An Ode to Leaving the Country

Into foreign lands, I walk through foreign parts
Holding foreign hands and hearing foreign hearts
My mind and soul expand in fits and trips and starts

The journey's just begun

I sit here wondering at just what I will know
Once I'm through blundering through this, life's great show
Will I cry or sing? I might fall, but I will grow

The journey's just begun

To be continued when my eyes will remain open without third party involvement.

A Lesson in Speechlessness

So, what are you doing with your life?

The dreaded question, levelled at shaking twentysomethings with cruel frequency. I knew last year that I didn't know. Didn't know the answer, that is. But you can't not have an answer - it's like admitting to living at your parent's house... which I also do.

Anyway, before this past year I have always had the answer. Basically it was school, and the assumed subsequencies of a good job in the field of my major, and so on. But that changed with a rapidity that left me standing dizzied before a world that was larger, needier, and more important than I had supposed.

And then the question.

Oh, how badly I wanted to give a "right" answer! Not because I thought it important, but because expectations weigh so much, and are so hard to shed when not fulfilled - especially when they are the expectations of an entire culture.

I knew then, not only that I didn't know the answer, but that I needed to not know the answer, at least for a time. My tendency to let my scholastic and occupational pursuits represent me was wrong. If I didn't have the answer, the person asking would have to encounter a portion of me that is truer than the name of a university or job title. Perhaps more importantly I would have to probe myself deeper, not satisfying myself with quickly dropping a name and letting that suffice for self image.

And so I stopped. The race continued but I sat down and watched it pass, as it still passes. As it turns out they were all running a little crooked, and I with them. My pat answers only identified me with the masses, making me safe and comprehensible and ostensibly forgettable to all who would ask. Not having that answer frightens people. There is too much opportunity, too much hope and fear for most to handle. Too much for me, at times. But having sat by the side of the road and watched all those runners run to they know not where, I think I have seen, am beginning to to see, the straight path. If I must walk it alone, I will.

In the meantime, you may ask all you like, but be warned, you may not like the answer.

Is America a Violent Neighbor?

Paul Farmer calls it 'Structural Violence,' and he's a lot smarter than me, so it was hard for me to argue at first. Farmer, subject of the superb book Mountains Beyond Mountains, wrote, among other books, a volume called Pathologies of Power. I started reading it a little while ago and, though not yet halfway through, felt rather compelled to write about it.

Farmer is a physician to the poor, and a humblingly talented one. He works in some of the poorest countries in the world, which he points out are also some of the sickest, and in this book he attempts to link these two circumstances in more than the usual 'it's sure too bad they can't afford penicillin' sort of way.

This structural violence that Farmer speaks of is the aggregate effect of the policies of the rich upon the poor. So far he has mentioned things like trade embargos, blockage of aid funds, and immigration policies. He goes on to note the great sufferings of the poor that might have been averted by the reverse of such policies.

Most of the charges are leveled at America, and although that is really just a circumstantially quirk of the book, I'll say that it qualifies this subject for posting on this blog.

As you can imagine, a staunch trade embargo or a stringent immigration policy do not help those people who are trying to pull themselves from the mixed mire of poverty and disease, but the question at hand is, Do they really hurt them?

Farmer's use of the term violence asserts a causal connection between such policies and the condition of the poor. The term brings up images of gunshots and knock-out punches - proactively damaging acts. Is such direct causality the case here?

Let me, for the sake of brevity, pose a question that helps to clarify the case.

You have a liter of water and a man nearby is on the verge of death by dehydration. By denying him that water are you exercising violence against him? Is his ensuing pain and death caused by your denial?

I think, perhaps no. I want to say yes.

Cases of Sadness

Soon after the hurricane I met a man who makes a living by trading stocks from his home computer. As a business major I was curious. He was on his way out, so I shot him a quick question - What's hot right now?

His answer was only logical, but the delivery seemed off. 'Lumber,' he said with a wry smile, 'They're gonna have to rebuild all those cities.' He was a bit giddy. Only later did I have time to reflect on that quick comment, and be sick.

****

A man recently came into my store looking for water purification tablets to take on a recreational backpacking trip. We were out. The Red Cross had swepped through only the day before and bought our entire stock for the hurricane relief effort.

Checking out, he complained to me, 'Yeah, the Red Cross bought them all, forgot about the rest of the world.' I was stumped for a moment. Would he really begrudge clean water to the victims of the hurricane and the volunteers helping them?

Anything but sympathetic I hinted to him, 'I guess some people need them more than others.' Surely that would snap him back to reality. Then again...

'I guess everyone who buys them needs them,' he shot back before grumbling to his wife that they would have to visit another store.

****

I was talking to a good friend of mine about the political reaction to the hurricane. I was a bit baffled by the tirade that the Mayor of New Orleans unleashed so soon after the storm passed. Surely the combination of responsibility and impotence that he faced could lead to an emotional outburst, but from perspectives of leadership, nationalism, politics it seemed quite foolish.

