Hi everyone,
This is more of a rant than anything else. You can reply if you want to,
or ignore it altogether. Perhaps it is in the wrong section of the
forum, I trust that if it is, the admin will move it to where it belongs.
So my cellphone was stolen today. I was taking part in a 2 day
Christian conference where I live, it was last night and today. I went
last night, and was going to go today for the second half because in
the morning I volunteer at a church based drop-in centre for kids in
the inner city.
It's really awesome work and an honour to be able to serve God by
having them come in and get a meal and have some time to play. And it
can be lots of fun, especially when 4 square or "monster maze" gets
intensely competitive and hilarious. It can also be difficult at times,
especially on a day like today when at least 3 fights broke out and one
of them resulted in me having a basketball thrown at my face and
getting a bit of a cut lip, inside. A lot of the kids come from very
difficult backgrounds, and live in poverty and in a neighbourhood where
violence is unfortunately very common. It doesn't excuse the bad
behaviour, but it helps us keep things in perspective. We managed to
get the boys who were scrapping to calm down and our morning ended
fairly well... until after they left I realized my cellphone was not in
my pocket. I had it on the way there and it was on, I also knew it was
there when the session started. After looking for it for an hour and
calling it a few times, it became painfully obvious it was stolen. I
suspect one of my boys must have taken it, and I had to cancel my plan
and will need to buy a new phone tomorrow... my job requires me to be
"on call" so having a phone is something I need to be able to work.
My annoying story makes me think of the Palestinians I worked with in
the West Bank and the Mexican migrants in the Sonora desert. A missing
cellphone is a nuisance, especially when it's stolen and all the more
so when this happens in a place you are volunteering at by the same
kids you are trying to help. Yet it is absolutely trivial in comparison
to a home destroyed by a bulldozer, or a family farm that had to shut
down because some bureacrats got together and decided they could make a
profit by lowering corn prices. It is nothing compared to having to
walk to school in fear of religious extremists who throw rocks at you
as the army stands by and watches, or having one's fate in the hands of
a drug smuggling gang or cartel. Unlike having to rebuild a new house
or go across the border to look for new work, I have no serious problem
in replacing my phone. The neglect, family breakdown, violence and
poverty that many of the kids I work with have gone through (including
possibly the ones who I suspect stole my phone) also makes my "loss" as
trivial as it is.
I thank God that I am spoiled enough to see the loss of a missing phone
as a nuisance... tens of millions of people around the world on almost
every continent are unsure whether they will have food tonight,
whether they will have a place to sleep or a home to come to, and need
to worry about violence and do not know whether or not tomorrow they
will be alive. And I am am worried about having to buy a new cell
tomorrow. It isn't really fair. And I'm not the one who is in the
"unfair" situation.
I pray that Jesus helps me see Him in the world I live and inspires me
to devote more of my time and attention to following and serving Him.
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