Holiday Déjà Vu

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - It was my task to write something about the holidays and relate the meaning and experience of the holidays to the lives of our friends in the refugee camps.

As I stare at the blank Word Doc, instead of the spirit of Christmas coming over me, what I get is this overwhelming feeling of déjà vu!

It just feels like I’ve said “this” already, and said it many, many times: “There are people that are suffering, and they are just like us.

They are the victims of humanity’s most horrible crime, genocide. There is joy in participating compassionately in a community that extends across oceans and continents.”

Over the last five years, my experience of the holidays has changed drastically. It means a lot more…and a lot less. When I’m sitting with my kids and family, this alone is the meaning of the holidays.

It has become a very simple and basic experience, where I don’t let the rest of the noise get to me. It’s about family and community.

Should we think about genocide during a time of joy and celebration? Yes. I can assure you that our friends in the camps are thinking about us, and they have us in their prayers.

For the few of you that read this, I ask for one simple holiday gift…or maybe two. First, write one sentence or a short paragraph, speaking directly to our refugee friends and post it as a comment.

We will take these to camps with us on our next trip in the beginning of 2010. You have no idea how powerful it is for them to feel connected to you and to a community “out there” that is thinking of them and working on their behalf.

Second, pledge to check back in with us in January. We’ll work together to make some serious noise and push our leaders to act decisively to finally bring peace, protection, and justice to Darfur and all of Sudan.

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Peter Lawless December 23, 2009 10:00 am (Pacific time)

I don't know, I have never met you, yet you are a human being, made in God's image just like me and for that I love you, I love you as much as any human being could love another. maybe I don't understand how people could treat you badly, treat you as less than you deserve - it is indeed beyond my comprehension My hear goes out to you and asks you to be strong, to have faith and somehow, yes somehow dredge up love in your own heart. The people who have done these terrible acts to you have fallen, they have fallen far from grace, yet somehow God still loves them, it is just they can not see it. So as well as giving you my love, I am going to make a huge ask from you, and ask that somehow may eventually help put a stop to the atrocity that is happening to you. Could you love the loveless, could you somehow extend compassion to the facelessness that is unloved and commits this heinous crime against you and your race? If you can't, I understand, if you can, well wow, you are amazing. No matter who you are, you are someone who deserves love, and may you have all of my love and compassion. Peter

Peter Lawless December 23, 2009 9:59 am (Pacific time)

Willow December 23, 2009 6:50 am (Pacific time)

To the Refugees of Darfur: Our leaders have an obligation to protect those here in the U.S. as well as those in our Natioanl Community. In turn, the people of the U.S. have an obligation to keep their leaders pointed in the right direction and ensure they are protecting those in need whether it is in the U.S. or abroad. There are many people here in the U.S. working very hard to point our leaders to Darfur with more action. You are beautiful and do not deserve what you have endured. You are in my thoughts and heart this holiday season and always.

Jeffrey Kirkman - December 21, 2009 3:55 am (Pacific time)

Hello to you, yes you, reading this. I write to you from a country where complacency and a life of relative ease and comfort has dulled the hearts and minds of millions, and blinded us to the suffering in the rest of the world. I speak to you today from my warm home in the South of Texas, in the once-great US of A. I say "once-great" because of the atrocities that are inflicted upon you, without much help from us here in one of the richest nations on Earth. I assure you, all is not lost; I am, and many like me are thinking of you. We are urging our half-Kenyan President, Barack Hussein Obama, to send support your way in the form of food, clothing, medical supplies - drugs, equipment and the personnel to administer and instruct in their applications. We also urge our other leaders - Congressmen and Senators, to come together in this worthy cause, to end the fighting in all the world, to push for diplomatic solutions to age-old rivalries amongst warring factions who sometimes know not even the reasons for which they fight. We are urging the United Nations to send more peace-keeping forces; arbitrators and administrators of peaceful solutions to this senseless fighting. My wish for you this Christmas season, is that you are safe, above all, and that you, your children and grandchildren have a chance to live a life free from fear and hostility. My heartfelt wish, that I send in the hopes that you not give in to despair: for God's grace and love to watch over and protect you and your loved ones, that you may enjoy life in peace. One man who cares about you.

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