A world broken

In a previous post What would you do?, I tried to consider how it would feel to be a refugee. Either due to war, persecution, violations of human rights, or violence, there are currently an estimated 110 million individuals who have been forcibly displaced from their homes. Add to that poverty, climate crisis, and countless other heartbreaking scenarios, that number undoubtedly increases significantly. And here we are, facing another tragic situation in the middle east that has thrust millions more into trauma and instability. Somehow, being on the other side of the world these stories don’t really touch us like they should. On both sides of the Gaza border, children are living the traumatic nightmare of war. Human beings, created in the image of God whether they are Israeli or Palestinian, are suffering the heartache of losing their babies, their parents, husbands, and wives. I honestly can’t even imagine what that must feel like. And yet, I have to.

It’s easy to sit in a comfy chair, open my laptop, and muse about some issue that doesn’t really touch me personally. How sad. So heartbreaking. Too bad. But when I actually stop to consider the people living through it, something shifts in my soul. When I think about the mom wailing in the streets looking for her child who was crushed under the rubble, it doesn’t really matter to me which side of the border she lived on. Something deeper in me recognizes the infinite value of another human being and my heart breaks for her. The dirt is the same on either side of the fence. That border is just a construct of society to keep certain people in and keep other people out. But when we strip those away, and we look a little deeper, we can see that we are all struggling through this human experience together. Yes, there are evil people in the world and the atrocities committed by them against innocent people are heinous and disgusting. However, the truth of these words are just as true today as they were during the struggle for civil rights in the sixties…..

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I feel helpless here in small-town Oregon while millions suffer throughout the world. It seems like all we can do is watch the news, hear the stories, feel bad, and maybe post something on our social media about standing with Israel. But here’s something I think each of us can do: Love your neighbor. Regardless of what they believe, what language they speak, where their family is from, what color their skin is, who they vote for, or their gender identity and preferences. None of these things are prerequisites for us to love them. (And I don’t mean “love” them just so that you can try to convince them to believe the same as you). If we all choose love over hate, little by little our neighborhoods will change, our communities can change, our towns, states, and countries can change. But it doesn’t start on a global scale. It starts with you. It’s starts with me. Individually we can choose to love and see the broken lives of this world start to be healed one at a time.

Peace, Shalom, Paz, Salam, Paix, Myr, Heping, Maluhia, Heiwa