Priorities

I am one of those people who hate watching the news or reading about what is going on in the world because I just get depressed about where life as we know it is going. The other day however, I was curious about all the fighting going on in the Middle East. I assumed it was similar to the fighting in Iraq so I hadn't thought much about reading up on it before. To my horror I learned all about ISIS and the Yazidis and what is really happening over there. To sum things up, a sect of radical Shiite Islamists who call themselves ISIS, is surrounding this mountain where this small religious group called the Yazidis lives. Currently, they are gunning this mountain and treating the Yazidis like ants, trying to smoke them off of their anthill and exterminate them. I could not believe that this was going on in a part of the world.

Meanwhile, our newsfeeds, twitter feeds, and news articles are filled with reports of Robin Williams suicide. I am not trying to discount his death, but as my friend at work said, we worship these celebrities and actors when children, infants, and families are being torn apart with the attacks from ISIS. They starve, thirst and hurt from the hot sun and over here in America, we mourn a comedian, a great comedian, but our priorities are seriously out of whack.

In America, we live in a bubble. We think and believe that we are untouchable. We get into everyone's wars and make things better but we believe that other nations won't come and attack us. We are comfortable. We have food, water, homes, families, and we don't have to worry about getting gunned down as soon we walk out the door. We have religious freedom. No group is standing outside of our church trying to smokes us out. We can pray, sing, and read our Bibles in peace. We even ignore a lot of what is going on in other parts of the world. America is everything to Americans. We don't care about any other countries besides ourselves.

When in the past year have we been broken over the sufferings of others like the Yazidis? When have we cried out to God on their behalf and asked Him to give them strength? When have we looked beyond our comfortable lives here in America, into the lives of those struggling to survive in the Middle East? I know I haven't. But I am really going to strive to read the news every morning to put my life and purpose into perspective. I am not the only thing that consists in my world. There are hurting people both overseas, and in my path that I need to pray for and minister too instead of being a selfish American.

I leave you with one last thought: Where is our priority as Americans? Is it mourning over the death of a comedian we know and love, or is it supporting, encouraging and praying for those over in the Middle East who are being tortured, starved and oppressed?

--Genetic Ginger