Humanity and Questions and Grace

So there is this whole democrat and republican thing. This whole Brooke and Jeff thing. This whole "who is responsible thing" that I have been thinking about lately. It really is this idea of social justice I think....or do I think? I don't know. But I am shocked by how differenly people feel about this whole issue. Democrats and repbulicans, Brooke's and Jeff's, American's and African's.

Who is responsible? I AM! You are! I think many would pose the question as "Who is to blame?" I work hard for my money, why should I have to clean up others messes? I think this is a cop out. Does it matter who is to blame? Isn't it humanity that calls us to be responsible?

What am I talking about? Lots of things I guess...but specifically HIV/AIDS. It is a pandemic...that the majority of the word is doing nothing about. My question to you is...How can you NOT be responsible? Isn't that the definition of humanity? The quality of being marked or motivated by concern with the alleviation of suffering. Or are you selfish like so many of us are and does our humanity only pertain to ourselves and our loved ones? I would like to think of myself as humane, but am I really? Do my actions show that I am? Am I courageous enough to be?

The reality is that the world (myself included) is standing by and watching while entire countries are being wiped out by the pandemic of HIV/AIDS. Isn't this just another form of Genocide? The medications exist to save lives. In the US, AIDS is now more a condition that you live with rather than a death sentence for most people. In places like Ethiopia, it is only a death sentence. Isn't keeping these medicines from anyone a form of genocide?

I am responsible. Why sould I be the one to pay for this? Why should America be the one to pay for this?

Why shouldn't we be?

Is having two cars, granite countertops, or an HD TV really more important than any one persons life? Well I have those things...so I guess that means that I think they are. But really is giving up those things the answer? I don't know what the answer is...but I think I want to be involved in it, whatever it is.

And so I am back to the whole democrat and repbulican thing....the Jeff and Brooke thing. I belive in sharing the wealth we are lucky enough to have with those less fortunate that us, the wealth that we have been afforded by the lives and countries we were born into. Jeff thinks it is not fair that we work hard and have to give our money to people who don't work as hard. It's all how you view it I guess. But these differences, they just have me thinking... who is responsible? Where is the humanity? What can I do?

I am called to act. The question is how? I am trying to figure that out...

This is from the web site of th book From Ashes to Africa:

Our story begins where the trailhead ends.
A rocky marriage.
Life pressures.
Infertility.

The deep, dark woods. We've all
been there.

Good stories, though, always contain a moment of
grace. A moment where the narrative arc takes a surprising twist, and
bends toward hope.

For us, that exquisite moment of grace took
place in an orphanage in Africa
where we met and fell in love with a baby
boy named Tesfamariam.

Adoption was our awakening. It's where
we discovered a world within our
world made up of 4.4 million orphans. As a
result, we know we can't go back to
life as normal. Instead we feel summoned
to a lifestyle of involvement with the
"least of these."

I guess what I am trying to say is that I feel like this is my moment of Grace...