Hate cannot drive out Hate; only Love can do that. -Dr. King

This week, I have come face to face with one of the biggest challenges of parenting a thoughtful and observant child. Addressing the reality that is the spectrum of human possibility - the lengths to which hatred will go to snuff out the power of love.

Sophia came home from school on Thursday with a booklet about Martin Luther King, Jr. I asked if she had any questions about him. She responded, "No. I already know that the guy shot him." So I knew we were in for a talk. She's not one just to take in that kind of information and move on.

I won't share too many of the details of our conversation. It's too intimate a topic for general revelation.

I will tell you that we extensively covered the topics of hatred, fear, love and forgiveness.

It was quite possibly the hardest conversation that we have had to date. Sophia's world is safe and comfortable. She has never seen anyone as different, even though I'm sure others are aware of their own differences.

Sophia didn't know how much people could hate. Until I told her.

Having to tell my beautiful, innocent and loving child about the fear and hatred that exists in the world was terrible. I didn't want her to understand. I didn't want her to realize fully what humans are capable of doing to one another. I was grateful that I got to tell her about the love that people like Dr. King, Nelson Mandela, Jesus and Gandhi showed to others, even to those who showed them nothing but cruelty and hatred. I got to tell her about the encompassing forgiveness that each of them embodied during their lifetimes. We talked about how love is stronger than hatred. We talked about how we can show others that we love them and help to make the world a safer place, not only for us but for those who live in fear.

As we talked, I woke up.

It's easy to become complacent. To forget where we have been as a people, and where we continue to struggle. As adults, as people who have seen and heard way too much, it's far too easy to hear about atrocities and pains, small and great, with a mental shrug of the shoulders. We might shake our heads, but are we doing it to express sadness or just to clear the image from our minds?

If you choose to look our world in the face, don't forget what Dr. King told us. "Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness."

I want to be a part of creating a world that is closer to the one that Sophia thought we lived in. Closer to the one that Sophia lives in. I want to be worthy of the trust that she puts in me - she puts it in you, too, I guarantee.

 “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” MLK, Jr

Reminder in the Drive Thru

I had a very thought provoking and hopeful experience this morning. I got home and couldn't wait to share it with everyone. Let me know if you have any specific thoughts stirred by this exchange.

As this is my (self-imposed) last day of dietary freedom, I got out to get McDonald's breakfast, in spite of the slick conditions. It wasn't heavy snow or ice, mind you, just the fact that no road crews had been out and about. Anyway, as I was rounding the intersection, just before McDonald's, an SUV cut me off, just to pull into the same McDonald's entrance a car-length ahead of us. Grrr. Now, there may be some mornings that I would respond with a honk or a shaking fist (or finger), but this morning, all my seething was on the inside. I just thought to myself, "I really hope this bonehead gets his all-important breakfast" and such. I had all but forgotten about the incident until he spent a while at the pay window. Then, much to my current embarrassment, I wondered if he couldn't count or if he was telling them to spit in my food.

Imagine my surprise when I got to the window to find that he had paid for my breakfast. Honestly, I choked up. Just a simple wave out the window was the only acknowledgment he gave and the only thanks I was permitted to offer. But what happened in the drive thru will stay with me. To me, it was a great reminder of the fact that each of us in our separate worlds, which occasionally collide (hopefully not literally), are equally important and equally human. Who am I to assume knowledge of another person's state of mind? The mistakes that we make with strangers, while driving, shopping, eating out, just make us more alike. I'm constantly making mistakes. I do not make up for them for strangers the way this gentleman did.

I'll be looking for a chance to pay it forward. But I feel like what I got from him was more than breakfast. It was a new lease on seeing strangers as friends instead of enemies. That's a great way to start out a new decade. Thanks, guy.

Something of Importance

One thing that I love to do with my spare time is help out an organization called Invest, Inc. Bethany and Nick are the operators of this organization. Bethany is an alum of MU, and Nick is a native of Malawi. Essentially, what they do is practically equip and educate villagers in Malawi, specifically widows and orphans of AIDS victims, in order to provide them with the resources and capacity to provide for their own daily needs. They also sponsor somewhere around 60 orphans between two villages, providing them with daily meals (they may otherwise do without) through the feeding program. This is just the briefest description of their ministry. It is much more deep and detailed than that, but go to the website for more information, or feel free to ask me! I'd love to talk more about it.

The reason I am writing about this now is simple. There is a need. I am honored to put together their monthly newsletter from information given to me by Bethany and by their Malawi Director. This month's update was disturbing. Only two of the thirty plus children from their second village have been sponsored. Because of this and other shortages, they have been forced to bring those children to the first village and combine feeding programs into one. I can only imagine the challenges presented by this given the lack of transportation and the need for these children by their mothers, and a score of other difficulties.

What better place to talk about this than on this blog. I don't expect everyone to decide this is as important to you as it is to me, but if it stirs anyone to action, I will count it as a victory. Please give it a moment's thought. I know that times aren't the best. Gas is expensive. You already give generously. I'm just saying. Give it a minute and take a look.

A War for our Generation

I don't make too many social or political statements on this blog. That is largely because my social and political ideals are being wrapped up in an 18-month-old at the moment. This social statement is one that I am working very hard on heeding myself. This video was posted on Greg Boyd's blog and it got to me as they always do. What more can I say about it? How much is enough? To whom should we offer more of our precious resources? You know what, there is someone closer than you think who is living in poverty. That is the sad fact. Find them. Help eliminate poverty in their life.

All we can do is enough.