April 28, 2007

"But the poor person does not exist as an inescapable fact of destiny. his or her existence is not politically neutral, and it is not ethically innocent. The poor are a by-product of the system in which we live and for which we are responsible. They are marginalized by our social and cultural world. the are the oppressed, exploited proletariat, robbed of the fruit of their labor and despoiled of their humanity. Hence the poverty of the poor is not a call to generous relief action, but a demand that we go and build a different social order." ~Gustavo Gutierrez, The Power of the Poor in History

Why do we need shocking, sensational activities and meetings and images to spur us to want to make a difference? Is it just to placate the dissent I know rises in me when I know this injustice is going on and is wrong? Do we just like it because it gives the semblence of actually getting off our lazy butts and doing something? Will it only end at feeling bad and praying one night for the thosands of millions of people oppressed? We should need sensational images to do something about it? But I guess I've become so complacent in my comfotable, unoppressed life that I need something shocking and extreme to draw me out of that area of conformity and ignorance.

I live in such a jaded and complacent society, I have a hard time escaping it. And I don't want the right/easy answer because it is the cop-out. Struggling through the issues and having disagreements and coming out with a complicated question, but more complete understanding of the underlying issues behind it all is how I think we were created to live. We may never know the answer and may end life throughly more confused than we started, but with a deeper knowledge and reliance on those we struggled through with and our Creator. Jesus never gave a straight up answer except when it came to the greatest commandments. Why should we want to live any differently? I dunno...and I know I'm more confused now than when I started writing this...but I'm ok with that now.

"...let us not love in words or tongue, but in action and in truth" 1 John 3:18