Us.

A few weeks ago, several of us gathered in one of the living rooms in our dorm and watched Hotel Rwanda. (Add to the list of great movies to watch in Africa...) I'd seen the movie when it came out, but that was a while ago and I knew very little about Africa in general at that time. The thing that really got to us that night was the scene in which all the foreign nationals are evacuated. You see them all being loaded onto buses, and when they leave, it's like the Rwandans are being abandoned, like the world has said, "This is too much for the rest of us. You guys have to deal with this on your own," in a situation the Rwandans are not equipped to handle without outside help. That got to us because we knew that if something suddenly happened in Ghana, that would be us. That the US government would do all it could to get us out of there, and we'd be whisked away leaving the friends we had made, the people we had come to love. We were quite conflicted about this--on one hand, there wouldn't be anything we could really DO about the situation, staying there. On the other hand, how could we abandon the people who had so graciously brought us into their lives and culture and created homes away from home for us?

Now, I'm sitting in Virginia keeping up with the situation in Cote d'Ivoire. When I checked articles this morning, the UN estimated around 50 people had died. I checked again just now, and the death count is up to at least 173, with the situation getting worse and worse. Hospitals have reported that they've been ordered not to treat people who come with injuries received in political protests. Since all the borders have been closed for several weeks now, food supplies are growing scarce and overpriced. Possible ethnic group tensions are rising. The country is about 2 inches away from returning to civil war. I'm sitting here in the comfort of my childhood bed in Virginia looking at news reports quite helplessly.

What is there to be done?

It's very easy to give up in what we're doing. It'd be very easy for me to say, "What place does theater have in a world that's hurting so desperately?" It'd be easy to say that about any of our careers. Why aren't we giving everything up to join the efforts of some NGO working to do something about these major problems the world faces? It would help us feel like we're doing something, at least.

What we must remember, though, is that there are many ways to make a difference in the world. Cheesy? Sure, but relevant and important. There are many forms of ministry, there are many forms of peacemaking, and we should never fall into the trap of thinking that there's nothing we can do from where we are. Sure, there might be situations that are completely out of our hands. But we can work towards those larger goals of peace, equality, justice, from wherever we are and in whatever we do.

The world is globalizing rapidly. Newspapers, photography, television, the internet, Facebook, Twitter. The world, as a whole, is becoming more and more accessible. We're exposed to more and more different cultures all the time, which is thrilling and absolutely enriching and also means that we could go through culture shock while sitting in our own living rooms. It is going to be VITALLY important for upcoming generations to have a global awareness, and to be able to communicate cross-culturally. To communicate cross-culturally, you must have respect for others, a curiousity that will allow you to wonder "why?" when you encounter something you consider strange. You must be able to suspend judgment until that "why?" is answered. And to foster peace and justice, you must care for these others. You must love people you may not understand. Which can be rather difficult, but is the most important endeavor you can possibly undertake.

Because yes, there are things to be done in the immediate. There is work to be done, so much work. There is aid and relief that needs to happen for these wounds the world is suffering from. But the only way we can look towards lasting change and healing is to work to change people's attitudes. To help each other learn how to live together, how to function with each other. How, ultimately, to love each other.

And that work is largely accomplished not by WHAT we do, but HOW we do it. How travel through life. How we regard each person we come across. All of us, in all of our lines of work, be it theater or music or ministry or teaching or business or waiting tables, all of us can treat others with genuine respect, curiosity, care, and love. That is apparent in our actions, and there are hundreds of opportunities for us each day to lead by this example. Make a connection with someone. Anyone. Everyone. Briefly. You don't have to learn their whole life story, but treat the cashier at Walgreens like they're a person, not a machine, the next time you're there. This sounds so basic and maybe even trivial, but until we start treating people like PEOPLE in our everyday lives, how can we expect a move towards humanity across the world? How else do you think it starts?

Hilarion once came from Palestine to Antony on the mountain: and Antony said, 'Welcome, morning star, for you rise at break of day.' Hilarion said, 'Peace be unto you, pillar of light, for you sustain the world.'

--The Desert Fathers

The very essential quality of all really great men is their intense humanity.

--The Art Spirit

We have the ability to set intentions for our actions. We can decide, "I want to get this this and that done today," but we can also say, "I want to get this this and that done today, and I want to bless everyone I interact with while doing it." We have that power, but it's not activated until we ourselves make that choice. The choice to change our work from accomplishment of goals (put up a production of a play, preach a sermon, file TPS reports, cook fish) to positively affecting the lives of others. Why do you do what you do? I cannot think of a single thing that can't be used to teach yourself and others how to love. And what else is there in life? Life isn't some race to see who can get the most money and own the most land and the most cars. The world seems to tell us it is, but when you have it all, what's left for you? I am a solid introvert (Ghana proved that) with far more social anxiety than I'd like to admit, but even I can still see that cultivating relationships with people is really a lot more fulfilling than objects. It's more fun. And it's free! (mostly.) You CAN live life not caring, I suppose. But why would you want to? Because if you care you might get hurt? Not feeling anything is far worse than feeling hurt.

There is work to be done in the immediate, patching up situations as they arrive. Absolutely. But we must, wherever we are, in whatever we do, work to strike at the root of the problem. And grace is that that work can be done in each breath we take.