My breath is taken away by the different levels the world lives on. Here in Honduras it is especially drastic. In three hours I can go from a rural village where the main problems to solve are how to get some water to do basic chores and carrying a load of wood on your head to cook with to the main San Pedro mall where people walk in to buy expensive designer labels and are significantly overweight. This is something I always struggle with, but as I am here bouncing back and forth around the country, from village to village and between groups and from groups to time with my Honduran friends and family, I am struggling with it again.
TV makes it worse. I can spend all day in a rural village, passing out Christmas boxes to children and then go home and watch LOST on cable here, complete with the American commercials. LOST looks different from down here. Their problems look different, and I find myself wondering if when they try to get back to the island how much mosquito repellent they tried to smuggle into their bags, because you KNOW on that island the mosquitoes have GOT to be killer. And then a commercial break comes. Big new colored washer and dryer!! The same day I came from a village that just now has water flowing from a tap to each house for fifteen minutes in the morning, fifteen minutes in the evening, and we saw a woman scrubbing a pair of jeans by hand with some soap, a scrub brush, and a rock.
I guess it's reverse culture shock like always, but the new level of it while I'm here in Honduras is disconcerting.
On Sunday I watched a special on Animal Planet in Spanish with my Honduran friends. It was about climate change, and how a westernized lifestyle contributes to climate damage. The house I was in doesn't have air conditioning, has almost all energy-saving light bulbs, doesn't produce nearly as much trash as I do, and use bucket showers because that's all there is, saving a lot of water. Yet we had a long discussion about what else to do to save energy to reduce the carbon footprint.
What is wrong with those in the world who are so greedy? Why don't we let Jesus work in our hearts to live more simply, more generously, more in tune with those in need, and not for just a week or two a year?
But here I am as much at fault as anyone, sitting here listening to my ipod and blogging on my computer, watching my cable tv at night and enjoying my hot shower as much as anyone.
Good things can happen when we share. Yesterday we went to pass out Christmas boxes and rice to that village I blogged about three weeks ago, that intense day, and the joy on the faces in that village was rewarding and heartwarming.
I encourage all of us to continue to take action to see what we can do to help those in the world who are struggling. Let's live generously!!
