I'm not a very religious person, but I do find that there are many philosophical truths in the Bible. One is the idea that fear is the opposite of love. John 1 4:18 says "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love". Today I came across a posting on FB of a little girl who was missing. The snapshot was a repost from Instagram that contained very little information about the little girl. It was simply a post from her mother who was frustrated and venting about the lack of support she was receiving from the media to help find her daughter. I usually repost these pictures right away, put instead I decided to look at the comments, curious to find out more information. What I found was that many people were curious like me. After reading a few nasty comments from people who claimed this was a scam, I came across a comment with a link to the actual news story. Turns out this was not a scam and this little girl really was missing, in fact she ran away which is why there was not as much publicity surrounding the story.
Then I started thinking, what if I had not found the link? Would I still have shared the post? What is it about other people potentially getting over on us that makes us so afraid and closes our hearts to others. Why do we need to have all the facts before reposting a picture of a missing child? And why does doubt seem to overpower good will? Do we really want to risk a child's life on the word of a few pessimists who believe everything on the internet is a scam? Has the media put so much fear in our hearts that we are that untrusting of one another. And so what if it was a scam, would I have taken a lost? I believe this is the same thinking that prevents us from lending a stranger a dollar, donating to a just cause, or engaging in other acts of kindness. How many times have you actually been scammed out of your money by someone other than a business trying to sell you a product you don't need? And if you have, how traumatic of an impact was that on your life? I can't recall any that I know of.
Early March of last year a video bringing awareness to the Invisible Children Campaign, which called for the arrest of Lords Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony, went viral receiving over 98 million views. It was obvious that people were moved by this film and in turn wanted to help. Then there were the pessimists, who fought long and hard to destroy the reputation of these activists whose intentions in my eyes were very clear. Call me naïve. What I do know, is that the more the pessimists fought, the more people began to doubt. And before you knew it, no one was even talking about it anymore. All people wanted to discuss was the psychotic break the director, Jason Russell, underwent, which his wife claimed was a direct result of all of the criticism and personal attacks he received over the film, which was very near to his heart. I cant help but wonder, what if things had went differently. What if all of us would have put our faith in these men, that they were doing the right thing. The way I see it this could have played out one of two ways. 1. It could have been a scam and we all could have lost the $5-$20 the majority of us may have donated to this cause, and our feelings may have been hurt for about a week. 2. We could have saved thousands of children in Africa from being kidnapped, tortured, raped, turned into sex slaves and child soldiers, and forced to kill their parents and siblings. I for one would risk being made a fool if I could save one child from this awful fate. What about you?
