OCCUPIED

So I walked around Boston today getting some footage for a video project I am working on.  Part of my afternoon was spent walking along the Greenway which curves around the length of where the rt93 tunnel. I saw a large group at the end of the greenway, I decided to check it out. Turns out it was forty or fifty tents and a couple hundred people all part of Occupy Boston. The Occupy America movement is a fascinating sociological event with a branch in our backyard. People (mostly students) staying in tents, with signs for various political, socioeconomic and other issues, and regardless of Republican or Democrat everyone seemed to be getting along. I took in a group meeting to discuss the greatness of Marxist philosophy, there was a veterans for peace tent, I saw a tent where clothing was being given away, they even have a library. Folk music was being played for everyone's enjoyment and it was actually pretty good.

As I walked through the encampment I got the sense that this was a place for the free exchange of ideas and life philosophy (well, I did not see any representatives from corporate America there). I am pretty sure that there was even a small group freely sharing some ganja; they seemed really happy.

This gathering of people in Dewey Square and the hundreds of people who show up for the scheduled General Assemblies tells me a few things about people in general and Boston in particular. First, there is an undercurrent in Boston (and probably every city in America for that matter) of discontentment with "the system". The system is the conglomeration of impersonal regulations, guidelines, parameters, etc. that seem to be arbitrarily superimposed on society and dictate how a person should live their life and spend their money if they are going to be successful. Discontentment has spurred Americans on to technological innovation for generations, it has spurred community organizers on to bring change to their neighborhoods, it has even spurred corporate executives to make shady deals behind closed doors. People from all walks of life experience some degree of discontentment. We all wrestle with a lack of contentment at some point. Discontentment must simmer for a while before it motivates us to try and bring change to something. What is your simmering discontentment?

The second is that people are desperate to be heard, young and old. Everyone has an opinion, but a cause like "Occupy America" gives people a chance to put a megaphone to their ideals and opinions and be heard much more so than if they stood alone. The need to be heard is what many people from North African nations are fighting for right now. When you are heard you are validated; your station in life has legitimacy. All people long for validation, they long to be heard. People want to be heard. Who listens to you??

Third, I discovered that not everyone there was there for the stated purposes of the movement. Some where there because their friends were there and they wanted to support their friends. Some were there because it is where the attention is and they simply want to be a part; they want to belong. Everyone wants to be part of something big, a cause to fight for. It gives us a sense of identity. In some places in the world the cause is your family; you stand for your family and they give you identity. Here in America it is often your ideals. Your ideals give you something to fight for and give you an identity. When you don't have either of these you long for them, you look for them in anything. Many a high school student and college student has gone through this "looking to belong" stage. From what do you derive your sense of identity??? Is it enough? Are you fulfilled?

In some ways these are the longings of every person who has ever drawn breath on planet earth; they make us human. Being discontent, the desire to be heard, and our sense of identity will shape us and define us. We will be healthy people depending on what our source is for these three aspects of our soul. You may be looking for money, or love. You may be motivated by greed or loneliness. The longings of your soul says something about who you are. How you fulfill those longings says something about who you are willing to be and who you are becoming.

Just a Meandering Thought...

BRICKS

So I went to a pretty remote village. Most of the structures there were straw and/or mud; there were a few that were brick. This again was a village of people who are considered to be outside of the caste system, or Dalits, also known as "untouchables". There were just a couple of structures that had electricity. The government provides bricks to these people to help them build homes that will last through the monsoon season. It is part of the the government's initiative to help these people.

A partially used stack of bricks sits in a vacant area of the village waiting to be used up by the people there building homes.

According to Orthodox Hinduism. These people are not considered Hindu's because they are outside of the caste system. They are below the lowest caste. They cannot participate in any temple worship, or make any offerings to any gods, or even go into a Hindu Temple. Christianity comes along teaching things like '...there is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile...' etc... and it appeals to people like the Dalits who have nothing and live at such a low station in life.

This one room building is the village church. There are bricks on the ground just to the left of the door; these bricks will be used to build a small room on the side for the children.

In this village of about 300 people there is a small temple or shrine made of mud. Inside is the village deity. This is how just about all rural villages in India are; each one has its own shrine to its own deified spirit in addition to the more well known gods like Shiva. Christianity came to the village just a few years ago for the first time, and the people seemed to gravitate towards the teachings of the Bible, and the person of Jesus. When it came time to build a structure as a place for the Christians to gather, they decided to build it with bricks. It was a statement, Jesus is here to stay.

Two children are playing with the dishes we ate off of for lunch. Though it does look like they are arguing right??...

It is an interesting phenomena is the Indian ID card. On the ID card is place where you delcare what religion you are. Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim or even Sikh, even though that is a sect of Hinduism. The Dalits, as Hindus, get government grants for many things. They can go to school on the government dime, they receive bricks to build homes, they often simply get checks from the Indian government so they can live (India's version of Social Security.) They do what they can to keep people Hindu in order to preserve their ancient heritage and culture.

I am standing outside one of the straw homes in the village. Inside was a sick elderly couple and their grandson. He was taking a break from the mid day heat before going back into the fields to work.

