Not If If Don't Have To

A friend who works with an NGO in Hong Kong wrote these words in an email last month:

In recent months we, as a team, have been looking at the special place in Dad's heart for the poor.

We had been spending our times together looking at what his book says about it and then diving into some 'experiences' to help us step into their shoes. All we had done on this night was switch off the air-con. That was it! We switched off the air-con at the result from one team member was 'Why are we doing this!?', 'to identify with 2 thirds of the world that live this way' we replied. 'Not if we don't have too!!' came back the reply.

She continued-

It was a response that has had me thinking ever since. What is our responsibility to those in need? What is our role as people who 'have'. Are we seeking to become like them or have them become like us?

In the past year or so I have been fighting an inner war of the worlds. In my role of PR etc I do a lot of travelling. Even the fact that I am able to jump on a plane places me in the top 1% of the world. Even though I have no money to my name, I have so many resources at my fingertips. Internet connection, food, clean water, a masters level education, I speak English and I know Dad. This week I am staying (courtesy of a Rotary club person) in a 5 star hotel in Copenhagen. I am on one of the top floors looking below at all that is there. It is a comfortable place to be. It got me thinking about Dad and how he and his son had it pretty comfortable upstairs. He wasn't doing anything wrong up there but he realised that there was stuff that was not right here on earth. He could have dealt with it from where he was but he chose to identify. He chose to dive into the mess and deal with it from within it. He didn't, in the process, give up his position upstairs but he chose to bring the power of that place into the world.

The process of identification is a difficult one. I know and I am dealing with it all the time as a communications vessel for the many charities that we serve.

Even with all of that information at my fingertips, my heart does not often get moved. Those occasions when I get a chance to visit the places that we serve, though, are a different story. My senses are attacked and re-calibrated to reality.

Not everyone gets the chance to visit the places that I do. In recent months, we have found that through experiential activities, we are able to give people a sensory experience of the poor.

At the end of the email, the question was restated: Should we identify with the poor, should we 'have to'?

My single word answer would be "yes" but I think this question deserves more than a one word response. So stay tuned....