, and I thought long and hard before I decided that I was going to publish it at all. Why? Because honestly, sometimes I'm angry. Sometimes, I'm disappointed in people. At age twenty-one, I'm about two steps away from becoming one of the cranky old people who mutter about where exactly this culture is going in a hand basket. I'm frustrated with the way things are right now, and I often feel powerless to do anything about it. Don't read this post the wrong way. I realize that the times when I'm the most frustrated are usually the times when God is working on something amazing behind the scenes, so don't read hopelessness here. Is my heart still full for Maya's sake? For Laurel's? Of course it is! My goal is not to point fingers at people, to judge, or to hurt anybody. If I accidentally do any of those things, I apologize right now. My goal is simply to be honest. When you get involved in any sort of cause, your first obstacle will hit almost immediately. Just after you commit to involvement, you will face the most difficult hurdle of all. It doesn't show up in the form of a blog troll, a self-righteous relative, or any sort of snide comment. Those might show up later, but first, you'll have to deal with the indifference of others.
See, I sometimes feel a lot like I'm shouting at a brick wall. Children are dying. Children are starving. Children are literally begging for families to bring them home, and people over here do not care in the slightest. We hear the person who tries to raise awareness. We see them provide practical and simple ways that we can help. But we don't do anything about it. I am just one person, and I'm limited. I was so idealistic when I first got involved with Reece's Rainbow. People don't help orphans because people simply don't know how big the problem is. Okay. So, if we tell more people about the orphan crisis, more people will be available to help, right? Wrong. Awareness is much more difficult than that. It's not a matter of people not knowing. It's a matter of people choosing not to know. Some people shout about the plight of orphans while others purposely ignore. A child dies alone in a crib, and a rich adult in America covers his ears because he doesn't want to know. It makes me feel helpless. You can shout all you want to, but you can't force a person to take his hands off his ears.
As of right now, the Reece's Rainbow facebook group has 1,239 members, and I hear echoes of the same frustration from those members at least once a week.
"Why doesn't anybody care?"
"Why are people ignoring this crisis?"
"Why do people refuse to open their eyes?"
And all of that frustration is totally understandable. Some of these people have talked to friends who outright told them to stop posting statuses about orphans because it's just so depressing. Orphan advocates have been unfollowed and even unfriended because they post about orphans too much. Nobody wants to hear about the orphans. It's inconvenient, see, because it distracts us from what's really important. If I use facebook to post something about orphans, then maybe fewer people will get to see the photo of what you made for dinner, and you worked really hard on that dinner. If I post something about orphans, then people might comment on that post instead of marveling over your newly changed relationship status. If I post something about orphans, people might be distracted from how brilliantly sarcastic you were in your last post. If I post something about orphans, your passive-aggressive use of song lyrics might not get as much attention, and really, what's the point of facebook if we can't use it to be passive-aggressive? If I post something about orphans, I might ruin your day. I might make you think about suffering for a moment, and suffering is just no fun to think about.
So we ignore.
We unfollow.
We unfriend.
We get mad at what convicts us.
We hold tightly to our sense of entitlement.
You know what? Maybe someday we'll get to meet face-to-face with the orphans who inconvenienced us. Maybe someday we'll get to tell them how we really felt.
Maybe one day, Karen will say, "I'm sorry my orphaned status distracted you from your boyfriend."
Maybe Payton will say, "I'm sorry my Cerebral Palsy made you feel bad."
Maybe Marsha will say, "I'm sorry you had to think about my starvation while you posted pictures of your dinner."
You see how ridiculous our entitled attitudes are? Some people might read this and think that I'm being unfair. Some people might think that they're not meant to be responsible here, and honestly, they are being logical. What did any of us here in America do, right? Did we ever abandon any babies? Did we start up a corrupt government that routinely warehouses children with disabilities? Did we ever abuse children in an orphanage? Of course not. We didn't make this mess, so why should we have to clean it up? I've had that attitude before. Come to think of it, I still struggle with this attitude at times. The problem is that this type of thinking also led so many people to stand aside and do nothing while Adolf Hitler enforced a culture of cruelty, starvation, and systematic murder. If you think I'm being unfair in my comparison, just read some of these stories or watch this video. Or this video. Or this one. These are real children. These are living, breathing teenagers who are starved and warehoused to the point of never growing to be larger than toddlers. These are real babies who are left to die of neglect.
