I watched a Joyce Meyer Ministry program yesterday on their current outreach goals around the world and was struck by a rather odd moment. Instead of just showing pictures of the different areas they work in, they chose to show in bold lettering as many statistics as they could find. The staggering number of people who are starving. The staggering number of people who go without shelter. The staggering number of people who don’t have basic medical treatment.As strange as it sounds, the first thought that struck me was, “My dog has a better life.” Seriously.
Though she might try to convince me otherwise with her big, soppy brown eyes, she never goes hungry. When she is sick or injured I take her right to the vet. At night she sleeps on my bed with her pillows and blankets, air conditioning and heating. I might like to think of her as my little girl, but the fact of the matter is she’s just a dog…whose life is about a 100 times better than half of the world’s population. Does that not just make you want to scream in frustration sometimes?!
Trust me, I’m not saying we shouldn’t have pets or pamper them. Anybody who knows my family knows we will be taking in “last chance” dogs until the final trumpet sounds.
The point of the program was simply DO SOMETHING! Find a way to help, even if your contribution is small. It is still valuable.
And if you are hesitating right now or continually putting it off, just ask yourself this question: Can you really justify treating a dog better than a human being?
1 comment:
People should be smart about their help too. When it is our government giving the money, much of it is kept by foreign governments. Dollars are "fungible," which means that the local "help" fund can be decreased by the amount you send their government. In an even simpler form, we could say that they use our money instead of their own and the amount that gets to the people does not change. Deal as closely with the people in need as possible.
Secondly, a lot of the people of the world are animists. Many of the medical workers who do go find it hard to convince people that malnutrition is what is killing their kids instead of evil spirits. The latter may be happening too, but many times the problems still persist because they reject our "false" notions about the needs of the body. This is just one example.
Money helps, but it also doesn't. What we give is paltry. What people need are living examples.
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