Thursday, August 5, 2010

you guys care. tell me why.

Hey friends, I need your thoughtful thoughts.

I have a meeting with one of the senior vice presidents of World Vision tomorrow. I set up an "informational interview" with her after she came and talked to us interns about how God has put her where she is, her thoughts on leadership, etc. And guys, I was INSPIRED by her (more to come on those thoughts later).

But one of the things she said towards the end of the meeting was that she wants to set up a focus group with us because she wants to hear from our generation. She says that our generation, more than any other, cares about the poor. We're not willing to just sit on the sidelines and watch change happen, we want to be in the middle of it. She said that we're like the people in the 60s, but without the violence. haha.

So she wants to hear from us. She wants to know what draws us in. Why do we care? What experiences have we had that lead us to be passionate about social justice, to be passionate about serving the poor?

So, fellow passionate friends. What was it? Why do you care? Was it a movie, a pastor, a story? What melted your heart and lit the fire? What can service organizations do to get young people more involved?

My meeting is tomorrow at 10:30. And I would LOVE it if some of you would take a couple minutes to tell me your thoughts. 'Cause I know you have them... that's why you're my friends :)

6 comments:

  1. learning...being informed...realizing that there was more to life than shoes and shopping. Others too...others who were inspired coupled with being informed...that is what made me think, and melted my heart.

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  2. I care because you care. Seriously. I care about issues that I never paid attention to before because the people that I respect and want to be like care about those things. I see what you have and I want it, I see what you are and I want to be that. I see Jesus in you and I want Jesus in me, too.

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  3. i care because i realize that i have such a privileged life while others don't. i care because i am starting to become so aware of others, not just myself. i think "why should i just sit here when i can do something for this world, even if it is nothing in comparison to other things. i am capable, now put that capability to good use." i want to look at the big picture and not just zoom in on me. i want to make a difference. and i have to look at things through Jesus's eyes and how much he loved and cared. that same care is demanded of me. so how can i do anything less than what my Savior calls me to do?

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  4. In my pre-Christian days I cared because it seemed like the thing to do... ? Yeah, it was how I was raised. I grew up among poor American people (I grew up as a poor American), but they was always someone less fortunate and the mantra of my house was "Just because something is different doesn't make it wrong" and it's corollary cousin, "Just because someone is different doesn't make them bad." So I cared about the poor as a subset of my fight against discrimination.

    Now that I'm a Christian, I care for deeper reasons. I care because I know understand the significance of each human person, I know now what human dignity really means. I think what helped me see that was sort of a slow education in the Gospel and people willing to explain the implications for life in the world but not of it. Donn Leatherman is a great example of one such person. I took his class "Kingdom of God and Kingdoms of the World" and he deconstructed the myths of violence and materialism... It sort of cemented everything and gave me a direction. He introduced me to authors like Ron Sider.

    Couple that slow education with exposure to other justice-minded Christians, more thinking about it in my Seminary studies, and an existential issue of "What am I doing that actually matters?" and you have an idea of why I care.

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  5. tara beck- i've come to your blog a couple of times today...trying to think about why i care. so now, that it's a bloody early hour on friday morning, here ya go. and i think the question is a good one to think about, so thanks for asking it.

    i tried to give an IM shot to a baby in Africa, and there was only a thread of a muscle in his leg, and it was impossible to hit, the vitamin injection instead flooded under his loose skin and i felt it cold as my fingers braced his little leg. he died of malnutrition and it's complications just a day later. and after saying 'what the hell!' alot of times, i love rob bells suggestion, that in the presence of suffering, we can ask why? why? why? and that's ok to ask, but then, eventually, we start asking, "what now?" what do we do in the midst of this suffering. and if you haven't read drops like stars...read it, there are some really awesome suggestions. we start caring after we've become angered....after we see something that angers us.

    i think i care because of experiences...which our generation i believe has more of. and i think that knowledge and being informed as jessi was saying...does it too. like trafficking, i've never talked to a girl whose been trafficked, but i've heard the stories and read your paper tara...and i care.

    but the less i get out there, and see what's really going on, the more i settle into a very protected bubble where i don't have to care. i feel it happening. i really do.

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  6. I hope that your meeting went well, Tara. I'm glad that all of you folks know why you care and that you do care. I feel like the only main thing I can relate to in all of these comments is the last paragraph of Emily's. And I'd have to add that I feel like when I care it's primarily because deep down inside I want to be accepted by people like you. If I didn't gain any reward, or if I was killed for serving others, I'm not sure that I'd ever "care." But maybe?? Hopefully. Anyway, I'll look forward to seeing how it went and want you learned.

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