Remedies Not Solutions January 27, 2008

I had to read a literary story for my English 2 class and respond to it for a grade. The idea is to interact with the story. That isn’t so hard to do and it provokes some thought processes that I don’t use on a daily basis. It allows me to stretch my mind. Give it a little workout. I enjoy it. And, even better, I am given a voice. You all know how much I love to give my view of things; thus this website. My own little corner… [read Why Do I Blog and you'll understand].

I read a story written by Anton Chekhov called Gooseberries,which was first published in 1898. It was not all that enlightening at first glance. The setting is gray and wet and cold. The views of the characters are a bit dull and boring. The fact that I live in 2008 sheds very little light on the way of life back then, especially for someone who is from the other side of the globe. Honestly, I am not a history buff and I am geography illiterate and I’m ok with that.

However, once I started my 200 word minimum reading response it dawned on me what the story was all about. Contradictions. Oh, yeeess. Those. I almost decided to switch which story to respond to because that is quite a thing to tackle. No humor. Dark. Gloomy.

So I thought I better just get it over with. I am glad I did. Here is why. It made me realize that we (the general population) mostly only have remedies for the evil perpetrated upon humanity. Not solutions. We gather donations to help the needy. We volunteer at homeless shelters, women’s centers, jails, churches, food banks, animal shelters, hospitals. We adopt children domestically or internationally to give them a home and love and a family. It’s wonderful what we do to reach out to those in need. Our capacity to be compassionate is great and awesome!

Now here comes the depressing part. What dent has it made? 

Follow my thinking for a moment. This might seem off topic, but I am going somewhere with it I assure you. You all know we are moving. I started packing the weekend after I found out. I have boxes lined up all around the house. Many, many boxes. But, unless someone looks closely, you can’t even see a dent. In other words, my house still looks full of stuff from one end to the other. I have worked my tail off trying to gather boxes, wrap the breakables, empty drawers and shelves, throw away things just hanging around for the sake of hanging around, and all the while being a mom to two very energetic toddlers. Even still — barely noticeable to anyone other than me.

Did you know that approximately 15 million children starve to death annually? What dent have we made?

Here’s the thing — I vehemently believe that we should keep up the fight, but I think we need a little more zip and a lot more urgency! We haven’t even made a dent. Meanwhile, I just stuffed my pork face full of hamburger and mashed cauliflower. I won’t go to bed hungry. Chances are, I won’t even be hungry when I wake up — at least not for a couple hours. Once I am, I’ll saunter over to the fridge, casually take out a couple of pasteurized for my safety eggs, cook some turkey sausage, and about 20 minutes after I sauntered over to the fridge I’ll stuff my pie hole again. I might even burp in satisfaction. Oh, and I’ll take a multi-vitamin. So will my kids.

There needs to be a solution. Once and for all. But until we are no longer satisfied with mere remedies there will be no solution. We feel good about the band-aids we put on the problems. If the thing still bleeds we’ll just put on a new band-aid.

I am haunted by the fact that if Christians would put their feet down and demand change, then follow through, there would be a dent. There would be such a huge dent that the whole world would pay attention. No God in school they tell us. Then we should put God in the world. Stick Him right in their faces. Make the news talk about Jesus Christ for weeks. Show the world what He has done through us, His children. Join together. Make a change. Stop the contradictions and provide the solution. No more remedies — provide the solution. We can do it. If only we would!

Well, back to surfing the Internet. But not until I fill up my glass with fresh, filtered water and eat a couple of Hershey kisses.

Contradictions.