reality and substitute it with my own!” – Myth Busters
Ok… kind of ridiculous to be quoting Myth Busters, but I
really like this quote. Actually,
Stephanie gave it to me because she says it perfectly describes my mindset
towards life. I can’t argue. I’m not a fan of “reality” and instead I’m
choosing to live life for all that I believe it to be worth. This means swimming against the current… and
praying I don’t drown in the process!
What I’m trying to say is that every morning I wake up and
become more and more frustrated with the world, with life, and with this
“reality” that we have created. The
reality where people live life based on their own selfish desires, a reality
where ignorance thrives in an age of education and globalization, a reality
where innocence is stolen and abused, where people talk big but are too scared
to take the first step forward. A reality where the world turns its back while
millions of people starve, are mass murdered, where children are kidnapped and
brutally rapped into submission, where children are used as soldiers because
men are too scared to fight for themselves. It’s a reality where we live our
comfortable lives and convince ourselves that it is not our problem. We have our own problems, our own worries,
and we can’t make a difference anyway.
I’m not trying to offend anyone, but it’s true. I see it in myself constantly. Every day I daydream about what it will be
like to go home, to live my comfortable life again, to get married, have my own
children, get a nice little house, my own car and everything else that goes
with the American dream. The problem is
that I walk into the AIDS orphanage each morning and the real reality, which we
choose to ignore for comfort, is staring me in the face. These little faces are
starving for attention, and will never have the opportunity to go home. Even worse is the reality that they will
never get to dream about their future spouse, children, or life. Their only reality is survival. What will they do when they are too old to
live at the orphanage? How will they
afford the medicine they need to prolong the HIV from turning into AIDS? What age will they live to? Will they have enough money to die in
comfort? Will they ever be given an
opportunity to truly live? The heartbreaking thing for me is that these
children are an insignificant number when you think about the 150 million other
orphans around the world.
The current is strong and the battle upstream feels hopeless
at times. How can I mobilize change? Is
it possible? How do you get people to
wake up and realize the evil that they are ignoring and indulging in? Even as I write this, I’m looking around this
small café and I see western men selfishly entertaining themselves with their
purchase for the night or weekend. These
men have created a selfish reality of indulgence for themselves and there is
nothing I can do! I want to hurt them as much as they are hurting these young
women. They come here dressed in their
business suits, wedding bands still on, acting like kings, yet sleeping with
prostitutes. Is this what reality is? Do
we just ignore it? I don’t care what they seem to think. The real reality is that these women are not
here by choice! Do they realize that these
women are in bondage and they are the ones slowly killing them?
It just feels so hopeless. The world is spinning and sometimes I feel like I’m stuck in one place
screaming for someone else to wake up and see life for what it truly is! So what can we do about this…what can I do
about this? I know I need to keep
swimming against the current, no matter how difficult it gets, no matter how
many times I get pulled under. The reality that the world feeds us only brings
death, but the reality of God brings life! I need to substitute the “reality” the world
has given me with my own reality…the reality where you find the heart of God
breaking!
