Thursday, April 23, 2009
Thinking of .....
I have food, clean water, a loving family and a magnificent God. All in all I am very blessed. My two brothers and my nephew are the greatest gifts I can imagine receiving from the Lord. I am eternally grateful for them, and for my wonderful loving parents. I am grateful that my life has been so blessed. I truly am. But what do I do about it? Do I deserve it? The truth is that no, I do not deserve it and I have done comparatively nothing to show God my thanks for it. That is not ok. God in His grace has given me more than I could have asked for. He has saved me both spiritually and physically. But I have done nothing for Him. Why is this? Why when we have everything do we give nothing back? In the Bible Jesus says “freely you have received, freely you shall give”. We of America, of basically anyone not in poverty, have essentially everything we need. In spite of the economic recession or depression or plummet, most of us still have food on the table, a roof over our heads, family around us and love in our hearts. Why then can we not look to our neighbor who has none of these things and share? When we have been blessed so greatly, why must we horde our blessings to ourselves when others go without? How is that fair? How is that right? How is that Christian? How is that humane? The answer is simple. It’s not. It is not right to sit there enjoying your warm house, your snug clothes, your hot meal, your safe beverages and not think of those who are sleeping on the ground naked, starving and dehydrated. It is not right, but it is what we do. I am guilty of it too. I don’t believe we do it out of hate or even indifference, we just don’t connect to it because it is not happening to us. It is a careless oversight, not hate, but that doesn’t make it ok. I don’t want to ignore the crying souls of our world and even our own country as I indulge in my super size fast food in front of my laptop or TV. I don’t want to walk past the homeless on the street like I don’t see them. I don’t want to have to explain to my children someday that millions of children just like them have died and are dying in my lifetime and I have done nothing to help them. If it were my child, my brother, my nephew, my parents or cousin in these conditions would I not do everything in my power to help them? What about you? If your family were suddenly in unimaginable conditions, and you were where you are right now, would you not do something, anything to help them? I know you would. I know I would. But since the problem is far from home we don’t see it. We don’t like to think about it. We want to walk away from it. It’s not us, and it is not here. It is not our everyday lives so we don’t have to deal with it. We don’t have to, but we should. I should. I need to. I cannot continue living a life in which every day passes by and I have everything and give nothing. I cannot do it. As a Christian, a sister, an aunt, a daughter, as a human, I cannot do it. I don’t know what I can do to help. My yearning to help may yield nothing. I may spend my entire life searching for a way to help, to reach out and never actually accomplish anything. But I have to try. If I can help one child live for one more day, let one person know that someone does care, save one person in anyway, then my life will have been well lived. Otherwise what is the point? I have made a lot of Christian references in this letter, and that may have scared some of you away. It shouldn’t. I would feel sympathy for others pain with or without my God or religion telling me to do so. My belief in God or your disbelief in God, or your belief in something besides my God does not change the reality of the situation. People are starving and dying. If we can help in any way, shouldn’t we? I am not perfect, and I don’t expect you to be. I am not trying to preach at you or make you feel bad. But I feel bad, and I want to do something about it. Maybe you do too. Maybe together, you and I can change the world. Maybe we can save someone. Isn’t it worth trying?
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Thank you Natasha for writing this. I connected with this very passionately. You wrote it very well and very honest and true. Thank you. Now I guess here is my opinion.
ReplyDeleteWell as cliché as it may sound, the first step is realizing. Unfortunately it is the easier part. This world has lost almost all sense of community. Unfortunately most religious people feel like it is more important to show that their beliefs are the right ones and condemn the rest, than the importance of spread the Word. We as a human race have lost touch with not only what is important, pure and humane but also what is right. We ignore problems that one day could destroy the human race and instead fight passionately for things such as the right to smoke in certain places. This is important but I’m sure there are more homeless, starving, sick and dehydrated people dying everyday than those who are getting asthma from smoke inhalation. I mean I know that’s a bad example because it kills people but we are dying for oil and fuels and not taking care of what needs to be done. God has given us as a human race so much…well everything. And not only do we take it for granted, we flat out ignore his presence and destroy what he has given us and kill in “His Name”. I too consider myself blessed to have the family and people I care about and being lucky enough to have food, shelter, water and a surplus of unneeded items. How to give back to God and to those less fortunate is not as easily found in our day to day lies as it should be. I don’t do anything either I am ashamed to say. You ask the question of what we can do to give back. Jesus told the apostles that as they go, they should preach His message. Now the literal interpretation would mean go and preach The Word to the masses, make it your sole duty to tell the masses, this was the apostles’ way of giving freely as they were given freely. It is also ours as followers of Christianity and God Himself. The way I take it, besides actually preaching, is as we live our life, let His Name and Word be known. Live your life for Him and let every good deed be done in His Name. Spread the Word of God, not limited to becoming a preacher (although that is also good) but by letting others around you and everyone you come in contact with know of His existence and His gift of eternal life with Him.
