SENTINEL WATCH September 1, 2003 Issue

Getting beyond being upset for Africa

By Tony Lobl

"YOU MAY FIND some of the pictures in this report upsetting," advised the BBC News announcer politely, introducing an update on Liberia as the first peacekeepers arrive in Monrovia.

May? I guess there might be some people who could view mass graves being filled with civilians killed in cross-fire, rebels and government forces firing machine guns with wild abandon, and sad and hungry children yearning for safety, and not get upset. But not a lot of us. I consider the precious ones facing this agony my brothers and sisters, and as I watch this news report, my heart yearns to see them comforted. Never having endured a war zone or faced real hunger, I can't truly begin to imagine their pain. But it is easy to get upset for them.

As a spiritual thinker, I ask myself, "Isn't getting upset being a part of the problem, rather than a part of the solution?" As a spiritual warrior, I answer my own question: "That depends on what you get upset over, and what you do about it!"