Maybe I wouldn't be so angry if it weren't for the fact that so many of us who ignore the cries of the orphans just happen to be Christians. Christians! As in, followers of Jesus Christ. You'd think it wouldn't be so difficult to get the Christians of all people to show a bit of empathy. Let's just see what the Bible says about orphans, shall we?
I wrote this post more than a week before I actually published it. I've been tweaking and editing this post for the past week. I've prayed about whether or not there's any grace in this post, I've tried to fill it with conviction rather than condemnation, and I thought long and hard before I decided that I was going to publish it at all. Why? Because honestly, sometimes I'm angry. Sometimes, I'm disappointed in people. At age twenty-one, I'm about two steps away from becoming one of the cranky old people who mutter about where exactly this culture is going in a hand basket. I'm frustrated with the way things are right now, and I often feel powerless to do anything about it. Don't read this post the wrong way. I realize that the times when I'm the most frustrated are usually the times when God is working on something amazing behind the scenes, so don't read hopelessness here. Is my heart still full for Maya's sake? For Laurel's? Of course it is! My goal is not to point fingers at people, to judge, or to hurt anybody. If I accidentally do any of those things, I apologize right now. My goal is simply to be honest. When you get involved in any sort of cause, your first obstacle will hit almost immediately. Just after you commit to involvement, you will face the most difficult hurdle of all. It doesn't show up in the form of a blog troll, a self-righteous relative, or any sort of snide comment. Those might show up later, but first, you'll have to deal with the indifference of others.
See, I sometimes feel a lot like I'm shouting at a brick wall. Children are dying. Children are starving. Children are literally begging for families to bring them home, and people over here do not care in the slightest. We hear the person who tries to raise awareness. We see them provide practical and simple ways that we can help. But we don't do anything about it. I am just one person, and I'm limited. I was so idealistic when I first got involved with Reece's Rainbow. People don't help orphans because people simply don't know how big the problem is. Okay. So, if we tell more people about the orphan crisis, more people will be available to help, right? Wrong. Awareness is much more difficult than that. It's not a matter of people not knowing. It's a matter of people choosing not to know. Some people shout about the plight of orphans while others purposely ignore. A child dies alone in a crib, and a rich adult in America covers his ears because he doesn't want to know. It makes me feel helpless. You can shout all you want to, but you can't force a person to take his hands off his ears.
As of right now, the Reece's Rainbow facebook group has 1,239 members, and I hear echoes of the same frustration from those members at least once a week.
"Why doesn't anybody care?"
"Why are people ignoring this crisis?"
"Why do people refuse to open their eyes?"
And all of that frustration is totally understandable. Some of these people have talked to friends who outright told them to stop posting statuses about orphans because it's just so depressing. Orphan advocates have been unfollowed and even unfriended because they post about orphans too much. Nobody wants to hear about the orphans. It's inconvenient, see, because it distracts us from what's really important. If I use facebook to post something about orphans, then maybe fewer people will get to see the photo of what you made for dinner, and you worked really hard on that dinner. If I post something about orphans, then people might comment on that post instead of marveling over your newly changed relationship status. If I post something about orphans, people might be distracted from how brilliantly sarcastic you were in your last post. If I post something about orphans, your passive-aggressive use of song lyrics might not get as much attention, and really, what's the point of facebook if we can't use it to be passive-aggressive? If I post something about orphans, I might ruin your day. I might make you think about suffering for a moment, and suffering is just no fun to think about.
So we ignore.
We unfollow.
We unfriend.
We get mad at what convicts us.
We hold tightly to our sense of entitlement.
You know what? Maybe someday we'll get to meet face-to-face with the orphans who inconvenienced us. Maybe someday we'll get to tell them how we really felt.
Maybe one day, Karen will say, "I'm sorry my orphaned status distracted you from your boyfriend."
Maybe Payton will say, "I'm sorry my Cerebral Palsy made you feel bad."
Maybe Marsha will say, "I'm sorry you had to think about my starvation while you posted pictures of your dinner."
You see how ridiculous our entitled attitudes are? Some people might read this and think that I'm being unfair. Some people might think that they're not meant to be responsible here, and honestly, they are being logical. What did any of us here in America do, right? Did we ever abandon any babies? Did we start up a corrupt government that routinely warehouses children with disabilities? Did we ever abuse children in an orphanage? Of course not. We didn't make this mess, so why should we have to clean it up? I've had that attitude before. Come to think of it, I still struggle with this attitude at times. The problem is that this type of thinking also led so many people to stand aside and do nothing while Adolf Hitler enforced a culture of cruelty, starvation, and systematic murder. If you think I'm being unfair in my comparison, just read some of these stories or watch this video. Or this video. Or this one. These are real children. These are living, breathing teenagers who are starved and warehoused to the point of never growing to be larger than toddlers. These are real babies who are left to die of neglect.
