In which I am distracted and heartbroken.

I don’t often pay attention to world news. I can’t, I know that sounds like a cop-out, and it probably is, but seeing images of violence, especially against children, can literally leave me non-functional for days. I remember in a WWII class we saw a film that reenacted the Goebels (? I may have the family wrong, but I’m not reading about that again) killing their children so they wouldn’t fall into Allied hands. I was crying silently in class, but by the time it was over I flew out of the room because I could not stop. I couldn’t drive myself home, I cried for days. Years after that I figured out I must be a sensitive type, and thus I ask Himself to filter the news for me (world-changing events I do read about, I won’t be ignorant).

So I’m paying attention now. And I’m voicing my opinion freely on Facebook, on Twitter, because I see memes, or thoughts, that I believe to be inaccurate. I repost articles that I think are relevant. But I’m not going to do that here. Here, I would simply implore you to help the innocents in all this. I don’t think anyone, on either side of the political spectrum, actively wishes hurt on any non-terrorists (if you do you’re a non-person, so you don’t count). So even if you disagree/agree/want another solution for the arguments going on right now, I think we could agree that we’d all like to help, even if we disagree on the manner of helping. And not just for the current refugees. I’ve seen people bring up the argument that other people are suffering, why point out just these refugees? And they’re right, in a way. We shouldn’t ignore any who are in need of aid. So, I bring the following organizations to your attention (this is not exhaustive and is, for the most part, only representative of Christian organizations; not because I feel they’re the only way, but because that’s what I tend to gravitate to. I endorse ANY credible aid organization):

http://www.worldvision.org (we do not currently sponsor through them but I know people who do)

http://www.compassion.com (we do sponsor through them. We’ve had one child graduate, and we’re helping one child for each family member. It is an absolute honor to do this)

http://www.medicalteams.org (I learned about them through this blog post and we now support them.)

http://www.worldreliefdupage.org (Backpacks for refugee children. I learned about them through this blog post and we have donated a backpack)

I don’t normally like to talk about where we give, Jesus said not to do that, but I’m hoping it’ll provide credibility. I know I like to research and hear other people’s stories before we give to a charitable organization.

Between Himself’s post yesterday and this today, we’ve veered completely away from art. We shall return to regularly scheduled programming. Thank you for listening.