Froggy

Yesterday I learned the Khmer phrase, "like the frog in the well". It means to be without information or to be kept "in the dark". Our teacher at university explained it this way, "In Pol Pol times we were kept like the frog in the well."

I contemplated this idiom while cycling home (for the entire five minute journey!) and decided that since I have a choice I don't want to be the frog in the well. I want my eyes to be opened to the needs of people here in Cambodia. I want to keep hearing what is happening in other nations. I want to have faith enough to respond in prayer. I want the discipline to live out the questions that these stories provoke.

I'm thankful that there are a number of ways that I can be kept "out of the well". Firstly, I'm rather pleased that it is cheaper to subscribe to The Economist magazine from here than it is from Australia. (I've signed a two year subscription- woo hoo!). Also, a big thanks to friends in Hong Kong who sent me their Crossection mag and whose lives help me to Remember the poor. Thanks to friends here who have DVDs and DVD players so I can watch movies like Hotel Rwanda that aren't so great with popcorn but that I need to see. Lastly... I'm so glad to have friends in Australia who continue to live "in the light" and help me to do likewise... (Read your emails today Carlyn, Rosie & Mum. You guys are tops!)

Frogs are cute but I don't want to be the frog in the well.