Weeping With Those Who Weep

So, this was quite a day. I woke up extremely tired and sluggish. I managed to get myself to French, and enjoyed it, but I was unable to concentrate. I was originally going to go to the library after class, but I didn't feel up to it. So I went back to the dorm and sat around. I decided to pick up Good News About Injustice and read the first 10 or so pages. Then I was struck with a brilliant idea. I remembered that my roommate had done an Amnesty International protest about the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, and I remembered that someone had told me that the library has a lot of DVDs. I searched for Invisible Children on the library's site, and sure enough they had it. So I packed up and headed to the library.

It turned out that there's not much privacy when you check something out in the A/V room. There are a few rows of TVs with DVD players, and you just sit at one, plug in some headphones, and watch. So I checked out Invisible Children, headed for a TV, and started the adventure.

I was able to maintain my composure throughout most of the movie. I was moved, shocked, alarmed, incensed, and every other emotion one feels during the movie, but I was nevertheless composed. I could see the reflection of my face in the screen, and it was like a record of my emotion, a constant check to see if I was still alive and breathing in the midst of such horror.

But one scene broke the dam. It is the only scene where a child cries in the entire movie (these children learn quickly that crying can mean certain death). When this boy cried for his dead brother, the torrent of emotion that he had stored up in his short life was released, and with it came the emotion that I had stored up during the film. This crying was too deep, too wise for a 9 yr. old. This was the mourning of a soul who had witnessed more atrocities than you or I can imagine. These were the tears of a boy who had too quickly become a man in the midst of oppression. And with him I broke down at the injustice of this cruelty.

So there I sat, in the middle of the second floor of the Hesburgh library, with two people just across the aisle, sobbing. I quickly tried to temporarily regain my composure for just long enough to finish and return the movie. Than I ran down the stairs, out the door, and into the grass. I sat against a tree and wept for those children. It was like being born again into a world that I so quickly forget in my American lifestyle.

I always must thank God for these gifts of compassion that crop up sometimes. My heart is so hard and cold more often than I would like to admit.

Then I called Gerald to tell him all of this. It was a good conversation.

This summer has caused me to appreciate my friends more than I have thus far in my life. The lack of deep Christian fellowship I have up here leaves me thirsty, and I realize how satisfying spending time in conversation with my brothers and sisters really is.

After I hung up with Gerald, I went back to the library and did some reading and French. By the end of the day, I had gotten through almost 110 pages of Good News About Injustice. It is affirming and systematizing so many things I have thought or felt or witnessed in the past academic year. Water in the desert.

The other thing I like about Haugen's book is that when we look at corruption, child prostitution, child labor, or any other human rights violation, we're forced to look into God's justice and compassion. This is so helpful when trying to wrestle with whether God is for you, whether He really cares about the suffering that we experience.

So it was quite a day. Then I was on my way back from the library tonight (around 9:45), I saw fireflies for the first time in my life. They are quite interesting creatures, and yet another example of God's genius.

Ideas for the next year:
• Casablanca House Party for Invisible Children. Four condos playing Invisible Children in one evening; massive amounts of people, and hopefully baked goods. Brainstorming on how to get involved.
• Trying to convince some people to start a chapter of International Justice Mission at UF. It would be a great way to connect people from so many fields - from the College of Journalism to the Levin College of Law.
• Taking place in the Loose Change to Loosen Chains IJM campaign.
• Launching Christian Service Network.

Peace, friends.

Sam