agit8

"Sing to the Lord a new song..." Psalm 96:1

One of the greater joys of life is in discovering a context to it all. We often view things from one perspective or another, never realizing that, more often than not, few things are that simple. We need only breach a conversation about how to solve a "simple" problem like bringing water or the malaria vaccine to Africa before we realize, very shortly, that we've walked smack dab into a quagmire of political rivalries, tribal resentments and government mismanagement of resources. It shouldn't be that hard but, in truth, it's just not that easy. Hundreds of thousands will die of thirst and the want of a simple vaccine that, as Bono has pointed out, costs less than $1.00 per person to provide.

It's easy to be defeatist, to throw our hands up to God, to feel shame at bearing witness to the fact that, by all appearances, a human life is not even worth a SINGLE dollar. It's only when one steps back to ascertain the real culprit here - evil, as it lives and grows in the hearts and minds of men - that the battle becomes apparent. Over seventy years ago it was a monster sweeping across Europe with reckless abandon, killing at will, burning people in ovens and flush with a desire for power. Our greatest mistake then as a quiet nation was our very silence and, by the time we acted, it was almost too late.

But now we are not a tiny nation. We are the richest, strongest nation in the world. The enemy is not one man but an insidious wall of apathy. This doesn't mean we can wave the wand (or the stick) of democracy and force tribes with centuries old bitterness between them to come together, or power-wash their governments clean of corruption. We must remember the old adage about a trickle of water, how over time it will wear smooth the roughest of rocks, one drop at a time.

Don't let the enemy tell you that one tiny voice, your voice, is all for naught. It's for God, who is big enough to take the accumulated efforts and the tiniest gestures and turn them into a wave of love. Please visit the one.org website and join the agit8 campaign. They don't want your money. They want your voice. Extreme poverty in the world has already been cut in half and it's possible that it can be completely eradicated by 2030 if enough of us push the governments of the world hard enough.

Right now 100 artists are performing their favorite protest songs as part of the agit8 campaign. Why don't you join them, add your voice and sing along?