LIFE

Today I saw a video that threw my whole day off. You have probably heard about or seen it as well. It is by an organization called "Invisible Children". The movie is disturbing and powerful, moving, and hopeful. It is about the plight of children in Uganda. Just so everyone is clear... I know ALMOST NOTHING about the organization behind this. I don't know how well they spend their money. I don't know about their affiliations or how they have conducted themselves over the past decade.  In fact, a couple of red flags about this particular group have cropped up as their video has gone viral and it is worth reading about. Here's one article  and Here's another. Anybody these days can make a well put together video and I would always advocate looking deeper before letting a well done 30 minute movie  open your wallet to a group you know nothing more about.
That said, I am glad that these stories are being told. It may be a bit late. It may be overly simplistic about both the problem and the solution, but it gets us out of our world a bit. Lets be discerning, but lets also be aware and sympathetic.
Five days after I graduated high school (back in 1999) I went to Nepal for 2 months. I was astounded as my view of "poverty" grew to a depth I couldn't imagine. I came home changed and admittedly more than a little disgusted at American ideas of "needs" and "rights". This years "occupy movement" was hard for me to stomach because I feel like I have seen the "99%" and we aren't it. I was reminded afresh of this just days ago when Scott and my's close friend came home from a trip to India.There are people out there who are suffering under the burden of an existence without even the basic and inherent human rights - not the petty rights that a lot of the Western World whines about - but, rights like those of the children in Uganda. I'm talking about the rights that we founded this country on - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There are many people all over the globe who have little to no freedom. They are afraid and unable to pursue any sort of "happiness" such as career and family... Attacks on these rights take many faces: human trafficking, slavery, genocide... and, if I am going to be any sort of activist, I will be an activist for human rights. I am in favor of the efforts people make to expose these things because I am staunchly pro-LIFE. I happen to believe that life is a scientifically definable fact. It is not the result of someone's decision. It just is. And, people like Kony need to be stopped as well as any others who feel it is their prerogative to decide who is worthwhile and who is not. The postmodern mantra that claims "there is no absolute truth" is no where to be seen on Facebook and Twitter today while people furiously #Kony2012 hoping to make a difference. This tells me that we DO, in fact,  have an innate sense of right and wrong. We have a powerful sense of injustice that rises up in the face of such images.  Deep down we all feel that human life should be defended. That feeling rose up in me today too. And, though I was struggling with a dirty house and noncooperative children, I wanted to hug them all a little tighter today as I was reminded what our world has become. God help us if we stop valuing and standing up for LIFE.