Brick By Brick: On Giving Shoes
“If you’re in the luckiest one percent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 percent.”
― Warren Buffett
“It's not enough to have lived.
We should be determined to live for something.
May I suggest that it be creating joy for others,
sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind,
bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.”
― Leo Buscaglia
Last week was a whirlwind of busyness, expectation, and joy as I opened up the brick lane project to my friends and family. I was hesitant to ask others to give to something they'd never seen in person and unsure if this was the right course of action for the kids themselves. I've witnessed so many people and organizations make huge mistakes in foreign aid and charity, thinking they're making a difference when really they're hurting more than helping. I didn't want to be one of those people.
We "westerners" are alluringly ethnocentric, attracting the world to our way of life where materialism is king and the individual is respected over the group. We can't help but see the world in this way and in effect, help the world in this way--this is who we are. We aim to empower the individual and give him/her things to make life better because that's what we think makes our lives better. We hold a lot of soft power in this way. I wanted to be careful not to be another one of those "white people" swooping in to save the day, pushing my standards and beliefs on others. But I am one of those people.
Over the past couple of years, I've developed a somewhat jaded view of why people serve and give to the poor. It often seems like people give to feel good about themselves. From churches to missionaries to secular NGOS and foreign aid, we're all culprits of self-gratifying charity. Most of it is simply...selfish. I don't want to be one of those people, but I am. We choose jobs based on our own livelihood. We have babies because we want to continue our legacy or have children that look like us. We care for the environment when it directly affects us and not if it doesn't. We do most everything from self-interest, one way or another. But sometimes there are those moments when you get to watch others transcend their self-interests and act in goodness.
I started the Brick By Brick shoe project because YOU saw a need. Somebody commented on one of my pictures and said, "those babies need shoes!" We as a community came together and made this happen. This wasn't my idea really, but there is a selfish element to it and I would be dishonest if I didn't admit that. This sort of mysterious thing happened to me in that moment when I logged onto my computer and saw all of these people (some I know well and others not so closely) becoming champions for these kids halfway across the world. My cynicism died in that moment. It's so easy for me to point fingers, to sit safely on the fringe of forward action and criticize. I started out agreeing only to write a policy report for this project because I didn't want to get my hands dirty. People are freaking messy. Poverty is insanely messy.
It's like watching an infant struggle for life. You, even as a stranger, have a natural reflex (unless your mentally disturbed) to do whatever it takes to save that child. And so it is with the kids living on the brick lanes. Everyday is a struggle to live and breathe. There is no privilege in this kind of life, no rights demanded. They are unprotected; they have nothing and expect nothing. Their needs are as simple as air, food, sleep, and shelter. People say they feel their humanity when participating in these moments like the pictures of white girls holding little African kids and smiling so big that you'd think it was the best day of their lives. Maybe it was, but seeing these kids in these situations doesn't make me feel human or happy. It makes me feel like an alien to humanity, it makes me feel unjust, so distant from the turmoil of the world we live in. It implicates me. It makes me want to avoid being a witness because I would otherwise be responsible.
But when I got out of that jeep two weeks ago and the kids touched my arms and feet, the wall came down in landslide fashion. They changed me when they looked at me, whether conscious or subconscious, they were kind. My rational self was overcome by a feeling felt only a few times in my life so purely and freely. It called to me--to do anything in the world that I could for these kiddos. It pushed me beyond my guilt and inadequacies to act. It wasn't a "feel-good" moment; or a photo-worthy moment, it was a heavy, scary moment for me. Who was I going to be in the face of poverty? I've seen many poor places and have worked with a lot of poor people from the streets of Afghanistan to the slums of Delhi to the inner cities of Memphis and Chattanooga. Who had I been in those moments? Often a participator, but mostly a solitary one. I realized now that I was responsible to act and that I couldn't do this thing alone.
The transformation happened when you fell in love too. You changed me through your acts of kindness and I'm indebted to you for that. They weren't well-thought-out; they were reflexive. Each of these children gets to own a pair of shoes. That's a big deal for them. The cool thing is that we, as a community, built this with them. We weren't trying to do anything fancy or trendy or complicated, we just met a very practical need expressed by the community. Maybe it's selfish, maybe it's not. I'm not going to try and sort this one out. All I hope is that it makes their lives easier from day to day. Of course, I want them to grow and flourish as educated human beings, as upright citizens of this world, and as children loved by God. These are my lofty desires for them, but what's more important is that we responded to what was needed right now.
Shoes.
Thank you to all of you who have supported this project, whether financially or in spirit. You are special to me.
"Surely all people were made for each other
Join in together when the days turn to dust
So let the prison walls crumble and the borders all tumble
There's a place for us all here and ain't it enough?"
