82,000. That's the recorded number of orphans in Romania for 2010. And that doesn't include the estimated 170,000 "migration orphans" left by their parents. Add to that number the 1,000 street kids with nowhere to go. Usually after hearing statistics like this our response is "...wow. That's tragic." And then we go on with our day and focus on our "middle-class problems" and that is that.
It always amazes me when I encounter the general not-caring attitude of the average American. We prefer to live in our little bubble of American prosperity and not really care about what's going on in the world around. We don't know, and what's worse, we don't care. And even when we are forced to face the stark reality of the world in which we live, our response is the proverbial shrug of the shoulders in a very "eh, that's their problem" sort of way. And the truth is, this response is seen both in secular and sacred circles.
But that is not how we are called to live our lives. Now I'm not saying that we all need to be Mother Theresa's and embrace utter poverty to live out the calling of God. But I am saying that we need to be more conscious of the poor and destitute, just as Christ was, and just as he has called us to be.
It is so easy to be caught up in the American idea of poverty. And I am guilty of this, so this post is just as much a self-reflection as a call to others. But the reality is, the majority of us have no idea what it means to be poor. We complain about struggling to pay the bills, but those bills are for our high-speed internet, satellite, 2 cars, and nice house. Most of us have never experienced a struggle to feed our families, or to afford a one-room hovel, or to not be able to clothe our children.
We need a wake-up call to remember the poor and needy. My first wake-up call came walking through the barrio of La Vega, Dominican Republic. Garbage piled in the streets. Houses made of corrugated tin. And by house I mean one or two rooms for an entire family. Children running around naked, with the puffy bodies of starvation.
My next wake-up call went above and beyond the desperation of poverty into the world of human slavery. Child sex trafficking. I walked through the casinos in Cambodia where most of the workers were slaves. I saw the faces of children rescued from the life of sex slavery and forced prostitution. And my life was forever changed.
It's hard when you experience things like that to make people back home understand. It can become exasperating to try to push past the apathy and make them understand what you've seen, to feel the same passion that you do.
We are called to care about the poor and downtrodden. Before my trip to Cambodia, I spent time looking up verses dealing with this very issue. It is my prayer that you, dear readers, will take time to prayerfully read through them, and see what areas of your life could be tweaked, what areas you have become apathetic to the plight of those less fortunate than us.
"...learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause." [Isaiah 1:17]
"Blessed are the merciful...for they shall receive mercy." [Matthew 5:7]
"When Justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but terror to evildoers." [Proverbs 21:15]
"Blessed are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times." [Psalm 106:3]
"For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong." [Isaiah 61:8]
"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God?" [Micah 6:8]
"For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever." [Psalm 9:18]
"Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is He who is generous to the poor." [Proverbs 14:21]
"But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." [Amos 5:24]
"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. " [Proverbs 31:8-9]
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