That is of course, as long as the ID card says Hindu, (or Sikh or Buddhist, since Buddhism started in India). If a Dalit becomes either a Christian or a Muslim, he or she is no longer considered outside the caste system and is therefore no longer eligible for government support. So a Dalit actually gives up a lot to walk away from Hinduism. Once a Dalit becomes a Christian he or she is dependent on the Church community for help in times of trouble because most Hindu's refuse to help non-Hindu's.

Children outside their home on beds.

Now in this village there are 20 baptized believers and several others who attend but are not baptized, out of 300 people. The pastor here earns at most the equivalent of $80 per month. He has no formal education, but he loves the people here and that is why the people here will listen to him.

• The village still gets bricks delivered, for now.
• The people survive.
• They somehow get by at way below the poverty line... the Indian poverty line.
• Their farming does not pay well; it is barely enough to live on.
• Yet I have not seen as many smiles on faces in Indians as I did that day in that church.
• It makes me wonder what Jesus gives these people that they don't get somewhere else.
• Is it real or just a perception?

BHAGWANPUR

I went to another school in a town called Bhagwanpur. This is a very overcrowded school now and it has a short but impressive history. It started as just a three room school not too far from its current location with just twenty three students. Two rooms were classrooms and one was an office for the teachers. After just three years the school became packed with just over 60 students crammed into their two small rooms. With an increasing demand to take more students they needed to find a new facility.

Their current building became available to rent and so they took the opportunity to move into the new location which had ten or twelve rooms that could be used as class rooms as well as a few offices. The school currently is running around 500 students form K through 8th grade. Their current class size is about forty to fifty students per class.

The Indian people value education so much so that if there is a chance their student can attend classes in a non-government school they do anything they can to get their kids in. It just so happens that the schools that are run by Christian organizations have the best reputation for education so they are the most sought after schools. This one is so full that they are in need of moving again and they have only been in existence for six years.

They have purchased a plot of land that is about two acres in total. The plan is to build something similar to what was built in Pathrie. A large three story complex with classrooms and some offices. And then build some housing for teachers and administrators as well.

One thing that set this school apart from Pathrie however is that this school also has an orphanage as part of the ministry to the community. They only have room for 30 kids. They actually call it a children's home. Each group of six to ten kids has an adult couple that cares for them. The idea is that each couple acts like parents to these kids and each kid is like a sibling to the other in their "family". They try to create some semblance of a family for these little ones.

I walked into one of the rooms while the kids were in class as part of a tour I was getting of the facilities and started crying. (No one else was around me). I don't know who the kids are who slept in that room, I don't know their stories, I could not point them out in a crowd, or if they were standing in front of me, but I cried for them. No child should ever be thrown away. What does it do to a child and later on as an adult to know that some one cared just enough to not abort them but not enough to care for them personally. I know that this is not the case for many of the students but it for some. I have personally heard enough stories to imagine what some of the stories in this room might be like.

This is the land that was purchased for the new facility. It is a field today, but hopefully in another year or two they will have the money to build at least the first floor of their dream.

I walked out of the building not wanting to leave. I really wanted to see the kids when they got out of school and give them a hug, and tell them that even if no one else loved them, that Jesus loved them. But I the reality is that two minutes with me is not going to change things for them. It might make me feel better, but it does nothing for them. The heroes here are the couples who have dedicated themselves to bringing up kids who are not theirs to understand the love of God.

This is one of the bedrooms at the Children's home. It is right next to the school. You notice their beds are neatly made and on one of the beds, (it is hard to tell) there is a Bible sitting there. These kids have very few if any personal possessions. To have your own book is a big deal especially if it is a Bible.

No one else in their society is concerned about showing them this kind of love. Not even their own family members. At least the Muslims will care for extended family when they are in need; even the Sikhs, a Hindu reform group which started about 600 years ago will care for extended family who have fallen on hard times. But if you are a Hindu and you fall on hard times it is because you deserve it. And children sometimes pay a high price for this. I am so thankful for the people in these schools and homes who are dedicated to the next generation of Indians.

I don't remember his name, even if I did, I would not be able to pronounce it or spell it, but this man is a teacher in the school and he is one of the house parents as well. He and his wife have two kids, plus the children in the home. I don't know his name but he is a hero to me.

BIRTHDAY...

I was supposed to go to a school today but there was a mudslide that covered the road so I went instead to another school.
There is an orphanage as part of the ministry of the school. They only have room for 30 kids. Each group of six to ten kids has an adult couple that cares for them. They call them parents, and the place is called a children's "home". This is so that the kids can have something close to a family.
I walked into one of the rooms while the kids were in class as part of a tour I was getting of the facilities and started crying.

I don't know who the kids are,
I don't know their stories,
I could not point them out in a crowd,
or if they were standing in front of me,
but I cried for them.

