community, human spirit, culture and faith

What does community mean to us as a society? Are we living in a way that promotes human kindness, compassion, love, understanding and acceptance? If not, why? Don’t we want to live that way? If America is such a superpower, why can’t we help our own people, let alone help others in the world that are struggling? What is wrong, what is missing? Are we not all human with the same basic needs, fears and desires?

The power of the human spirit - It never ceases to amaze me what people can overcome in their lives and still remain positive, full of hope and not only have the will to survive but to become or achieve something greater.

Culture – are you proud of who you are and where you have come from? Are you willing to examine other cultures and accept them as different but understand that we are all humans and that there is something to learn from each other? What are the positive and negative aspects of growing up in our American culture?

Faith – To me, it doesn’t matter if you believe in a religion or not or which one you do believe in. Do you have faith that you were created for a reason – that there is something inside of you that is meant to be discovered and shared with the world? That no matter what your past has dealt you in life, do you believe that you have the power inside to achieve anything you set your mind to?

These are all questions that came up for me during and after watching God Grew Tired of Me. It’s the story of the lost boys of Sudan. When a civil war broke out in Sudan over religion and oil, orders were given to kill all boys, no matter the age, in south Sudan. Parents were killed – some right before the eyes of their own children. Families were broken apart. 27,000 boys, some as young as 3-4, were left with only each other to survive. They walked thousands of desert miles, barefoot, first to Ethiopia where once again they had to flee, this time to Kenya. By the time they reached the refugee camp in Kenya, half of them had either died of starvation, disease or had been attached by the wildlife of Africa. With no family, no homeland to call their own, they were stuck in the camp for 10 years. At that point, some of them were given an opportunity to come to the United States. This documentary is the story of 3 of these boys and their life in Africa, their journey/adjustment to America, while never forgetting those they left behind or where they came from. It’s not very often we get to see and hear a perspective of our country through another’s eyes…I think that perspective alone is worth watching this film. But if you enjoy inspiring stories that make you want to be a better person than you already are, go check it out!

And if the darkness is to keep us apart...
And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off...