The high threshold.

When I saw the headline article on BBC news this morning, I thought that the picture of masked ETA members was going to be more bad news. It turns out to be quite the opposite. How great is it to hear that a group known for civilian violence has called for a permanent ceasefire in order to focus on democratic solutions? I know if is not a complete resolution to all that has gone on in that region, but it is certainly a giant leap in the right direction.

.........

Things in Sudan continue to fester.

There is a strange separation in my mind between the Sudan that I visited last November and the Sudan that I read about on the news. Sometimes it is hard to believe that they are the same. When I think about being there, I smell the thick air and green valleys. I picture kids from the villages running out to greet us, and I remember the peaceful feeling of waking up to the early sun outside the hut at the orphanage. These things are what I know in Sudan. They are my experiences. My memories are full of friends.

The scars on children that sat in my lap are also real to me. I can trace the outlines of their injuries in my mind, and I know they are evidence of the war that still lingers around them. I hear the echoes of stories from my friends about being forced to be a child soldier, seeing their houses burned, being separated from families, and much more. These things also shape how I know Sudan.

But when I read about Sudan on the news, it seems like it could be on a different planet. It becomes a giant mess of issues that earns second-tier story status. The problems are huge and vague, and they tell us that there is some work being done somewhere by someone to help. There is no connection to a person, there are just masses of people. It is a low priority on the big lists that are weighted by oil and the immediate feedback of approval ratings.

My relationships with Sudanese friends become the lens through which I view the conflict and understand the reports. That is hard work; it is easier to just not process it. Thinking of these stories in a personal way makes for a very tangible feeling of powerlessness. I cannot reach that far, and I cannot stop the conflict. I can’t protect the innocent. But I know that I am responsible to what I have seen, and I am motivated to make those abstract concepts a concrete reality for others because of my friends in Sudan.

In the midst of the dichotomy in my mind, I am glad to know that there are many, many people calling for action. There is a huge rally coming up in April to draw specific attention to Darfur, and many nonprofit and social justice organizations are banding together to keep the developed world accountable to recognizing human equality. I am not so naïve that I expect these issues to just go away silently, but I pray that someday I will wake up to read another story of unexpected good news- this time from out of Sudan.