It's been a rather interesting few weeks. My car-a brilliant little blue Subaru Forrester named Jacks–broke down in Las Vegas on the way home from Spring Break. Her water pump, timing belt and clutch went out in a gasp of smoke and wheeze of burnt rubber. What resulted was two weeks of a very car-less Heather attempting to figure out the Greeley bus system again plus plan a rescue trip to get Jacks back. Needless to say, it's been really difficult, and it isn't really because I was without my car. I'd gone through the first three years of college without one, even learned to circumnavigate the capital of Scotland on their public transportation system. I could do this. Right?
I did make it and after a pretty epic rescue mission–highlights include waking up at 4am to make a 7am flight out of DIA, Arches National Park / Moab, and getting stuck on the western side of Vail Pass because of Colorado's bipolar April weather–Jacks is home safely. She's parked in her usual parking spot, full of gas and in desperate need of a wash. Meanwhile, I'm sitting inside waiting for my hair to dry after a fantastic shower, drinking great Costa Rican coffee and blogging on my MacBook.
Is it weird that I'm bothered by any and all of these facts?
My biggest issue in the last few weeks has been that I have to walk less than a mile at 8:35am to take a bus to my first class which starts at 9:00am. A report from the TOMS shoe company says that in some places, kids who don't have shoes can't go to school at all, and that there are MILLIONS of kids who can't afford them. I'm drinking my coffee with milk instead of creamer today, but the organization Bread for the World says that 16,000 kids die every day from hunger. I'm getting paid $8.50 an hour and complain that it's not enough to pay to support my lifestyle while the World Bank estimates that 316 million people in Eastern Asia alone live on $1.25 a day or less.
I pay more for my LAUNDRY than that.
To top it all off, 300 people a night are trafficked less than two hours from my home, at the I-25/I-70 juncture. While some little girl is being abused by a pedophile, I'm wondering if I remembered to take my multivitamin, which shoes I'm wearing with what dress, and if I have time to go grocery shopping, do homework and write support letters all at once.
How is any of this ok? Why was I chosen to be well-fed, not hungry, living in plenty and not in want? There must be so many more deserving people than me.
I'm struggling with my own selfishness in writing this. I'm angry that I didn't see it like this until now, that I only got angry about these injustices now. I have been so willingly complacent because it's easier to be passionate on paper than to look "the least of these" in the eye and recognize their needs.
I don't want to forget them anymore.
"I, the LORD, have called you into righteousness. I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for all of the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness." -Isaiah 42:6-7
