#PeopleMatter -stop staring at the problem

Last night I wrote a paper about the problem of evil in the world and the more I study, the more I have conversations with every day people, the more I stare at this computer screen I see more vividly that evil is a problem. But evil existing is not the only problem that I see.

Yesterday at church a missionary said a few words about the work that he and his wife do and about the work of the Church. He gave us the image of the burning buildings on 9/11/2001. The image of so many people running away from the smoke and dust; fear stricken, utter terror, chaos. But while those people were running away there were other men and women running toward the flames. They knew there were lives to save and were willing to do ANYTHING to save them. This is the work of the Church.

Now imagine with me that same scene. Hundreds of people running away. Others still stuck in the buildings. First responders get word, they see on their phones and hear from their friends about this evil that has just taken place, this disaster that was unfolding before their eyes. The first responders then turn and see the buildings, they know people are dying inside, they know that lives could be saved if they did as they were told and helped. But instead, they just stood on the sidewalk and watched. Or maybe they looked back down at their phones to see what other people were saying about it. Would this have been acceptable? You know the answer.

We turn on the news and see the riots and protests happening in response to the man killed in Ferguson, MO. We turn on social media and see #blacklivesmatter trending everywhere. So many events are happening right now and being discussed that show the injustices. So many events right now are proving that the problem of privilege, the problem of racism is still just that; a problem. And believe me, I do see it as a problem.

 Yes. Black lives do matter. But so do Hispanic lives. So do Indian lives. So do all the other lives.
30 million people are trapped in Human Trafficking today. Slavery.
"Almost 1 in every 15 children in developing countries dies from hunger."
Children are being beaten every. single. day.
Elderly. Widows. Orphans.
There are so many injustices. There are so many problems. And we see them as such. We see them. That's the problem. We see them. They are not being overlooked.
We are the first responders. Once you see the injustices you can no longer say that you are unaware.
We have to decide now what we're going to do.

I think the #blacklivesmatter trending everywhere is a beautiful thing. People are standing up for the injustice. People are no longer staring at the problem and not taking action. (whether or not I agree with how action is taking place is a completely different issue)
Would it not be a beautiful thing if that is how we responded to the other injustices?

I realize that a blog post does nothing. But I also realize there are things we can be doing.
For example: Dressember is happening right now.
http://www.dressemberfoundation.org/#!about/csgz
Wearing a dress every day for a month is a little thing. But check out my roommate's blog:
She sees the injustice. She is passionate about the people living in the injustice. She is raising money for the 30 million lives that are trapped in human trafficking.

#PeopleMatter - stop staring at the problem.

Passion is contagious. We need to stop extinguishing our passions for fear of judgment or fear of being uncomfortable. Find your passion and feed the flame. People standing up for people is a beautiful thing. Your voice can be heard if you should choose to use it.