I have little to no respect for anyone who would be so close minded to not read this testimonial or be able to make a connection because it discusses religion. It’s stupid for that to be the reason not to connect with this. This whole note is true regardless of religion. The lessons the Bible teaches work outside of religion. We are supposed to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We are supposed to try to cure the sick, feed the hungry, and help the poor while asking nothing in return. What is wrong with these lessons? Whether you do it for God or for any other reason, it should be done. There is no denying that there is starvation, thirst, homeless and ill in the world that we cannot even begin to grasp the severity. We continue to watch the news and read about these horrible, horrible things happening around us while stuffing our faces and gluttonizing ourselves with possessions and more food than we can even eat. Things need to change in this world. Be it because of religion or just because of it is right, it should be done. You are right its not hate or indifference it’s just that we cannot connect with anything that doesn’t directly affect us. Ignorance is bliss right? Why feel bad about something that isn’t related to your own situation? Because it’s right that’s why. There's nothing we can do anyways right? Wrong. People fail to realize how much they can do. It’s not because they don’t care it’s because they think one single act of kindness in a world filled with evil can make a difference. We come in contact with millions of people in our lifetime. Some only once. We should make that one moment mean something. We do not know people’s backgrounds and stories. We do not know the affect a simple smile while passing them on the street or in the store could mean to them. People don’t realize that when someone feels like they have nothing in this world a simple smile from a stranger could be all it takes to make a difference. A simple smile could quite literally save someone’s life. I know from personal experience that when one feels like there is nothing left worth fighting for or living for the littlest things can mean the world. Although at times of doubt I often forget it, this is why I chose to become a teacher. A teacher should not be just someone who educates students in subjects and gets them ready for the “real world”. That is not the teacher I want to be or the reason I want to be a teacher. I personally know the difference a single person can make on someone else. I know what another person can mean to someone else. I want to be a teacher, a friend, a listening ear, a crying should, a link in a chain of support, an advocate, a mentor, and many other things to my students. And as you said, if we could be these things to only one child, then our lives have had meaning. We as teachers may be the only people these students have who will genuinely care and love them. I have always wanted to do special education because I always wanted to be these things and make a difference to people that the rest of the world had given up on. So far this whole comment has pretty much been about me. This is done solely to show you through my eyes how I perceive the same issue and the world. I do this to show you that I have truly connected with you thoughts and desires to change the world. We as a whole human race cannot be in an idle mode until the problem hits home to someone we care about. We need to stop the problem before it hits close to home because then it is just too late.
As this comment has been more about me and my connection to your note to let you know I on the same page as you, it has lacked in the advice portion of what you were wanting. Hopefully I can include at least something that will help you. For starters, I will just say that I respect you for being able to realize what is right and how far away the world has driven from what is important and right. I also thank you. The truth is you have all the advice you need. You said it best when you said “My yearning to help may yield nothing. I may spend my entire life searching for a way to help, to reach out and never actually accomplish anything. But I have to try. If I can help one child live for one more day, let one person know that someone does care, save one person in anyway, then my life will have been well lived.” This is all you need besides love and support. Don’t lose this. Trying is all any of us can do. But none of us do. We prefer to be idle because we don’t realize the effects we could have or we don’t want to put forth so much effort for something we can’t guarantee will make a difference. However Natasha, I must say the part about your yearnings yielding nothing and never accomplishing anything, that won’t be the case. It already is not the case. That person I described of a single person meaning something and making a difference to someone else. That was you. I know I am not suffering and I have it pretty good comparatively but you have helped me more you will ever know. I am better having known you and I am who and where I because of you. You I am a better person and I live a better life because of you I honestly believe that. I aspire to be great, to have a family, to be the best I can, to be the most that I can, and to accomplish my goals so I and those around me can have a better tomorrow. You may not truly believe this or take any of it to heart but I assure you it is all true. Natasha, I cannot thank you enough for all you have done for me. The truth is and I don’t know if you know this but you brought me back in touch with God. I believed in God. I believed that there was an Almighty God and he gave us everything there was. But for the longest time that was the extent of it. Then God brought us together. The truth is you brought me back to Him. He was not in my thoughts as much as he should have been and as much as he is now. You kind of saved me. I mean I wasn’t not living for God but I wasn’t really living for Him either. You have been a friend, a best friend, a listening ear, a crying should, one of the biggest link in my chain of support, and many other great things to me. Things I hope you consider me. Things I hope to be to others as well. Yes I too want to save the world. I would love to try to save the world with you. Together we can accomplish more than we could alone. And YES Natasha it is without a doubt worth trying.
You know you can come to me to talk and for support anytime. I am here for you and I love you. I wanted to end this with a good amount of good Bible verses I found on the topic. I wanted to read into what the Bible offers as advice on the matter. I will share some of the ones I really connected with.
Matthew 25:31-46
"He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done." Proverbs 19:17
"If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered." Proverbs 21:13
"He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses." Proverbs 28:27
We must never get tired of doing good because if we don’t give up the struggle, we shall get our harvest at the proper time. Galatians 6:9