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Showing posts from March, 2012

Unshelving Hope

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Over the past week or so, I have been watching the Kony 2012 Saga unfold. At the onset of everything, when the Invisible Children organization posted up the Kony 2012 video on YouTube, I was intrigued. I heard the filmmakers talk about the atrocities in Central Africa and how it came to be that they would choose to make such a brilliant piece of propaganda -- a last ditch hope to do bring about change and hope and something that all their previous work was not able to accomplish. I caught their vision of making Kony a household name to be reviled -- and hopefully that awareness that would bring about the change they so desperately wanted for the people of those afflicted African countries. The radical idea "that where you live shouldn't determine  whether  you live." I raised my fist in solidarity. After all, I too have been affected by the stories of loved ones (namely my father) who have traveled to that part of the world and have witnessed the devasta

Using My Bucket

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My heart was ripped out, crushed, and cut by a thousand blades on Thursday night. What started out as a little screen time after putting the kids to bed became a cry fest of epic proportions -- leaving me hollowed out and stuffed up in my sinuses from all the tears and emotions. I watched the program, "20/20". I have our DVR set to record this weekly show, and I had watched about 1/3 of the program a few days earlier -- which was entitled, My Extreme Affliction , focusing on physical issues that have extreme consequences who have them. However, it was the remaining 1/3 of the program that I sat down and watched on Thursday night that gripped my heart so tightly. The episode travels to Tanzania, Africa (a country near and dear to my heart) to one of the largest populations of Albinos in the entire world. Not only do these people have to deal with the very real issues of their genetics, but they are literally in danger of their very life and limbs. You can wa