Here Am I

"Freedom abuse is our future,

Heads turn; tell me what is a caste?

Say to the girl, wishing for death,

'Slavery’s a thing of the past'. "

Let me break it down...

"Freedom abuse is our future."  This is saying how our generation uses "freedom" as an excuse to do things they want...to satisfy their desires or get away with certain things.  I know this is a free country and we can do the things we want, but it seems to me that this tends to be taken a little too far.

"Heads turn; tell me what is a caste?"  The caste system in India is where people are placed in different levels or categories and there is nothing they can do about it. There are different castes for religious leaders (or holy-men), kings or great landlords, merchants and so on. Then there are the Untouchables who are also known as "non-people." They tend to do the dirty work and live in certain places to keep away from higher castes (because it is the higher castes who want them far away). Some of the Indian law doesn't even protect the Untouchables. The "heads turn" part is meaning that most people don't really know about this, and if they do, they turn their heads away because they don't want to get involved.  They hear about this, say, "That is not right," and go on eating their dinner.

"Say to the girl, wishing for death, 'slavery's a thing of the past'."  This is talking about modern day slavery. Many people don't know but there are more slaves in the world today than were seized from Africa during 4 centuries of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. I have heard many stories about girls who are sex slaves and how they pray for death because in their eyes death would be better than going through what they do every single day. I've also heard stories of girls who would run out in the street trying to get hit by a vehicle with the hopes of dying.

All in all, I am saying we tend to not take freedom seriously or hold it for all it is worth, especially as some would do anything to have the freedom we do.  A lot of people are ignorant about what goes on in the world...or, if they do know, they mostly do nothing about it.  I don't know what you think about this but to me it is just not right at all and I hope to be used to make a change.

"...Here am I.  Send me."  Isaiah 6:8

My Broken Heart

My heart is broken and continues to break.

I drink my four dollar coffee as I research stories of repeated injustice.

Injustice that happens with the amount of money I paid for my coffee, 

and the price of a child's 

purity, 

innocence, 

hopes and dreams.

Injustice that makes me cringe.

Makes me shiver.

Makes me cry.

Injustice that gives me nightmares.

I thank God that is all I am scared of for my sake...nightmares.

I pray to God for those who wish it was only a nightmare.

For those who cry until there are no tears left.

For those who have to repeat their own name over and over again in hope that they will never forget their name because they have been stripped of their identity, 

and are now known by a number.

Those who undergo abuse sexually, physically, mentally.

Those who were kidnapped, tricked, or sold.

Those who dream of seeing and being with their families again.

Who dream of harvesting their garden and cooking their family what little food they have inside of a mud hut with a leaky tin roof (if they are blessed enough to afford a tin roof).

A bit different from the "American dream" isn't it?

My heart is broken for many reasons.

For what theses girls and boys are being put through.

For how unloved and unwanted they must feel.

How alone they must feel.

How scared and how worthless they must feel.

The pain they go through.

The trauma they go through.

My heart is broken for how selfish I am.

My heart is broken as I cry out to God for change in my life.

It is broken as I ask God to help rearrange the loves in my life.

The priorities in my life.

The things I spend time, money, and energy on.

My heart is broken as I drink my four dollar coffee, 

and it continues to break.

Faces of Slavery

Faces of Slavery from David Hepburn on Vimeo.