Social Justice Exhaustion

Can I be honest? I think many of us who are engaged in the blogging world (Christian or otherwise) are suffering from a disease.

Not a disease like HIV or diabetes.

Maybe it’s not even a disease. Maybe it’s a disorder or a mental or emotional illness. Perhaps it’s some sort of spiritual discrepancy. Or maybe it’s something like boredom. We’re overstimulated perhaps. Whatever category it should be listed under, a whole bunch of us are suffering from something called social justice exhaustion.

Other people refer to it as poverty overload.

In other words, we’re tired. We’re tired of hearing about poor kids. And tired of hearing about sick kids and starving kids and statistics about kids who are dying from preventable diseases. We’re over it. And yes, we’re sick and tired of seeing all of the sad little faces of children with dirt and snot and God knows what else all over their faces.

I mean, we get it already. We know that millions of families all over the world live in the slums. And that some people live in places that resemble dumps or in huts that have dirt floors, no clean water, and usually without fathers.

And while we really do care about the kids who are being abused in various ways or sold into sex slavery by their parents or suffering emotional and mental disabilities because of ugly otherworldly circumstances that happened to them at some point in their life, we want to stop hearing about it.

And not only are we sick and tired of hearing about all of the problems, we’re also just a little tired of hearing about all of the non-profits, relief orgs, and ministries claiming to be some sort of a solution.

We care. We do. Like really do. But we’re also tired. If we have to read one more blog post or go to one more conference seminar or listen to one more sermon about the needy, we’re going to scream! We aren’t bad people. We aren’t selfish people. Still, can we talk about something else, maybe theology or sex or hell or what about something involving Mark Driscoll? Those are topics we want to think about. Those are topics we want to discuss and debate!

In 2002, I went to a Bebo Norman concert, and at some point during his fifteen-song set, he delivered a talk about a child-relief organization that he was passionate about. And I must confess, I remember being so over it. He went on forever about the kid he sponsored and how it changed his life. And I remember thinking, “blah blah blah… new topic please.” I remember being cynical about the relief organization that he talked about, thinking that it was probably some sort of scam or that a whole bunch of people were getting rich off this monthly child sponsorship that he was boasting. And too, I’d heard it all before! Over and over again at every Christian music concert I ever went to, I’d sat and listened to somebody chat about the poor and what I should be doing about the poor and about how Jesus loves the poor. Again, blah blah blah…

And now, here I am, a writer/blogger doing the same thing that I got sick of hearing musicians do over and over at every concert I’ve ever been to. But like Bebo and Amy Grant and Third Day and Casting Crowns and all of the other Christians artists who have spent years harping about one organization or another and talking (and sometimes crying) about things like HIV, poverty, maleria, sex trafficking, etc. etc. etc., I, too, must harp about what I’ve seen and heard and smelled and felt and experienced. Despite knowing that we’re all tired of hearing about social justice and child sponsorship, I, too, must harp as loudly as I can about how amazing the work of World Vision truly is! I must do that knowing full-well that you are probably tired and perhap cynical and maybe just fed-up with all of this talk about what YOU can do to help a child that you probably will never meet and lifting up a community that you will probably never visit.

But I must talk about it. Because I’ve seen with my own eyes the ugly realities of places like Nicaragua, Uganda, Dominican Republic, and now Bolivia. But the stories don’t have to remain ugly. Because I’ve also seen with my own eyes what World Vision does to create real solutions for these kids, families, communities to live sustainably.

Do you trust me? Those of you who read my blog on a regular basis know that I don’t like b.s., Christian b.s. or other kinds of b.s.. These trips aren’t about me getting a vacation or me going on some poverty tourism trip. These blogger trips are about giving readers a truthful perspective of what I see and witness and they are about also giving you a truthful perspective about World Vision.

World Vision isn’t charity. World Vision isn’t a glorified Bible school. Is World Vision perfect in every way? Of course, not. But I’ve witnessed with my own eyes and listened to the success stories with my own ears, and I believe in the power of World Vision child sponsorship. Because it works. It’s good for the child. It’s good for the child’s community. And it’s good for you. And me.