~Old Crow Medicine Show
― Warren Buffett
“It's not enough to have lived.
We should be determined to live for something.
May I suggest that it be creating joy for others,
sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind,
bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.”
― Leo Buscaglia
Last week was a whirlwind of busyness, expectation, and joy as I opened up the brick lane project to my friends and family. I was hesitant to ask others to give to something they'd never seen in person and unsure if this was the right course of action for the kids themselves. I've witnessed so many people and organizations make huge mistakes in foreign aid and charity, thinking they're making a difference when really they're hurting more than helping. I didn't want to be one of those people.
We "westerners" are alluringly ethnocentric, attracting the world to our way of life where materialism is king and the individual is respected over the group. We can't help but see the world in this way and in effect, help the world in this way--this is who we are. We aim to empower the individual and give him/her things to make life better because that's what we think makes our lives better. We hold a lot of soft power in this way. I wanted to be careful not to be another one of those "white people" swooping in to save the day, pushing my standards and beliefs on others. But I am one of those people.
Over the past couple of years, I've developed a somewhat jaded view of why people serve and give to the poor. It often seems like people give to feel good about themselves. From churches to missionaries to secular NGOS and foreign aid, we're all culprits of self-gratifying charity. Most of it is simply...selfish. I don't want to be one of those people, but I am. We choose jobs based on our own livelihood. We have babies because we want to continue our legacy or have children that look like us. We care for the environment when it directly affects us and not if it doesn't. We do most everything from self-interest, one way or another. But sometimes there are those moments when you get to watch others transcend their self-interests and act in goodness.
I started the Brick By Brick shoe project because YOU saw a need. Somebody commented on one of my pictures and said, "those babies need shoes!" We as a community came together and made this happen. This wasn't my idea really, but there is a selfish element to it and I would be dishonest if I didn't admit that. This sort of mysterious thing happened to me in that moment when I logged onto my computer and saw all of these people (some I know well and others not so closely) becoming champions for these kids halfway across the world. My cynicism died in that moment. It's so easy for me to point fingers, to sit safely on the fringe of forward action and criticize. I started out agreeing only to write a policy report for this project because I didn't want to get my hands dirty. People are freaking messy. Poverty is insanely messy.
It's like watching an infant struggle for life. You, even as a stranger, have a natural reflex (unless your mentally disturbed) to do whatever it takes to save that child. And so it is with the kids living on the brick lanes. Everyday is a struggle to live and breathe. There is no privilege in this kind of life, no rights demanded. They are unprotected; they have nothing and expect nothing. Their needs are as simple as air, food, sleep, and shelter. People say they feel their humanity when participating in these moments like the pictures of white girls holding little African kids and smiling so big that you'd think it was the best day of their lives. Maybe it was, but seeing these kids in these situations doesn't make me feel human or happy. It makes me feel like an alien to humanity, it makes me feel unjust, so distant from the turmoil of the world we live in. It implicates me. It makes me want to avoid being a witness because I would otherwise be responsible.
But when I got out of that jeep two weeks ago and the kids touched my arms and feet, the wall came down in landslide fashion. They changed me when they looked at me, whether conscious or subconscious, they were kind. My rational self was overcome by a feeling felt only a few times in my life so purely and freely. It called to me--to do anything in the world that I could for these kiddos. It pushed me beyond my guilt and inadequacies to act. It wasn't a "feel-good" moment; or a photo-worthy moment, it was a heavy, scary moment for me. Who was I going to be in the face of poverty? I've seen many poor places and have worked with a lot of poor people from the streets of Afghanistan to the slums of Delhi to the inner cities of Memphis and Chattanooga. Who had I been in those moments? Often a participator, but mostly a solitary one. I realized now that I was responsible to act and that I couldn't do this thing alone.
The transformation happened when you fell in love too. You changed me through your acts of kindness and I'm indebted to you for that. They weren't well-thought-out; they were reflexive. Each of these children gets to own a pair of shoes. That's a big deal for them. The cool thing is that we, as a community, built this with them. We weren't trying to do anything fancy or trendy or complicated, we just met a very practical need expressed by the community. Maybe it's selfish, maybe it's not. I'm not going to try and sort this one out. All I hope is that it makes their lives easier from day to day. Of course, I want them to grow and flourish as educated human beings, as upright citizens of this world, and as children loved by God. These are my lofty desires for them, but what's more important is that we responded to what was needed right now.
Shoes.
Thank you to all of you who have supported this project, whether financially or in spirit. You are special to me.
"Surely all people were made for each other
Join in together when the days turn to dust
So let the prison walls crumble and the borders all tumble
There's a place for us all here and ain't it enough?"
~Old Crow Medicine Show
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