muting the noise.
I find it curious that we Americans desire to plug-in order to tune out. It is our opiate of choice. I often count iPods during my morning commute. I recently walked past 49 people between the dock where my ferry drops me and the office building in which I work. Of those 49 people, 15 were plugged in - a full 30 percent. There were another 9 iPods visible from my seat on the ferry. That does not include mine. We are plugged in.
Bill Gates recently communicated that he is stepping out of Microsoft leadership to focus more time on his foundation. I am glad that so much energy and so many resources are being mobilized to meet the needs of the poor. Warren Buffet, Bono, George Clooney, and the Google empire are all doing great things and raising public awareness for meeting physical needs.
In a 2005 speech to the WHO outlining the genesis of his foundation, Mr. Gates stated that he “learned that millions of children were dying from diseases that had essentially been eliminated in the United States.” He went on to say that he and his wife Melinda “couldn’t escape the brutal conclusion that—in our world today—some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not".
That statement has weighed on me.
Do I value the lives of the global poor as much as my own? Do I love them?
Do you?
The WHO now estimates that 13,000,000 people die each year from preventable diseases.
Is one of those 13,000,000 of equal value as your son …. of your daughter? Do they matter?
Many more people struggle to survive in abhorrent conditions with limited access to food and on the banks of open sewers.
Many more die without ever hearing the message of Christ or experiencing the wealth of God’s love.
Do I love their lives as much as my own life? God forgive me. I clearly do not.
Mr. Gates went on to say, “But the desire to help means nothing without the capacity to help—and our capacity to help is increasing through the miracles of science.”
It is true that we have more technology at our disposal than ever before.
But with all due respect to Mr. Gates, the capability to help will only come through our desire to help.
Our desire to help is limited to our perspective on humanity.
Our perspective on humanity is limited by our ability to unplug, mute the mindless commercial chatter and reflect upon humanity.
Thomas Merton wrote, “…when a man is lost in the wheels of a social machine he is no longer aware of human needs as a matter of personal responsibility … he is by no means free of care; he is burdened by the diffuse, anonymous anxiety, the nameless fears, the petty itching lusts and the all pervading hostilities which fill mass society the way water fills the ocean.”
We cannot reflect on humanity when our minds burdened - full of noise and the manifestations of that noise.
My personal prayer is that:
I learn how to be poor in spirit.
I learn how to disconnect.
I learn to be still.
I learn to listen.
My love for the poor would grow.
I have my eyes open, my temporal gripped loosed and my feet ready.
I act.
And finally that my prayers of “I” would evolve into my prayers for others.
Bill Gates recently communicated that he is stepping out of Microsoft leadership to focus more time on his foundation. I am glad that so much energy and so many resources are being mobilized to meet the needs of the poor. Warren Buffet, Bono, George Clooney, and the Google empire are all doing great things and raising public awareness for meeting physical needs.
In a 2005 speech to the WHO outlining the genesis of his foundation, Mr. Gates stated that he “learned that millions of children were dying from diseases that had essentially been eliminated in the United States.” He went on to say that he and his wife Melinda “couldn’t escape the brutal conclusion that—in our world today—some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not".
That statement has weighed on me.
Do I value the lives of the global poor as much as my own? Do I love them?
Do you?
The WHO now estimates that 13,000,000 people die each year from preventable diseases.
Is one of those 13,000,000 of equal value as your son …. of your daughter? Do they matter?
Many more people struggle to survive in abhorrent conditions with limited access to food and on the banks of open sewers.
Many more die without ever hearing the message of Christ or experiencing the wealth of God’s love.
Do I love their lives as much as my own life? God forgive me. I clearly do not.
Mr. Gates went on to say, “But the desire to help means nothing without the capacity to help—and our capacity to help is increasing through the miracles of science.”
It is true that we have more technology at our disposal than ever before.
But with all due respect to Mr. Gates, the capability to help will only come through our desire to help.
Our desire to help is limited to our perspective on humanity.
Our perspective on humanity is limited by our ability to unplug, mute the mindless commercial chatter and reflect upon humanity.
Thomas Merton wrote, “…when a man is lost in the wheels of a social machine he is no longer aware of human needs as a matter of personal responsibility … he is by no means free of care; he is burdened by the diffuse, anonymous anxiety, the nameless fears, the petty itching lusts and the all pervading hostilities which fill mass society the way water fills the ocean.”
We cannot reflect on humanity when our minds burdened - full of noise and the manifestations of that noise.
My personal prayer is that:
I learn how to be poor in spirit.
I learn how to disconnect.
I learn to be still.
I learn to listen.
My love for the poor would grow.
I have my eyes open, my temporal gripped loosed and my feet ready.
I act.
And finally that my prayers of “I” would evolve into my prayers for others.
posted by Josh at 12:43 PM
1 Comments:
Amen.
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