12/15 - We Have a lot in Common, You and I

There is something specific that you and I hold in common. In fact, I am willing to extend my presupposition further by contending that there is one specific thing that any two people have in common regardless of age, gender, socioeconomic status, professional experience, geographic location, and even religious conviction. These peripheral differences which tend to divide, segment, and compartmentalize us as people are unable to cause disunity on this particular point: we each desire to have our voice heard. We long to communicate our joy, celebration, pain, or despair to others. For it is in the expressing of these emotions that they are made complete. Without a voice to raise on our own behalf, we feel invalidated, worthless, misrepresented, and alone. Without a voice to express our need, we perish.

For this reason, the West has gone to great lengths to ensure representation of the voice: in our homes, in our workplaces, in our churches, and in our government. But we often fail to consider those outside our general sphere of existence who have no such voice or advocate. What of the starving Zimbabwean children pictured to the right who are picking up single corn kernels spilled on the roadside by trucks transporting maize from South Africa? Who will stand up on their behalf and cry aloud: "This is not right! Something must be done!"

With your help, Forgotten Voices will.

And who will speak on behalf of a child whose voice has been quieted or stilled by the horrible AIDS virus?

With your help, Forgotten Voices will.

And who will empower these vulnerable children by giving them education so that their own voices will rise strong and articulate?

With your help, Forgotten Voices will.

We all long for a voice. The voice is our foundational source of representation, validation, and self-identity in the world. Yet there are so many in southern Africa who are trapped in a tomb of silence, buried by the din of a busy, preoccupied world. I cannot help but dwell on the singular fact that God chose to send His voice to us through the month of a small, helpless child. In this Advent season, please give serious consideration to using your voice on behalf of a child in Zambia or Zimbabwe. Who will speak for these children?

With your help, Forgotten Voices will. Please click here to speak for them right now.

With one (loud) voice and blessings,

Jesse