It seems that often I find myself at 30,000 feet, trying to understand my purpose and where I fit within this world in which God has placed me. Journey with me as we center on the Radical Center of living in a way that emulates Christ in ourselves and to others.
Subscribe in a readerFriday, May 04, 2012
Bombs, grenades, and a Different Perspective
It’s great to hear a success story isn’t it!LeAnn and I heard one just a few nights ago – but it also caused us to reexamine what we sometimes take for granted. Sometimes peoples’ stories help us see our surroundings with a different or new perspective.
Libere Dusabe and his family are our friends. They had us over for dinner the other night and we got to share together. Libere, his wife and girls live in a nice home that he helped to build through Habitat for Humanity. Their kids go to public school. By their standards, they’ve got a great life – but it hasn’t always been so good.
Libere is from Burundi, Africa. He was a victim of the war. He had to flee from village to town and eventually moving to 4 different countries avoiding the violence before coming to America.
I asked how many schools he had attended with all of the moving and violence? He answered, “A lot. We would attend a high school until a bomb destroyed it, or until the enemy began throwing grenades into our classrooms. Then we would have to move to another building!”
He was able to get away, although family and friends didn’t.
As we visited that night, I asked what he thought about America. “Oh it’s great! So safe, and so many opportunities!”
“But one thing just isn’t clear to me”, he continued. “Why don’t Americans take advantage of all the great things that are offered?”
He went on… “I don’t understand. Here in the USA, there is free schooling for my kids, but we know lots of kids in our neighborhood who skip and don’t want to attend – I don’t understand?” “And college is open to everyone – wow!”
Then he said “The kids can even ride a bus for free to school – that’s incredible! But some that live around us gripe about having to ride a bus - I don’t get it?”
Lastly he added, “And with all of the job opportunities, it’s wonderful – I work three jobs! They aren’t the best jobs, but it’s so much better than in Africa. But others would rather sit at home all day. I don’t understand?”
Sometimes, I also don’t understand.
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