Scott Freeman

I had intended to blog about how inane and disappointing MTV’s coverage was on Saturday of Live 8. The single most important concert event in history was covered with all the professionalism and grace of a first grade production of Les Mis.
The concert was about the music and MTV completely lost that among the insipid banter of their “hosts” and cutaways from performances for wooden interviews.
Looks like they may try a redo. Seeing how badly they botched it the first time around they couldn’t do worse.
Or maybe they should just “Let it Be”

Link: MTV Stung by Live 8 Criticism.

Watch this video and sign the letter. We must make a difference.

When I started writing on this site I made a silent agreement with myself:
No politics.
It’s just too messy and all I will do is fire people up when there are others more qualified than myself to deal with sticky hot-button issues of the day.
I’m not sure how much longer I can keep that agreement.
The way it is shaping up only for about another sentence or two.
For my heart is breaking. And I feel that we are repeating the same mistakes of the past.
In 1994 the African nation of Rwanda lost over 800,000 people due to tribal fighting.
America did nothing.
I was 26 years old and knew next to nothing about what was taking place on the other side of the world.
When I did learn of the atrocities I brushed it off as not my problem.
“We can’t bail out the entire world.”
“Let’s offer a hand-up and not a hand-out”
And precious souls, the least of these, found themselves abandoned and broken on the unforgiving wheels of living.
In 1998 Bill Clinton went to Rwanda and apologized for our blindness:
We did not act quickly enough after the killing began. We should not
have allowed the refugee camps to become safe havens for the killers.
We did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name:
genocide. We cannot change the past. But we can and must do everything
in our power to help you build a future without fear, and full of
hope…. We owe to all the people in the world our best efforts to
organize ourselves so that we can maximize the chances of preventing
these events. And where they cannot be prevented, we can move more
quickly to minimize the horror.

Although no excuse exists for not intervening, the pledge to be more vigilant in the future is the least that we can do.
Yesterday, after a 6 month silence on the issue, President Bush acknowledged that there is genocide taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan.
400,000 people are dead.
2.5 million people are without homes.
Now we must make sure that we stand up. That our government is not once again silent to genocide in a nation that has no money to give us, no precious resources that we covet.
We must make sure that this time we value human life not just what human life can give us.
This is not a Republican issue.
This is not a Democrat issue.
The blame does not go solely to Bill Clinton for our un-involvement in Rwanda.
The blame will not go solely to George W. Bush for our un-involvement in Darfur.
We must stand up and make our voices heard.
For this is a Christian issue.
It smacks at the heart of who we are called to be.
To be hope for the hopeless.
Provide homes for the homeless.
Salvation for the lost and downtrodden.
And a voice for those whose voices have been muted by the cacophony of war.

I am ashamed that I have been so silent in my cries for social justice.
That I have been content to live a prosperous life while others struggle for survival.
That I have relegated to the government the work of developing a heart for those in need.

I don’t know where I got the idea that dropping a tithe in the collection basket was giving enough.
I don’t know where I got the idea that preaching as a career was service enough.
I don’t know where I got the idea that loving my family was loving enough.
I don’t know where I got the idea that it was solely the responsibility of Washington D.C. to tend to the needs of others.

I do know that I did not get this ideas from Jesus.
I did not get these ideas from the example that He set.
He loved people. He gave all of Himself.
I must endeavor to do the same.
Will you? Go to Sojourners and Darfur Genocide to learn more.
Together we can make a difference.
Thank you for listening to me.
Now back to the regularly scheduled stuff.