Maybe I wouldn't be so angry if it weren't for the fact that so many of us who ignore the cries of the orphans just happen to be Christians. Christians! As in, followers of Jesus Christ. You'd think it wouldn't be so difficult to get the Christians of all people to show a bit of empathy. Let's just see what the Bible says about orphans, shall we?
"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to
visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the
world."
-James 1:27-
"You shall not afflict any widow or orphan."
-Exodus 22:22-
"You shall not pervert the justice of due an alien or orphan..."
-Deuteronomy 24:17-
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it."
-Proverbs 3:27-
"Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow."
-Isaiah 1:17-
It doesn't look like we have any excuse, does it? Those aren't all of the Bible verses relating to orphans, either. I only quoted a few of them. Look, I understand that adoption is not for everyone. But you absolutely do not have to adopt to help orphans. One of the saddest things in the world is when we Christians use our Christian lingo to weasel our way out of following God's commands. In this case, we like to use the word "called." We say, "I'm not called to helping orphans, I'm called to something else." The problem is that orphan care isn't a calling, it's a command.
Think of it this way: What if I said, "I'm not called to honor my parents, I'm called to be an actor"? You'd think I was crazy, right? You'd want to say, "Those two thing aren't mutually exclusive, stupid! And an actor? Really? Don't ask me if you can sleep on my couch." The command to care for orphans is on the same level as the command to honor our parents. It's not a career choice. It's not an either/or situation. It's what God has told us to do.
So if you're not called to adopt right now, what do you do? If you have gifts, you can use them! If you have a skill for writing, make a blog. If you're a persuasive person, alert others to the crisis. If you have money, make a donation. If you have a facebook, copy and paste a link. Just do something. Whatever you do, don't ignore. Don't look away. Even when it's painful. Even when it depresses you. Even when it makes you angry. Make a goal today to simply open your eyes. If you notice something about orphans, click the link. Do some reading. Educate yourself about the world that you live in. It might just lead to you taking a huge role in the bigger picture, because when you allow yourself to feel sadness over the pain of children, you also get to experience a surge of joy when you see one of those children come home or meet their parents for the first time. As somebody who has experienced one of those miracles, I can promise you that nothing in this world will make you more happy.
-James 1:27-
"You shall not afflict any widow or orphan."
-Exodus 22:22-
"You shall not pervert the justice of due an alien or orphan..."
-Deuteronomy 24:17-
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it."
-Proverbs 3:27-
"Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow."
-Isaiah 1:17-
It doesn't look like we have any excuse, does it? Those aren't all of the Bible verses relating to orphans, either. I only quoted a few of them. Look, I understand that adoption is not for everyone. But you absolutely do not have to adopt to help orphans. One of the saddest things in the world is when we Christians use our Christian lingo to weasel our way out of following God's commands. In this case, we like to use the word "called." We say, "I'm not called to helping orphans, I'm called to something else." The problem is that orphan care isn't a calling, it's a command.
Think of it this way: What if I said, "I'm not called to honor my parents, I'm called to be an actor"? You'd think I was crazy, right? You'd want to say, "Those two thing aren't mutually exclusive, stupid! And an actor? Really? Don't ask me if you can sleep on my couch." The command to care for orphans is on the same level as the command to honor our parents. It's not a career choice. It's not an either/or situation. It's what God has told us to do.
So if you're not called to adopt right now, what do you do? If you have gifts, you can use them! If you have a skill for writing, make a blog. If you're a persuasive person, alert others to the crisis. If you have money, make a donation. If you have a facebook, copy and paste a link. Just do something. Whatever you do, don't ignore. Don't look away. Even when it's painful. Even when it depresses you. Even when it makes you angry. Make a goal today to simply open your eyes. If you notice something about orphans, click the link. Do some reading. Educate yourself about the world that you live in. It might just lead to you taking a huge role in the bigger picture, because when you allow yourself to feel sadness over the pain of children, you also get to experience a surge of joy when you see one of those children come home or meet their parents for the first time. As somebody who has experienced one of those miracles, I can promise you that nothing in this world will make you more happy.
