Reality

I was messing around on some blogs today (trying to avoid my paper) and happened upon Aaron Monts' blog and a shocking, raw picture. Almost immediately I heard Derek Webb start up in my brain..."poverty is so hard to see when it's only on your tv and twenty miles across town. where we're all living so good, that we moved out of Jesus' neighborhood...where's he hungry and not feeling so good from going through our trash." (from "Rich Young Ruler")

"young homeless man beavis shooting up in the tenderloin.
he picks his scabs to find a good spot;
and tries a few locations before he gets a vein.
he has the "love" and "hate" tattos from "night of the hunter" on his fingers.
he's showing "love" with his right hand as he sticks the needle in." Rest of his story here.

This stuff is real, and most of us (including myself) live in our insulated reality where we don't expose ourselves to this...or, if we see it on the news, we either look away quickly or flip the channel. Too uncomfortable. Might make our whining about money or cynicism pale in comparison to this man's situation.

So click away quickly. Wouldn't want to upset your world (or mine).

Or stare and absorb. Reality isn't easy, and demands a response.

So what'll it be? Naive insulated existence (aka ignorance of reality)?
Or do we let the gospel drive us to weep on our knees for this man...and compel us to action in our world in the name of Jesus?

Thanks for the dose of reality, Aaron.