This morning we learned that a Wycliffe colleague of ours was killed in a bombing in Jerusalem (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12845019). Our immediate thoughts? Another soldier has fallen; who will replace her? I had read the announcement on Facebook where another Wycliffe colleague who also works in Africa had posted a link to an article about Mary.
My thoughts then turned, in contrast, to how much time people of our Western cultures spend on Facebook, and just entertainment in general? Over the past year or so it has been a little disconcerting as I periodically visited Facebook to observe how (for example) people are spending time earning virtual money to buy virtual animals for virtual farms, while here in South Asia they could be spending real time, providing real animals for real hungry people. Or to learn exactly what someone is eating for dinner (even with pictures) while thousands elsewhere are dying daily from hunger. Or to see how much time is dedicated to people posting photos of themselves in various poses and how much time others are spending telling them how beautiful they are. Makes me wonder if all of this points to a subtle sickness in our society? Regarding the latter, perhaps we have self-esteem issues? Or better yet a societal narcissism problem?
Please don't get me wrong, there are some really positive aspects with things like Facebook. Relationship is at the heart of God, and technological advances such as Facebook can certainly aid in relationship building. And certainly people have used Facebook posts, blog entries, email updates, electronic newsletters (all things we do by the way) to educate themselves and pray more intelligently. But anything taken to excess can easily distract us from the more important.
Right about now you are probably just classifying me as a "ranting anthropologist," and certainly my training gives me a critical eye toward culture (even my own). And perhaps I am in the stage of culture shock (it never ends no matter how long you serve abroad) that looks back more critically upon ones' own culture? And regarding the latter- paradoxically enough I realize that perhaps it is actually better access to (and my increased use of) the various things I am "ranting" against that keeps me better connected to home- which keeps the obvious disparity between cultures more obvious- and ultimately fosters stronger critical feelings toward my own culture than ever before. As an interesting sideline, I have noticed this same trend (to spend more time "connected" with "home" and less time "connecting" with local people) among other missionaries of my generation (and to an even greater extent among the generation I am training up), unlike many of our missionary predecessors who often made this place "home;" And perhaps this has some interesting implications for missions in the future? But no matter the cause, I think a little self-examination is important now and again to keep the priorities of God at the forefront of our lives. And certainly the reality of a real spent life should challenge our various virtual realities as believers?
Anyway, just some thoughts spawned this morning by a fellow fallen soldier in a Facebook world.Dave
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