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December 11, 2006

advent: the activism ("get-off-your-butt-and-care") edition

i realise i'm a little late on this, but punctuality was never my strong suit. no, not even on a blog.

last week was the beginning of the advent season. i love advent. it makes time seem less ordinary, and more laced with the deliciousness of possibility. the Christmas tree goes up, every track from disc one of Handel's Messiah quickly moves into the "Top 25 Most Played" list on my iPod, and i begin to panic about how many cards and e-mails need to go out to greet people for the holidays.

last week was also World AIDS Day, a day to call people to unite globally to stop the spread of AIDS, and to be active against the pandemic that is devastating sub-Saharan Africa. i was able to attend a conference on AIDS and the Christian church, thanks to an invitation from my friend Marti. sure, the big draw was hearing speakers like Sen. Barack Obama, or Archbishop of Rwanda Emmanuel Kolini, but the true value to me was seeing this huge group of Christians dialogue openly and realistically about what is too often treated as a dirty subject by the church. while the face of AIDS has changed dramatically in the recent past, with many women and children getting the disease by no choice of their own, it still seems to be a subject that engenders a tremendous amount of either judgemental moralising, or denial that the issue is at all personally relevant.
there's a lot we can all do about AIDS, and two things seem to stand out to me. one is easy: go get HIV-tested. i did. i had no reason to think that i might be positive, but i wanted to have the experience, especially so i could more strongly encourage people i know with high risk factors to do it. even if you think there's no way you could be HIV-positive, go do it. it's absolutely painless (either a cheek swab or a pinprick on the finger), and takes all of twenty minutes. you can quickly find a clinic or medical center that offers free -- and even anonymous -- tests here by simply entering your zip code. the more people who know their status, the less power HIV has to spread.
the other, much harder thing you can do is to shift your attitude towards the HIV/AIDS crisis. if you're confused or clueless, get educated. if you're indifferent, try to care by seeing the human face of the illness: you may not be sick, but you are certainly affected by it. if you're apathetic, get active -- either politically or financially. and if you're judgemental, remember that Jesus never asked people how or why they got sick, he just asked them how He could help them. then He would heal them, body and spirit. only then would He mention their personal choices at all. perhaps we -- perhaps i -- would do well to have the same swiftness of compassion.

and then yesterday was International Human Rights Day. it's basically the anniversary of the United Nations' adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which contains thirty articles describing the rights and privileges that every person should have. some are obvious, like the right to "life and liberty" or the right to have an education. others are less so, such as "the right to participate fully in cultural life." this year's theme was "Fighting Poverty: A Matter Of Obligation, Not Charity." if eradicating extreme poverty is treated as a non-negotiable obligation to fellow humans, than it can become an acheivable goal instead of hopeful thinking. you can get involved right now by checking out the massive grassroots ONE Campaign.

advent is indeed a time of reflection and hope; it is the looking for the coming of the Light that shines in the darkness. the world is dark indeed -- just a few pages of any news magazine or a few minutes of a news program will confirm this. even still, there is light, and lots of it...but it's up to each person how brightly they will choose to shine.
this advent, there will be lots of parties and holiday programs and decorating and of course, surviving the last-minute gift-buying frenzy. yes, it is important to find the pauses in each day that allow reflection. but it's also important to make choices that give hope, both to others and to oneself.

Posted by hadashi at December 11, 2006 11:16 AM

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