Our society has programmed us to go through life as "channel changers." We watch life like we do our TVs. If i'm sitting there, watching TV, and a troubling show comes on that makes me feel uncomfortable, I just grab the remote. I don't have to watch that... let me find something I like better.
Until we started doing foster care, I thought I had a pretty balanced picture of the world. I knew there were some people out there who were less than wholesome, but I thought I had a good understanding of the way that life worked. I felt like I was a socially just person who cared about the needs of other people.
But then I was brought into this under-current of society by force, and my remote was taken away. All the sudden I was looking at lots of things that made me uncomfortable and, unlike most people, I could not choose to turn my face and walk away. I was hearing horror stories about the children who were now sitting on MY lap. I was wiping away the tears of kids who had, at young ages, faced incredible pain. I was kissing cigarette burns on the faces of MY son.
And as these past 11 years have gone by, my life has been without a remote. Day in and day out I have to face the realities of adults who neglect and abuse children. I have to face a system that is imperfect and watch how sometimes it makes kids lives worse instead of better. And there was no going back.
As with any social issue, we change the channel because we know that if we really understand the issue, we might have to do something about it. My TV is stuck on this one channel now. But there are many other channels I have avoided in the past -- the Aids crisis in Africa, homelessness, world hunger, you name it. As long as I could NOT think about it, I didn't have to do anything.
Is your life stuck on a channel that makes you uncomfortable? I certainly hope so. Because if it is, then that means you are doing something. If you are still flipping through and only watching shows that make you feel good, I challenge you to find a channel and stay there, even if it makes you feel scared and strange, until you decide if it is something you need to change.
Because changing the world requires people who will stop changing channels.
1 comment:
Nicely put Claudia!!! I belive the Lord wants us to also get stuck on a channel and be challenged. That is the main things that helps me get through the rough days, is knowing that the Lord is doing this to help me be a better person, and to know that He is in charge, not me! Barb
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