Inter-Communal violence and discrimination - global
Individual Documents
Description:
"Mountains, tall trees, the sunset over broad
desert landscapes, a painting by Klimt, even a
beautiful sculpture, all inspire me. A perfect
sentence that turns my mind inward, then out
and around an issue in a book is a wonder to
me. A smoothly executed move climbing steep
rock, the turns made descending a steep couloir
on skis, and the silence felt while paddling on a
mountain lake with no wind are other forms of
this sublime thing. My wife when she smiles and
my daughters when they stand their ground in
fierce goodness are yet other angles on what my
soul screams: “beautiful, absolutely beautiful.”
It may be my age. I’m 51. I’ve worked with
refugees and displaced people for nearly 30
years. Through the different seasons of life I’ve
felt the pull to originality, independence, and
characteristics like fearlessness. But now, the
thing that sets my soul on fire is beauty.
My work with refugees and displaced
people has formed how people know me and
even altered my sense of identity. My work has
been my passion. But finally I realize that what
shapes my soul is not context. War, violence,
and deprivation provoke a sense of injustice and
motivate me to work for restorative change; but
the deeper driver is the incredible fact of people’s
tenacity to thrive, to make the best out of what
meager provision and resources are left to them,
and to speckle the hard and terrible times with
laughter and even joy.
Beauty is magnified when it grows out
of the war-torn Nineveh desert; it is enhanced
when it appears in remote hiding places in
Karen State, and it is more arresting when it
smiles broad goodness in moments, even years,
of terrible crisis.
It’s audacious. In the face of overwhelming
violence and oppression, how can people be
so courageous, so daringly wonderful, and so
incredibly sacrificial? I’m finding answers to my
deepest questions of faith by observing a loving
father teaching his son to make a toy of bamboo
and rubber bands, not by reading yet another
book on theology.
The refugees and displaced families our
team serves are not cast in a victim mold.
Though victimized, the majority of those I
have met are strong, resilient, loving, and selfsacrificing. They fall in love on the run; through
dangerous times they build a life, a family, and
exploit what possibilities exist not merely to
survive, but to live a full and joyous life.
Do you want to know what it means
when we say “To Love Is To Act?” Observe any
displaced or refugee community. Do you wish to
see beauty? Observe the poor with curious and
hopeful eyes.
The collection of news and stories you hold
has been assembled by a dedicated team to give
you an inside look at what doing something
beautiful looks like in Myanmar and other
conflict zones. I’m proud to contribute to a
work so congruous to what Partners Relief
& Development is all about. We went to the
battlefield to give, to help the displaced and
poor stand against seemingly insurmountable
odds. What we gained is a priceless gift. We
have learned beauty, learned to pray, and are
attempting to live it out..."
Source/publisher:
Christians Concerned for Burma via Free Burma Rangers (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.08 MB (28 pages)
Local URL:
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