Mood:  not sure

Okay! Before I begin the diatribe let me tell you right up front. I love animals. We have two cats and a dog that we adore. In fact, even as I write this, our dog is asleep beside me. I hate animal abuse. I will speak out against it if I see it. I wanted to be a zoo keeper when I was little. God created all things and I think we should care for them. I think pets are a very useful part of society. Have I made myself clear. I love animals!

Now, for the diatribe part. I get angry at animal cruelty commercials on television. It's not that I think that something shouldn't be done for the animals, it's just that I like to put things into perspective. I like to prioritize things. When I see those animal commercials do you know what I see?

• I see the faces of our Compassion International kids - Marcelo, Feyber, Somi, Emmanuel and Ismael.
• I see the pictures of the people that BCM International, our mission agency, is helping all around the world.
• I see the folks that we minister to in the projects of the small town that we live in.
• I see hungry children in Africa.
• I see slums in South America.
• I see the poor that live in the inner cities of America.
• I see children and adults that live in financial poverty and spiritual poverty all over the world.

And I wonder.

• I wonder how many folks that see these commercials see the same things that I do.
• I wonder how many folks really care about others.
• I wonder how much money these celebrities give to help their fellow man compared to how much they give to help their four legged friends.
• I wonder why I read and hear folks talking about saving the whales and saving the trees and saving our planet and then, when confronted with poverty, they answer that it's their own faults. The world is overpopulated anyway. They're using our natural resources and destroying the planet.
• I then sit and wonder if I'm wrong. Am I the one that's not getting it?

Even as I sit here and type this there is that twinge of doubt. I worry that maybe I'm taking this too far. Until I see video's like this:

Yes, there are those that give to both human and animal humane agencies. Yes, there is a place for animal activists. Somehow, though, I wonder if the scales are tilted the wrong way. Do we spend enough resources and enough time helping children and adults who, by no fault of their own, were born someplace outside of the great United States?

Do you realize how lucky you are to have been born in this great country or in another wealthy area of the world? God could just as easily have plopped you into a family that lives in a village of Indonesia that still gets its drinking water from the same river that they wash their clothes and bathe in. Or maybe a family that lives in a mosquito/malaria infected part of Africa. Perhaps He could have put you in a family that lives in a cardboard box at the edge of a garbage dump in South America.   

I know. I know. Now I'm beginning to sound like one of those commercials. Now I'm the one laying on the guilt. I don't mean to. I really don't care if you give to an animal activist group. That's your business anyway. I only ask that think about balancing your giving. Try to think of humans. Oh, we could discuss whether or not it's their fault that they are in the situation they are in. That's all for another post. I can tell you, though, that no one picks the family that they were born in. No one picks the village or the conditions that they were born into. If you think the adults can get out of the situation they are in, remember that the children can't. Think of them. Give to and help charities or organizations of your choice. If you need some ideas, click on one of the hi-lighted links above.

Thanks for reading my diatribe. I really do hope that you all have a fantastic new year! 

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