Eric Clapton once asked the heart wrenching question that echoes out what every human being craves- acceptance. He asked "Would you hold my hand if I saw you in heaven." Its the question that asks whether you value me, would you stick with me during the hard times, will you be my friend.

It is a tragedy that in our time we have the greatest need than ever before to be reassured of our acceptance. Even more alarming is the fact that in the year 2008 we are still battling against discrimination and all the other evils that the world presents. Over 120 million children are employed in hazardous conditions and face physical and psycological harm- child labour and the illegal sex trade is now the world's third largest industry. However, most disturbing is that all these evils can be prevented and yet we still choose to turn a blind eye.

It was Gandhi who said that an eye for an eye will turn the whole world blind, never did any one mention apathy. Apathy, a six letter word that has become the cause for the world's pain and destruction. We in the western world take all our things for granted. We believe that new clothes are a right and food has become an obsession, shame on us if we don't have a car. Never do we consider that there are those that suffer. We dont want to acknowldege that the slave industry still exists, for the sake of our nice Nike shoes, or that children are being crippled from the labour they endure to have a pittance of a meal for the day, so that we in turn may drink coffee. We choose to ignore the cry of the 2.8 million people who will die from aids this year. Never mnd the 3.8 million newly infected people.

It is our own selfishness that causes us to hold this apathy towards people and thus deny them acceptance of any kind. Aids is not the disease that our society needs to fight, but rather it is the apathy within our hearts. We are a new generation that have the opportunity to stand up for a change! When our grandchildren see what our generation did, will they be disgusted by the war in Iraq like we are toward Vietnam? or the Holocaust? Will aids still be the disaster that imposes the developing world. Will there still be a developing world, crippled by the debt that the powerful westerners put on the needy.

Or will our apathy cause our grandchildren to scorn?

We have a choice now to start caring. We have the opportunity to use our lives for the bettering of others'. What will you choose?

Giving Some Back

We all have so much to be thankful for. We are surrounded by people who love us, we have sufficient food to scoff down-heck! the first world is dying from obesity and self inflicted eating disorders, a roof over our heads, we have a top notch education system and frankly no real survival struggles. I think it could be fair to say that we have no real need for anything really. We have all materially that we could ever want or need. Jesus blesses us so graciously. Despite all these amazing privileges, (yes, turning on a shower and getting warm water is a maj. plus) we always want more. We tend to look to our selves and ways that we could improve our own lives, rather than looking to the exterior. Seeing, observing what others are going through. Seeing what others need. We pass the girl eating her lunch by herself to chatter with our own friends. We snob the busker- too afraid to make eye contact just in case they ask for our latte money. We even diss the slow kid to elevate ourselves. Well c'mon people! Because we have been given so much, it is our responsibility, our duty to give some back. To put our gratitude into action (ya know the saying that actions speak louder than words..) To ensure that others can experience as much as we have, be blessed as much as we have been. This means that we stand up for those who are being ripped off in trade; not buying slave trade products, we stand up for the lonely kid;sit beside them and get to know them, hey! even give 'em a smile! This means that we appreciate the busker and their talents and perhaps even sacrifice our latte money, it means that we uplift and encourage those who are weaker than us; pair up with the slow kid and get to know the kid and not the condition. It means praying for the sick and looking after the lonely. It means that we step outside of our lives and step inside the life of another. Let me compare it to a building. The building is our life and we spend all our time making it look splendid. Unfortunately we always compare with others so it is always a vicious competition. All our focus is making this building looking beautiful and pretty soon it has all the luxuries and more that it could possibly ever contain. The walls are splashed with colour till even all the rainbows in the world couldn't compete. But in becoming so absorbed in this one building, the decorators(thats us) forget to explore the rest of the world and the beauty and versatility it has to offer. They forget to look at the crummy houses in the same neighborhood which lower its own capital value. Instead of assisting to lift the delipidated houses beauty they are scorned. This is a lose lose system. Ultimately if we continue to be self seeking we too will be caught in a lose lose situation. Our self absorbancy will lead us to depression, lovelessness etc. because the focus is always on ourselves and what we have and dont have. This is not the way to live. We are all called to a higher purpose, we are all called to a greater calling. A calling to love others and to share what we have, a calling to stand up for the little guy. A calling to spread hope, to give some back!