Social Activism vs. Socialism

We were at a dinner the other day and one of the young people had on a whistle. When asked about it, he shared that some children in some African nation are forced to wear the whistles, and standing at the front of the battle lines, blow their whistles to entice the opposition to commence firing at them. Then, when the opposition has exhausted their supply of ammo, the other people start shooting. I don't remember which is which - whether the rebels use the children to bait the government troops or vice versa, but I do remember the question being asked "Why don't they realize the children are blowing the whistles and just not shoot" and no good answer being forthcoming. I also remember thinking it would be great to come up with some gimmick like that to sell to bleeding heart youth of today and make some good dough.

A day later I'm at a family gathering and someone is showing pics of neighborhood Christmas lights. One of the family members commented that they could probably light a village for the cost of that. Following is an attempt to put into words some of the thoughts I had about that.

Why don't we send our leftover food to the kids in China? Haven't we heard for years that they would love to have it? Don't know what they'd do with it, since it would probably be spoiled by the time it got there. We could light the village in the middle of Honduras that I went to a few years ago. They could use some electricity. Of course, we'd have to get the electricity there, first. Then, since they don't have it, we'd have to get lights, or washers and dryers, or an electric stove or something they could use. Because they don't currently have electricity, there's nothing there that needs it. Of course, since the display in question was using low-power LED lights, it would be a very modest burst anyhow. Maybe we could wash a load of laundry a week. But then, who's laundry would we wash? Should we wash that of the chief, since after all he is the chief? Or maybe that of the women? Then, they'd only have to wash that of the men, who are out working the coffee industry. Or they could use the electricity to recharge the batteries for the flashlight that the community has, to be used in case of emergency. On the other hand, they were pretty happy to go to bed with the sunset and rise with daybreak. In fact, they seemed pretty happy with the life they had!

The maker of the comment would do well to consider a couple things. Maybe the person who made the bulbs and light strands is employed by a company in her community, and has purchased insurance from her husband. Possibly, the electric company has an employee who has received his or her paycheck because of that light display, and that person has payed for services at the clinic where she works. Maybe without the purchase of those lights, or the light display, she wouldn't have received her own ability to help someone else in need.

It's one thing to say that we should be doing without something because someone in another part of the world is doing without it, and may be in a different place because of it (I say 'different' rather than using the word that others might be tempted to use - 'worse' - because it is only a 'worse' place if we dare have the ego to think that we're in a 'better' place because we have something they don't have). But if we begin shutting down the economic processes that have put us where we are, then we run the very real risk of, not 'elevating' others to our level but, having the very system that supports us yanked out from under us.

My own children should consider this. I applaud them for going to Uganda and playing quartet music in the camps of the invisible children. I love them for their shift away from Christmas gifts to Christmas giving. I appreciate their desire to see people from all walks of life elevated beyond where they currently are.

But I encourage them to remember that what they are doing should not, and can not, be politicized. It seems popular to jump on a political band wagon and say that you're going to do blahdy blah in the name of your political party. As we are watching with the current administration, it's an absolutely and entirely different thing to actually do it in such a way that is sustainable, equitable, etc. Every generation has the faith in itself that it can do things that have been done in the past, that they can do them in the same way, and they can achieve a different result. That, dear ones, is the definition of insanity. The path of socialism has not successfully happened in a sustainable and/or equitable way. Sure, we have a responsibility for justice and caring for people and all that. Somewhere in there, we have a responsibility to take care that we have the ability to do so, as well.

Since I'm there already, I'll just throw out there that the family member who cares so much about some village somewhere having a little flash of light has raised some socially active children of her own. Good thing. However, those same children treat her like poop. And I'd say that in a stronger way, if I could get away with it. Makes me wonder, I gotta say.

Christmas Lessons 2010

This was an amazing and interesting Christmas season, 2010. First, went to church at St. Mark's for the Choir program (played bass) and then for the 12th (played bass for the children) and again on the Christmas Eve service (ran spotlight). I also hit the early service on the 19th and the post-Christmas on the 26th. Huh. Every Sunday in December...that's gotta be a record.

Spiritually, there were a couple great images that Keith painted for us. First was the story of the Fall during the presentation of the Gospel on Christmas Eve. The script used the image of the sacrifice of an animal for a covering of clothing, an innocent animal to cover the sin, which paved the way for the later innocent Lamb paying for the covering of our sin nature. The other powerful image was that of the day after Christmas. All of the power of God was wrapped up in the tiny form of the baby, the heavenly hosts looking down at this wee thing saying "That little thing? That's God???" and the earthly kings and shepherds coming to the cradle and saying "Wow! That's GOD!" all coming out of the Philipians 2:6+ scripture. Powerful stuff!

And then there's the gifts. Joshua wanted us to be creative and do philanthropic stuff (another blog I gotta get out of the draft stage), and Becky saw a way to do that. Through Compassion International we bought a goat to be sent to a family in Central or South America, and to commemorate that, we sent Joshua and Mi Ryung a cheese plate and asked her to get some goat cheese for Joshua (yes, we sent money). For Kate and David we bought a down comforter, and through the Heifer Project we purchased a flock of geese and a flock of ducks. Nate and Michelle won't have their gifts until Thursday, but for Isaac we got an electric razor and someone somewhere got a whatever of bees through the Heifer Project. Yes, they both go buzz. I know, but it was fun!

Hope you had a merry Christmas and are looking for a good new year.