In the Name of

Invisible Children is an organization devoted to helping children soldiers in Africa caught up in a horrific war. I participated in one of their protest marches about a year or so ago, and something happened that turned me off to it. I forgot what it was, until after a recent email. The email consisted of various updates of the situation in Africa and to wrap things up, it thanked everyone for doing their work "in the name of humanity." I see this as very problematic. For one, I think Hitler, and other tyrants, could also claim his actions in the name of humanity, but he slaughtered people, as opposed to stopping slaughter. The existentialist ran into similar problems: each was looking for a new way to define humanity, and each came up with a different picture. Ultimately, humanity is too vague and too abstract of an idea, and what should be done in the name of humanity may lead to conflicting views. We do not know the platonic form of humanity.

That is one of the beautiful things about Christianity: we have a frame of reference. Someone can claim something in the name of Christ, and we can determine if they are indeed honoring his name. After reading the Gospels, killing one's neighbor, oppressing the poor, exploiting children in any way, are all obviously contrary to Christ's nature. Sure, conflicts arise between sects as to how this is lived out, but there is still an example to compare ourselves to. But in the name of humanity? Well...which human are we following?

Escape

So...finally a new post. This semester was a hectic one, due to 18hrs of school, about 12hrs of work, two student organizations, not to mention graduation! Hopefully things will slow down for the summer, and I'll be disciplined enough to post regularly. A couple of friends suggest I do "words of parting wisdom" or something to that effect, but I can't really think of any at the current moment. I believe I had some about a week ago, but alas I have lost them. I'm going to bet that that momentary wisdom isn't too vital to life (or else we may be in trouble).


Anyways, I was talking to a friend earlier today (actually, 10min ago) and she was relating some of her student-teaching experiences. Her 11th grade english class had to read Into the Wild by John Krakauer. They did not enjoy it. I assumed it was because high school kids don't like to read. My friend pointed outthat it was due to the fact that they could not relate to the story.
Many of her students are fairly poor, and a large percentage of them have after school jobs to help make ends meet. They could not understand why a man would ditch all his possession and burn a wad of $100 bills then hitchhike across America. It's absurd. Foolishness.

The situation made me realize that we are all trying to escape. One group is trying to escape poverty. The problem of not having enough. Enough to eat. Enough to wear. Enough to live. The other has too much. And that over abundance is not satisfying. One is trying to climb the latter of success; the other is trying to leave it. I wonder how often we pass each other on this road.

And it's not just an escape from a current life. It is also a pursuit of something. Meaning, significance. Fulfillment? Whatever it is, apparently it is not found in the life of poverty (as evidenced by those trying to leave it), but neither is it found in wealth (for the same reasons as above). Maybe this is an incident of the "journey v. destination" cliche. It is not the pursuit that matters, rather it is that we are pursuing.