Yesterday I received an e-mail from my good pal Paco, who is working with the Relief Effort in Pakistan right now. Basically it was desperate plea for money to help buy tents for people to live in before the harsh winter comes. If the funds don't come in, thousands of people will die. This created a deep sense of urgency and panic in my soul to do whatever I could to raise money for this effort.
One of my attempts to garner support was to email my professors to see if I could pass out the letter he sent me to students prior to class. One of my professors told me that such an action will not be possible, because if we did this every time a student had a worthy cause, there would be no end to such appeals. In some ways I can understand this. He also said that the campus president is deciding the best way for the Campus to aid the problems in Pakistan.
It took everything in me to restrain my anger upon receiving this reply. People will die if the aid doesn't come in. Meanwhile our president sits on his thumbs waiting to decide the best way to help. The earthquakes happened over a month ago. How long does it take to take action? I am going to contact the president about this need, but given his usual deafness, I'm not very hopeful.
I hope this post isn't too much of a knee-jerk reaction. Perhaps I should have taken some time to reflect before writing my thoughts. However, my brother and wife are unavailable to talk right now, so I have to vent somewhere. I guess the hardest part is that all of this comes from a professor that I highly respect and admire.
Here's my question...when a disaster happens outside our country, what does it take for Christians to make it a priority to help? Sure we pray about it (which is important), but don't ask us to sacrifice anything. We'll help out with the problems in America because we are continually reminded of the devastation by the news. But if something happens in another part of the world, forget about it. Oh, we'll say that we are going to help, but we take five months to decide how to help. Then we just let it slip our minds.
I must include that some people have been very great about this need. One of my friends works at a church that is not very affluent, but he was quick to get his congregation behind this effort. One of my professors (who is not American, by the way), was very eager to allow me to pass out the information in class and talk about it.
If I'm being ridiculous, tell me. I'm trying to be balanced about this, but it is so maddening that we are so stingy in such an affluent nation (this coming two days after Trevor taught on not being a slave to anything (specifically Money)). Back to work now, Ryan
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In your face since 2004. We can be friends no matter what Josh says.
5 comments:
I am thankful to be at a church that took up a collection for this the week after it happened (bringing in more financial assistance than the offering for Katrina relief), allowed missionaries from that part of the world to speak to the congregation on Sunday morning (I'm guessing some places would say they wouldn't have time in their program for that), and allowed one of our pastors and his family to leave and go help personally for six weeks (how many churches would pay someone to go work somewhere else?). Just wanted to give one more positive example of a place doing something and not taking an eternity to get it done.
Yeah, I actually had SGC in mind as a great reaction to this situation, but in the midst of writing, I forgot to talk about it. Good pickup.
thanks for caring and trying to help ryan! and your damn right in your anger. actually I think you need to be more angry. NOBODY gives a damn about this, little money is coming, its the FOURTH week after the quake and areas still haven't been found and winter is coming soon and tens or hundreds of thousands of people are going to die. be angry. be angry please. there are reason people haven't supported and other excuses and nonsense but the bottom line is nobody cares enough
Check's in the mail. But it's not much.
I just can't take it when paco is angry. I hope it helps.
2 million people isn't a student's worthy cause, it would be for humanity... blind, blind professors
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