When I watch that musical and listen to those songs I feel like a revolutionary. I would like to think that I would have been brave enough to fight for what I believed in. That if I was a member of the upper crust, I would have treated the peasants differently. That if I was in a position of power like the Monseigneur, I too would have had mercy and trust in a defeated man I didn't know.
It's easy to watch that musical and feel shivers about how how bad it was back then, and how marginalized the poor were and how corrupt the government was and then go off with our day because, um hello! Those things happened a couple centuries ago! Life is good now!
Sure, Marius, I would have joined in your crusade and stood with you, but...I don't live in revolutionary France. Your struggle is over and I'm already free. And all the people I know are too. So, great job. Your friends didn't die for nothing. I see myself and my own struggles echoed and amplified through your stories, I identify my own mistakes and fears with yours, but life just isn't as grand anymore. Not for me. For better or worse, life isn't a romantic novel.
But wait! Governments without the consent of the people? Little girls like Cosette trapped in slavery? Abject poverty that many of the wealthy ignore? Children like Gavroche fighting in civil wars and revolutions? Women like Fantine marginalized into prostitution to survive?
Sounds like...Uganda! And Tunisia! And Syria! And Thailand! And parts of the US that everyone ignores! Sounds like all sorts of places in the 21st century!
Each and every one of those larger than life characters from Les Mis is counterpart to a real person today. And there are so many of them. Some are literally the beggars at our feet as we cross the street or as we drive through the next zip code. Some are in far away lands like Sudan or Palestine. But in a globalized world of ever increasing international trade these people are our neighbors in a very real way. Surely we can afford to export compassion as well as grain.
The French Revolution is over. The American Revolution is history. World War Two is a topic for Oscars winning movies.
But, there are so many battles left to fight. The war against poverty is just beginning. People are finally starting to talk about it and, most importantly, listen to the calls of global injustice and inequality. The human race is good at responding to the call to arms. It's in our nature. The pages of history are littered with glorious battles.
The thing is, providing health care to a child with diarrhea or a family without mosquito nets is so much less epic than following a flag into battle. For the time being, our personal liberties and safety are not at stake. I mean, yes, I could make an argument about how human security affects US National Security because the poor and marginalized are more likely to become terrorists, but that's not my point. My point is that the war against poverty and all the oppression and injustice that often accompanies it is, largely, not our own. To a degree its against foreign governments not fulfilling their duty to their people (which I also won't say much on because then we get into American Exceptionalism, which is a controversial topic). But, most importantly, this war on poverty is, in a way, against ourselves.
Let me explain that. NO I absolutely don't mean that we personally caused inequality or should feel guilty about it. But we are in one of the most unique situations in the history of the world in that we can actually do something about it! I really believe that. We have the resources that no other generations have had. The internet gives us a way to mobilize like never before. It gives us information about the state of the world that we can't ignore. It's given us an easier way to give monetarily to causes we believe in.
Money by itself won't solve these problems, but, put in the hands of an honest, transparent organization committed to a purpose you believe in, it sure would help. Last summer my parents were kind enough to give me some money to pass along to a girl, Sharon, whose education had been interrupted by the civil war in Uganda and who had no funding to go back. They gave her a fairly large sum which paid off debts she had owed for previous school semesters as well as the tuition for the coming term.
As I prepare to go back to Uganda next month, I've been trying to figure out a way to get her more money to pay for her next semester. I thought it would require some big sacrifice on my part. But as I went through my records I was rather humbled by what I found. The costs of Sharon's school semester, a fee so great in their economy that many don't graduate high school, was 123,200 Ugandan shillings.
That's 45 dollars and 38 cents.
To put that in perspective, that's the cost of perhaps 2 shirts at target, dinner for 3 at Applebees, or a few movie showings at the theater.
On a student's budget its not nothing-but it's worth thinking about. As the venerable C.S. Lewis said, "I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare...If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us,... they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditures exclude them."
I'm going to keep buying myself stupid unnecessary things just because I want them. But I'm trying to train myself to at least put things in perspective and consider the fact that the money I'm paying for a pair of shoes is more than what I would need to give to help a girl receive her education. Sometimes I will carry on. Sometimes I may re-evaluate because really, there should be some things I would like to have and cannot have because my charitable expenditures exclude them.
What I'm saying is that, guess what? Be careful what you wish for, Jenny. There is a revolution going on now. It's a bit abstract and you won't have to die for it. So that's a relief. But its there and to ignore it or refuse to participate in it in any way shape or form is to deny a moral imperative. There is suffering and there is pain and their is inequality and there really is some little thing you and I can do about it. And if we all do that little thing, who knows? Big things may start falling into place.
I don't get to stand on a barricade, but I do get to stand on a soapbox! This tirade is as much a sermon to myself as anyone else. But to prove that I put my money where my mouth is, I'm stepping off this comfortable self-righteous soapbox real soon and am heading out to Uganda next month to work for a development cause I believe in. And while I'm there I'm gonna find Sharon, I'm gonna go with her to her school. And I'm going to personally pay for next semester's tuition.
If anyone else wants to contribute some small amount to help victims of civil war receive an education feel free to let me know--there's no overhead!
Vive La Revolution!
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| Sharon and Rom- the angel who helped me get the money to her |
I'm not going to lie, I didn't read your whole post. I didn't need to. I got to "there are so many battles left to fight" and I was all, preach it girl! You're so right! There are so many Miserables out there. The main battle for me, however, has been how to join the fray. So much red tape...
ReplyDeleteYeah! Revolution! haha this is what I love about you, Jenny. I totally agree about there being so much left to do, so much that we can do.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Matt, I did read the whole thing. It was great. :) But like Matt, I've also been frustrated by what seem like insurmountable barriers to getting involved. Would I pass on a new pair of shoes so someone else could go to school? Of course. But I'm not there, I haven't met these people, and it's so hard to know whom to trust to make those connections. Of course, I do trust you, mon amie.
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