I guess I’m supposed to look away.
From images of genocide, live video of children intentionally bombed, stories of horrible abuse. As these atrocities flood my awareness, I guess I’m supposed to look away.
My friends say I’m obsessed, it’s not healthy. You can’t do anything about it. Go ride your bike. Play with your dog.
In my early years I learned about the Holocaust, millions of human beings deported from their homes and taken to camps. Abused, starved, dehumanized. Six million exterminated like vermin just by Germans, millions more by Russians. I read Elie Wiesel. I heard “Never Again.”
Later, as a follower of Jesus, I learned of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s courageous stand against the Nazi regime. As I read deeper, I learned Bonhoeffer reserved some of his harshest criticism for fellow Christians who saw what was happening but remained silent.
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless.
Not to speak is to speak.
Not to act is to act.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I’m not going to look away, but just looking isn’t enough. “Not to act…is to act.”
It’s a lot like the issue of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
You may choose to turn away, but you can never again say that you did not know. ~ William Wilberforce
The question, for me, is what will I do?
(I’ll still ride my bike, and play with my dog. AND, not OR.)