The Kind Of Writer I Want To Be.

 My older brother called me Friday night. He called just to say “hi”, but as always, we talked for a while about the meaning of life and true purpose and facing things without fear. He told me that If I wasn’t writing for myself, what was I doing?

His words stuck with me as they always do. What kind of writer do I want to be? Do I want to encourage and inspire by writing what I think will most interest others, or by what will most soothe this aching world? The answer was at once very obvious to me, which is why on day 1, I am challenging myself to talk about something that selfishly, I pretend is not happening all around me.

The Super Bowl is fun. It’s a great excuse to hang out with good people, eat good food, and yell a lot at the TV. But I don’t think much about it outside of what it means for me. A few years ago I read an article about sex trafficking during the Super Bowl. I read it, saddened and disgusted and dutifully shared it to my facebook page so others could read it too. I wasn’t bothered by the truth again until the next year when again articles about sex trafficking were everywhere and again I read them and shared them, overwhelmed by the brokenness of the world.

This year I again read the articles, but one gripped me in a way the others hadn’t. You can read it here.

One of the things Annie says, hit me right in my gut:

So instead of jumping on an “awareness campaign” during the Super Bowl let’s all be pro-active and learn more about the trafficking going on right now—in and around our cities. While awareness campaigns to “stop trafficking” are great, they don’t solve the issue. There is so much more work to be done. 

As I read this I knew that I was one of those people that jumped on the “awareness campaign” during the Super Bowl. I was one of those people who stood up for injustice when I couldn’t ignore it, but as soon as the hype disappeared, so did I. I was the person who was so overwhelmed with the brokenness of the world that I went about my life pretending that broken things weren’t happening.

I don’t want to be that person.

This isn’t an article about the big bad Super Bowl. It’s not an article telling people everywhere to quit their jobs and end sex trafficking once and for all. And ultimately, this isn’t even an article about sex trafficking. This is an article where I am begging my readers not to ignore the world around us. Don’t be so tightly snuggled into your own world that you miss the things happening to others right under your nose.

It is so easy to go about our days without once thinking about something that doesn’t directly affect us. I know that this can be true for me, and that sickens me. Life is so much more than my little world. There is a battle going on all around us between good and evil. We can step into it and fight, or we can ignore it and live in our own little bubble.

I want to fight. I don’t want to live in the comfort of my own ignorance anymore.

So as we go about our days doing whatever it is that we do, let’s open our minds and our hearts to what’s going on around us. Let’s be aware and proactive in the ways God leads us. Let’s not ignore anymore.