It's been a long time since I've been this tense watching a movie. Horror movie tense. Or roller
coaster tense. Not because it was a jump out and scare you type like Psycho, but because of the gravity and reality of the situation.I am starting to wrestle with my frustration towards the inaction I was feeling during the movie. Why didn't somebody do something? And why, at the time, did the media ignore it? I remember very little about it in 1994, and wonder if what I do remember I actually heard later. Probably. (I just found out today there is a new movie about the Rwandan genocide releasing soon, Beyond the Gates.) This is also the tragedy that helped launch IJM.
Hotel Rwanda has a scene where the main character is thanking a journalist that has shot footage of the massacres happening. Here's the line that really struck me (spoken by the journalist), "I think if people see this footage, they'll say 'Oh, my God, that's horrible.' And then they'll go on eating their dinners." Yep, that sounds about right.
So that was Saturday night. Sunday afternoon, KT and I are walking out of Dick's and I am passed by a van in the parking lot. After a second look I realize it says "Invisible Children" on the side. This is a documentary I have recently been made aware of about a similar thing happening in Uganda. I heard of it a couple months ago. So I went over and introduced myself to the van's inhabitants. Short story shorter, they are in town doing screenings and gave me a copy of the movie. So Invisible Children is now on the short short list. Like, next.
Last night, I'm talking with Mom and she says, "Oh yeah, you need to see Lost Boys of Sudan."
OK, OK, so I get it. There's a lot of stuff going on in central Africa I don't like. What is so frustrating is, what now?
What do I think about intervention in that situation from a political standpoint? Does that even matter?
Do I pray? Do I just wait for God to tell me what to do? Do I just give somebody some money? My time? Do I go to Rwanda or Uganda or Sudan? Do I write my representative and senator and president? Do I run for representative or senator or president?
I'm not even sure I know the right questions to ask. All I have at this time is, "What now?"
3 comments:
Colin - this is good blogging. i agree, this feeling you speak of is frustrating. i think the answer is ALL the above. We pray for governments, missionaries, human rights organizations to do their thing with excellence (like IJM). We give money to people we hear of doing this work (like Compassion Intl) - and maybe get involved at some point.
This is what gets me excited about Mamelodi - it's a very tangible way to get involved to do something to change things that are wrong in the world.
It's also interesting for me to think about how this stuff is going on in this city!! I find that when I am frustrated about international issues - God can gently point me back to my own downtown 7 miles away and ask me if I will do something about that! that is challenging b/c i know i can do something about that - question is will I?
tp
What do you want to do?
Yeah, yeah, this is good. This is some of why I write, to get some feedback. Hear some thoughts.
Mamelodi draws me. But I haven't made THAT decision. And tp, you're right about my own city.
What do I want to do? I don't know. Love somebody? That's probably it right now. But that really gets back to how. How do I love somebody in that situation now?
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