August 7, 2007
What’s a Life Worth?
by Brian Perceful, guest writer RTF
Every so often I read of something online or on in a magazine that really gets to me. Last year as I was making my daily rounds of my favorite sites like Drudge Report, CNN, Xanga, Myspace, and a few others I was quite dumbfounded on what I read and saw.
Maybe you saw it as well. Maybe you read about it.
It seems that some bored people thought it to be a great idea to take out their life’s frustrations on random homeless people in the Ft. Lauderdale, FL area. A total of four beatings occurred with one leading to a fatality. Not only were these attacks unprovoked, it seems that the guys who turned themselves in really have no reason behind the attacks. Not only were they senseless, worse yet they were heartless and I feel a direct reflection of our culture in general.
My heart breaks on multiple levels. The first being the simple fact of the plight of the homeless in our world. As I read the Gospels, I can’t help but walk away with a prompting to try and do something about it. After all, the Bible is clear that true religion is meeting the needs of those you’re around. Your neighbor. Your family member. The homeless gentlemen that you come across. Jesus is pretty clear in the fact that in some mysterious way, when we do this we are in fact literally serving Him.
What do you see? Do you feel empathy or sympathy? Empathy will lead you to actually doing something while sympathy will simply give you an emotional buzz that never really leads to action.
I’ve read that if the church in America would simply do their part, as in tithing, that the entire crisis of those in need could be met. I can’t help but take the blame in this. We, the church, are guilty of this. We put our efforts towards things that don’t really matter while the world suffers around us. Bono, the enigmatic singer of U2, said that the poverty crisis in the world is something the church will be held accountable for. I really believe this.
The second level my heart breaks is when it comes to the complete lack of honor and dignity we give towards life in general. What does through the mind of someone who would randomly beat someone for no reason? Maybe the reason was that these gentlemen simply didn’t matter in their eyes. They saw them, not as God sees them, but as our selfishly perverted culture sees them. Too often we’re given dignity based on what we bring to society.
We’ve conditioned ourselves through violence in art and entertainment to the point that it seems acceptable to take the life of someone. We give our approval by crashing the box offices of our local Cineplex and keeping the turnstiles of Blockbuster whirling as we plop down our money on the latest violence filled movie. We buy the latest version of “Grand Theft Auto” and senselessly and mindlessly murder anyone who gets in our way. Subconsciously we’ve become numb. Maybe art has become reality?
What can we do? What should we do? First I think we need to take the actual felt needs of the world seriously. We need to each do our part. Maybe you could go without one mocha latte from Starbucks in hopes that someone else may simply have a meal. We all have a part to play. Volunteer your time at a local homeless shelter and build relationships with those who could really use it. Maybe by doing this we can help people put their lives back together. That to me is what Jesus was all about.
What about the value of life? It seems to me that we simply let a lot of stuff go by us without thinking about the results of that allowance. When we give our approval to things laced with violence, we’re inadvertently giving our approval through our silence. This isn’t a call to protest or picketing but it’s simply a challenge to engage in dialogue and leading others to think about things differently. Maybe in our conversations we can lead others to a new and deeper understanding of the value of life.
God made it and it’s oh so precious. God Himself had created the homeless gentlemen in Florida. They had His thumbprint on their very souls. They are and were worth everything to Him. When we trivialize life we trivialize God. We make a mockery of His creation. Is this what we want to be known for? Is this really the “salt and light” that Jesus calls you and me to be?
We can influence. We’re called to it. We have to. No one else will. Our culture won’t. It’s not up to them. It’s up to us.
Debbie says:
This is AWESOME…you do realize, of course, that Jesus was homeless too? And just like them He suffered a horrible death? Interesting, eh?
Your Sister in Christ,
Debbie