If You're Not Outraged...

You'll have to excuse my tone for the time being, but upon reading about the folks in Fort Lauderdale who were arrested for feeding the homeless, I am absolutely seething right now.

This, friends, is our America. Where the accursed "affluenza" spares a rich, irresponsible brat from a prison sentence for killing four people after drinking and driving. Where the law permits citizens and police to shoot unarmed teenagers with minimal consequences. But where a compassionate individual can face a $500 fine and possible jail time for, as a friend of mine put it, using his own time and resources to do what our government won't.

I'm angry at people who call themselves "Christians" but align themselves with politics that exalt greed and legislators who blatantly oppress the poor.

I'm angry because even as people came out yesterday and exercised their right to vote, there is little comfort in the knowledge that both political parties are bought and paid for by corporations, the wealthy, and special interest groups. And there's no little blue pill for electile dysfunction.

I'm angry because the media would have our eyes fixated on the escapades of the Kartrashians and their ilk, and averted from our neighbor whose minimum wage job can't even cover the basics of living.

I'm angry because the average American is so engrossed in eking out a living and so fearful of making waves that they have little time, interest, or energy to be spent outside their comfort zone.

I'm angry because there are people who want change. There are some truly ingenious ideas about how to implement that change. But good ideas aren't enough. Because when folks come together with multiple, misaligned individual agendas and no unifying force, even the best and brightest ideas are doomed to fail.

Maybe, just maybe, this is a wake-up call. Perhaps through simply acting in accordance with compassion and humanity, we can be the change we seek. The real challenge is mobilizing concerned people with a clear goal, for a tangible purpose, And while that does not necessarily require power or stature, it DOES require a certain (rare) type of leadership - one that can instill an indivisible and uncompromising sense of purpose and unity.

In the meantime, we should keep feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, befriending the lonely and disenfranchised - without fear and without compromise. Because this is what our place in this world and our shared humanity requires of us.

If you're not outraged, you haven't been paying attention.

So, pay attention. And get angry. It's okay. Be careful to not let it consume you, but as fire burns the impurities from gold, let your indignation and your hunger for what's true and right burn through your fear and sculpt your soul in the shape of justice.

Go forth, friends, and let us continue to be the change we seek.