It's May 10. Mother's Day. It's a rainy, overcast day in Little Rock. I just watched a documentary called "Lost Boys of Sudan". I didn't really know what to expect. It follows 2 guys in particular, starting just a few days before they leave africa to come to America and goes through their first year here. It was hard to watch. The picture of America in the film... it's not bad, but it captures the reality of this country in an interesting way. The major thing that stuck out to me was the independence of man. It was clear among the refugees that came to America - dropped in random cities all across the US - that this country is not exactly what they had in mind. In America, time is filled quickly with many things - studies, work, eating, sleep - those were the main things. Relationships with others ... well, gosh, that almost felt non-existent. And this makes me very sad. How do we break free from a world that is all about 'ME'? I'm so at a loss with the world in this sense.
There are many things within the past week that have led to me feeling prideful, arrogant. There's something in the pit of my stomach that is desperate for a humble demeanor, in life in general, but also in my uganda journey. At one point in the Lost Boys film, it shows a mother & son who talk about hearing the lost boys' stories and their hearts being gripped & so they try to gather furniture and such to provide to these new refugees... which is nice and all, but it seemed very out of touch with the Sudanese refugees' day-to-day situation and needs. It just reminded me that while I'm excited to get to be a part of this trip, I need to seriously take a step back every day, remember that I may say that I care, but that to consider others means finding out where that person is at in life, what their needs really are and then trying to see where I can help in that. Very hard to put into words right now the thoughts inside my head.
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I really liked that movie. I've seen it twice. Another thing I gleaned from that movie is our irrogance in thinking that we can fix every situation and that what we have is so much better than what others have. We think we know best and our solutions are just going to patch the world up. The fact of the matter is those kids NEVER wanted to leave. They knew it was a way out and were being promised a better life, but they would have much rather help on the ground there than being isolated, taken from their own culture, seperated from the only family they knew, while some were chosen and others left in a bad situation to fend for themselves in a world that was absolutely overwhelmingly foreign to them.
ReplyDeleteyeah... i very much agree with you there. I think it hit me when I realized that while they looked like guys our age, they werent - so then to think of them living on their own, in a completely different world, trying to fend for themselves.. I just couldnt imagine! and so to see America through their eyes - it stirred up a lot of emotions. i think its a view most people dont want to see, dont want to admit about how we live...i know it's hard for me because I felt selfish because of how extravagantly so many of us live, and yet another part of me was so quick to look the other way & say 'that's just how America is...' - like we've earned it or something, and I know many people think we have, maybe part of me does as well, but there's always a small part of me that cringes back..
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