My friend, a poli-sci major, was quick to point out that this mayor's particular constituent repsonded with great solidarity to the mayor's message. They were behind him. If he has ambitions of governor or congressman our friend the mayor may be out of luck, but if he wants to be elected mayor again he may have just played his ace.

I don't know if all of this was going through the mayor's mind as he cussed his way into the media wheelhouse, but it was a point worth considering. Especially when his major theses were echoed, if more articulately, by political figures throughout the nation, most recently and perhaps notably by Ms. Clinton herself. She's asking for an 'independent inquiry.'

This disaster is being spun, politicized, used for personal gain. I truly believe that those political players who are engaging America in debates about racism and unpreparedness would better serve the people by standing at a Red Cross station and hand out meals until all the refugees are fed. Then get on with your debate.

****

I hope that these instances represent the minority in America. I want to believe that most of my fellow countrymen look with compassion and sympathy upon the Gulf right now, and that they will act accordingly.

Surviving Katrina, pt. 2

The question now is and must be 'What do we do from here?'

Just hours after the storm accusations were being unfurled of negligence, incompetence, racism. The mayor of New Orleans spent his time berating the federal government and news programs set up debates amongst experts as to the truth of these ugly charges. But this is not the time for such things.

People are still trapped and dying in New Orleans and other hurricane swept cities. Refugees still do not have enough food, clean water, shelter, medical care. Whether or not racism contributed to such a state - or government negligence, or Bush's lack of leadership - the catastrophe still remains to be dealt with. These questions are important and can be addressed soon, but for now we must keep focussed on the disaster at hand.

Now is the time for active compassion, persistent solidarity - put shortly, now is the time for work. Talk must wait.

To that end I will post here, and hopefully add to later, a list of ways that you can help the people of those affected areas. And by all means, if you have further ideas share them here.

PRAY - God is sovereign and this hurricane is well known to Him - as are the pains and needs of each person affected. If we want what is best for them, it's best to ask the One in control. Here are some topics to consider for prayer:

• Ask God to have mercy on the sick and injured.
• Pray for God's grace - His loving generosity - to burst forth from the church in America, and that by such a showing many will see the truth of the Gospel.
• Ask that God provides all that is needed for effective relief of affected people.
• Pray that God's reputation in America is made better, more true, by the hurricane and the relief.

DONATE - This relief effort is going to take a lot of money. If you remember the totals from the tsunami in Southeast Asia then you understand what a town can cost, and those towns consisted largely of huts and trees. We're talking New Orleans, here. Moreover, for the next few weeks, perhaps months, there will be great need for the necessities of life - food, water, medical care - and these for thousands upon thousands of people. Again, it will cost money. Below is a list of reputable organizations through whom you can donate to the relief effort.

• Red Cross - providing various emergency assistance
• Salvation Army - distributing food, water, and clean-up kits
• World Vision - distributing emergency supplies to displaced families
• Food for the Hungry - distributing aid packages
• Habitat for Humanity - will be rebuilding homes when the time comes
• Children's Hunger Fund - Works through the local church in relief efforts
• Church World Service - short-term assistance and long-term planning
• America's Second Harvest - Dispensing food to victims of the hurricane
• Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund - working with state governments in relief efforts

VOLUNTEER - The injured must be pulled from the rubble by human arms, care packages must be distributed by human hands, the grief stricken will be held in human arms, cleanup and rebuilding will be done with human hands. It's going to take a lot of hands. Below is a list of organizations through which you can volunteer your time with the relief effort.

• Salvation Army - Use this link to find your local Salvation Army and ask them about volunteering.
• Red Cross - Follow this link to find your local chapter. They are providing training and sending volunteers immediately.
• Habitat for Humanity - Sign up now, and when Habitat needs you they'll let you know.
• Freedom Corps - Visit this site in the coming months to find volunteer opportunities
• Volunteers of America - Find a volunteer opportunity near you.
• NVOAD - For more options, check this list of volunteer organizations throughout America.

HELP IN YOUR WAY - What I mean by this is examine your resources, your talents, your affiliations and create ways to help. Example: I work at REI, a store known for travel and adventure. They are giving a 10% discount to those government employees who are affiliated with the relief effort and need to buy travel and adventure gear. It's not much, but it helps in some small way. If you are a business owner or manager, consider a similar discount, or donating goods or services, working with contacts in other businesses to organize a clothing drive or fund raiser. If you attend a church act as an advocate for the relief effort amongst your fellow churchgoers. There is much help needed. Do anything that you can.

Surviving Katrina

This past week the title of my blog took on new significance. Katrina came and left and, just like a woman, revealed the vulnerabilities of mankind.

But this time it's not Bombay or Namibia. They were not the spartan shacks of the third world that were washed away. The bodies are now those of democrats and republicans, deceased residents of a city with an NFL team. That's NATIONAL Football League. Our nation.

My mind drags in processing Katrina and her wake. I suppose it's shock. Though I have recently been working to detach myself from the Ameri-centric mindset this country is still my birthplace and home, and so holds assumptions of safety and security. The whole affair has a Hollywood, network movie quality to it - as it will be remembered, no doubt, a couple years hence.

But it's real. People hurt. Pray for them.

More to come.