GlocalNet

What makes someone concerned about injustice in the world enough to heal and then show mercy? It is not education or information. We are bombarded by images of starving children, splayed bodies in war, ghettos and slums, refugees in deserts - if merely information were enough, by now we would have healed the ills of this world. I was reflecting on this last night. I want everyone to be concerned about Vietnam and its development. I want everyone to be concerned about Afghanistan and the ills of war there and years bondage. I want everyone to care about Bethlehem, the poverty, and Palestinian Christians who suffer and seemingly have been forgotten if not abandoned by the church in the West. Why are these things more important to me than all the images - I’ve either been there, or know someone who is up close and personal in those areas and get first hand accounts of what’s taking place. Alas, my justice and mercy and propensity for action is based and driven more by relationships than by information. Truth is objective - truth neither weeps nor laughs - it is. Is my compassion too man-centered? I see it, I touch it, I hold it, and I weep - because I’m connected with it in a very personal way. On the other hand, truth without connection doesn’t always do a lot - a great report, information, facts - but what does it change? Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life?” What did He know and understand that we don’t about truth and compassion - He had them both. Does one start and the other pick up - or are they inadvertently wrapped together like a DNA helix? It cannot be compassion alone - or me, mine, humanity is at the center of the universe. It cannot be facts alone - or nothing happens. What is pure justice and mercy? I’m not sure . . .