After awhile, the word starts to look funny eh?
Tonight, we watched "Hotel Rwanda," with Sam. It was his first time watching it, and probably the 7th or 8th time for me.
If you haven't ever seen it, it is about the Rwandan genocide that took place by the Hutu militia upon the Tutsi people group. A native (Hutu,) hotel manager, married to a Tutsi woman, finds the courage to protect over 1,800 refugees in his Belgium owned hotel and hold off the militia for as long as possible. All the while, the United Nations is present, but not actively doing anything, and the US, UK, and other world superpowers choose to sit back and do nothing because "it is just Africa."
I was reminded of a different type of love that sometimes we forget about:
Compassion.
I thought about all of the apathy our country has, and the exceptional apathy our country's Christian segment has.
So often, I have empathy, but not action.
It's empty empathy.
I think to myself, "Gosh, that's awful." or "I wish I could actually do something about it."
but, I don't move up off my couch!
What would I do if a major crisis like this was happening in my country? Would I have the courage to act, or would I just have empty, meaningless empathy for the suffering?
Where has the compassion gone?
And I mean compassion with a passion type of compassion.
The serious, no nonsense, no time for kidding around, call to action kind of compassion.
I'm no "activist," by any stretch of the imagination, because I am pretty non confrontational, but if I think we can all learn a lesson from activists by noting the passion for those who need compassion.
Not very eloquent, but I am in need of sleep.
More later.
LOVE.
1 comment:
I haven't seen this but I've heard great things... I'll have to check it out!
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