Recently, I have been pretty spotty at checking my social
media. I found its imagined virtues to be having the opposite effect on me: this will help you connect! Facebook
said, but I found myself feeling lonely or jealous or keenly aware of the lives
of people I don’t know all that well in person. Keep up to date with what is important! it said, and yet I found
myself mesmerized by those videos of food being prepared. Food that I will
never make!! I’m gluten intolerant, yo! You know how it goes, every now and
then, you just need to take a breather from that stuff, and I never really
learned how to factor social media into my life, so I mostly cut it out, and I
didn’t miss it.
But then Paris was attacked, and I wanted to see what people
were saying, so I logged back in and I was moved by people's posts and the French flags over profile pictures and the love
and support and solidarity. I had to wipe a tear or two from my eyes with those
pictures of France on 9/11, and even that silly comic with the statue of
liberty running to help its French counterpart. I loved seeing Eiffel towers
and French expressions of love on people’s profiles.
And theeeeen, someone went and spit in my bean curd with their negativity. Oy vey, social media! A few people, actually, had posted things about how they were impressed with the people who stood with France, but what about Beirut, what about Kenya, what about, what about, what about all these places and things you should care about!
And theeeeen, someone went and spit in my bean curd with their negativity. Oy vey, social media! A few people, actually, had posted things about how they were impressed with the people who stood with France, but what about Beirut, what about Kenya, what about, what about, what about all these places and things you should care about!
Come on! I said
inwardly. It is better that people do
SOMETHING than nothing at all. Don’t fault people for trying! PLUS it is hard
to CONSTANTLY feel for places that are CONSTANTLY in conflict. Paris is a place
people dream about, whereas the Middle East is SO frequently in conflict, it
seems like a nightmare.
Did that last part of that thought ring a little racist to
anyone else?
Well, it did to me.
I didn’t like feeling that because some people have more
problems they are somehow less worthy of my care and attention. I don’t like to
be shamed into caring about things, but I did want to amend my attitude. And I
felt a real stab of guilt that I didn’t know more about the Syrian refugee
situation.
Fortunately for me, while I still may have a ways to go in
deepening my Christ-like love for strangers, the refugee crisis was only a
google away. It is CRAZY! There are masses and masses of
homeless people right now with nothing who are being turned away from countries
because of where they originated.
if only we had a seasonally appropriate story about middle eastern people seeking refuge being turned away by the heartless
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 16, 2015
It made me want to do more!
I thought about going door to door for UNICEF or something,
but I was thinking if someone knocked on my door for even the noblest of causes, I probably wouldn’t even have
cash to give them. All our money’s on cards.
Instead, I was thinking about when my friends, the Smiths, did Whole30. I have been through my own dietary ups and downs, so I was really
pulling for them as they cut out all grains and sugar from their diet for 30
days. I would check into their blog to get updates on how they were doing and
feeling, and as the month wore on, I found myself eating more vegetables and
less sugar just because I was thinking of them. It was sympathy broccoli. Or
was it inception?
Just kidding, I know it’s only true inception if you don’t know about the inception. I’m not an idiot.
But I am a vegetable eater. Because the Smiths kept yammering on about their veggie tales, I was suddenly aware of every meal that went without a green thing.
So here I am, turning to social media after all my complaining, yammering on about how we should try to help each other generally, and the Syrian refugees specifically. As much as I have complained about Facebook and such in this post, I do think it can be a wonderful tool for bringing things like this to our friends' attention, and I am really thankful to you, my friends, who have helped to expand my worldview, even when it totally made my bean curd spitty. As the weather gets colder, and Christmas comes closer, opportunities to help are a dime a dozen, and I know you can't do everything, but let's do something! Together we can make the world a more beautifully harmonious place, and God will help us help others.
So here I am, turning to social media after all my complaining, yammering on about how we should try to help each other generally, and the Syrian refugees specifically. As much as I have complained about Facebook and such in this post, I do think it can be a wonderful tool for bringing things like this to our friends' attention, and I am really thankful to you, my friends, who have helped to expand my worldview, even when it totally made my bean curd spitty. As the weather gets colder, and Christmas comes closer, opportunities to help are a dime a dozen, and I know you can't do everything, but let's do something! Together we can make the world a more beautifully harmonious place, and God will help us help others.
This blog is not popular. While I may fantasize that there
are some cool British people going, “Oy, mate. Hold on a tic. I just
want to read this fantastic weblog before we tuck in to our kippers and treacle
tarts,” that is not the case (sidebar: British speak is the best). All of you
who read it are my family and friends and maybe that one Nigerian prince who
keeps emailing me. You are the most selfless and wonderful people I know and I know you are already doing so much to improve the lives of others. BUT I did want to tell you that I will be donating to support Syrian refugees, and I hope you will
eat a little sympathy broccoli with me and donate support as well. We can’t do everything, but we can do something!
P.S. Here is a list of places to donate. LDS can also donate to humanitarian aid right on your tithing slips. Good luck and I
love you.