I think I cried because my time in youth ministry grew a conviction in me that no child or teen should ever be thrown away, figuratively and literally and there are places in the world where both happen.
What does it do to a child or teen to always have in the back of their mind to know that some one cared just enough to not abort them, but not enough to care for them personally.
I know this is not the case for many or even most of the students. But at the same time I have heard enough stories to be able to piece together what their stories could be.
No one should ever have to wonder whether or not they are loved.
To never know the soft caring touch of a loving mother,
to never hear the words I love you, or I am proud of you from a father

Today was my birthday...
No one here knew...
I turned 35 years old...
There was no cake
There was no Ice cream
There were no cards
There was no song
There were no candles
There was nothing wrapped

Only a group of people I have met from different places around the world who happen to be in the same place at the same time.
Nothing that resembled a birthday party.

This time around that is okay.
Some kids smiled today because I said hi,
Some kids giggled when I shook their hand,
Some kids felt smart when teaching me Hindi
They took their picture with me and fought over who could see it on my camera
Their dirty faces beamed with delight today
I looked at dirty faces today, I saw something beautiful
That was my birthday present...

Just a Meandering Thought...

JUSTICE Part 2 of 2

Most of us would say that we want justice for the wrongs that we have endured. Justice is one of those American values that we aspire to maintain. When the towers fell on September 11th and we soon discovered who was responsible, we felt emboldened and righteous as we sought the one responsible and those who were helping him. We were fighting for the great American value of Justice.

If you read through Bible you will find many stories of people who fought for justice after experiencing injustice. One the most unique stories is the story of God fighting for justice. In all the reading I have done in Hinduism and Buddhism in the last year and a half as well as some of the Greek and Roman mythology I have not come across anything like it.

I was recently reading how, in ancient near eastern culture, when a criminal was caught, the punishment that was agreed upon by village elders was equal and opposite to the crime. One example I came across was that if a man were to punch a pregnant woman in the stomach and she were to lose her child as a result, the punishment would not be for that man to be killed, but for one of his children to be killed.

In those times, much of the economy was based on your name, your reputation. To defame the character and reputation of a man would be to destroy his standing in the community, no one would interact with him. It was as serious as committing murder today.

A name or reputation was extremely valuable in that culture; If you did not have your name you did not have anything. Why do you think the third of the ten commandments is not to take God's name in vain. He does not want his name associated with anything that is not from Him. Our sin is like defaming or slandering God's name and thereby Him. Not living to the standards of holiness that God has established is like saying, "to me, God is dead" or "to me, God does not exist". An equal and opposite punishment for that? Paul really meant it when he said, "The wages of sin is death." (Rom 6:23)

We have no hope of ever living up to that standard; our lives will be a hopeless mess of falling short. When justice is served on us it means death. We have committed injustice (some of us have committed lots of injustice;-) against God; God in turn seeks and renders justice. But this is where the story takes a turn for the unbelievable.

At the moment when injustice becomes justified by death we notice that we are not the ones who have died. Instead, the one who was wronged is the who has died and served the full sentence with his own life. You and I, though we perpetrated injustice, do not pay for our injustice with our death. God pays for our injustice against him by accepting our punishment on himself and once the criteria for justice has been met he gives us credit for justice being served. This means, innocence by association. (When we draw close to God he draws close to us.)

Most Americans feel that justice has been served for 9/11 now that Osama bin Laden is dead. And even according to his own beliefs justice has been served. I've got to admit, I'm really grateful that God's justice works differently than American justice...

Just a Meandering Thought...

JUSTICE Part 1 of 2

Most of us would say that justice is a good thing; it is one of the values that make America, America. We want justice to be served. When we are wronged or a crime is committed what we want is justice. We want someone to be responsible for the wrongs, the injustices. Then we fight for justice. That is who we are as Americans.

When the towers fell on September 11th, 2001, the entire nation reeled at the massive injustice that had been brought to our soil. We grieved, we searched, we pulled away rubble, we sifted through ashes. Even if we did not personally know someone who died, we still somehow felt the gaping hole. In the days following we learned who was responsible and soon we were in the fight - for justice.

The last ten years will likely go down in the history books as a decade that America sought closure and justice. For the lives that were taken from us, we wanted justice; for the hearts that were broken for their loss, we wanted justice; for the nation that was attacked, we wanted justice; for the memories that were seared into our souls of two towers burning and collapsing, we wanted justice. On May 1st, 2011 justice was served with an American bullet (66 years to the day after Hitler died from his own bullet).

It has been said that justice is about giving a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves. To the 2992 people who died in the attacks (minus the perpetrators) our voice on your behalf has been heard. We never forgot you. We all wanted justice for those who lost their lives. Yet if we were to receive justice ourselves for even the little things we have done we might think twice. Justice is a liberating event when you are the one wronged.

2000 years ago justice of a different kind was served with a cross and some nails. But you and I don't get justice, instead we get mercy. We don't get what we deserve, we get what He paid for. Because God never forgot or abandoned us. He hears the voice of those who call to him. I know this for sure, God is present in the places where injustice happens - to comfort those who have to walk that road. He sticks around to see that justice happens. Whether it is justice he accomplishes on our behalf, or just his presence in the stairwells of collapsing towers, God does not leave us but gives a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves.

Just a Meandering Thought...