Excuse me, Sir

I have to post a short response to an incident which happened last Friday at our Fuller Seminary Book Store. We have been attempting to raise money and awareness about the crisis of orphans in Africa through a Men's Basketball League called Hope Sports. Hope Sports is a non-profit basketball league, which first and foremost connects people with sports so that we can participate in a mutual activity together, and secondly takes all the proceeds and gives them to Mosaic Church which in turn gives them to Breath of Heaven Children's Village in Zambia, Africa. The whole aspect of aid to Africa is a Pandora's box which I will not open at this time.

Anyhow, on Friday the Hope Sports jar is on the counter of the Coffee Shop as most jar's for charities are located. Inside the jar were dollar bills and other change. In walked a customer who was not a Fuller student and asked if someone could re-fill his water bottle, which they obliged. As soon as the employee turned around the customer reached into the jar and took a handful of money, put it in his pocket, took his refilled water bottle and left. This story is not to display the horrible deed of stealing money designated for an orphanage, because in my opinion this man is just as desperate as anyone for money.

So, you ask, "What gets you annoyed?" The fact that it was witnessed by other Fuller students who were sitting inside the Coffee Shop. Some of the students pointed it out to the employee after the man was long gone. I told this story to another person and he stated, "Well, did you want the students to grab him, what if he had a gun?" I will address the first part of his answer about "grabbing him and the second part about "a gun" in the next paragraph. Why, does it have to be either "Do nothing" or "Attack him violently?" There is a middle ground, which is confront him about his actions, speak kindly to him, maybe simply point out that the money is not his, say to him, "Excuse me sir, may I speak to you?" Address him with terms of respect, but pointedly so that he is aware that someone saw his actions. In all honesty, if Christianity is social, why are we so afraid of other people? Sometimes people commit crimes because they want someone to notice, to notice that he exists. Oh, how odd, someone would do something like that for attention? Yes, it happens all the time in inner cities across the country.

Gang violence is a perfect example. Why though do we assume that everyone in a city carries a gun? Has anyone besides myself and I don't count actually ever seen anyone ever with a gun? Seriously, I have NEVER seen anyone with a gun, outside of being a police offier. I know that guns exist, but where? Maybe it is fear which is perpetuated by the media and the police department which keeps people ignorant about gun violence, and keeps people doing nothing.

Let us look at how we as a society have abandoned the inner cities, as we chose to live comfortably in the suburbs, i.e. white flight from the '70's and '80's, excluding people due to skin color, economic status, or both, and by building "Housing projects" for them to live. So, the next generation growing up in poverty will gain the necessary attention by committing acts of violence. It would have been more efficient for the government to have allowed groups such as the "Black Panthers" to exist, since they predominantly were a political organization, speaking about issues of racism in the cities. Since people have no voice, violence creates a voice which we ALL hear "Loud and clear!" People from affluence gain attention by becoming elite and getting an education. Either way, in God's world both when misdirected (gangs as violent or education as elitist) cause the social death of any society. I heard a great quote by Hernando De Soto an excellent economist, not the explorer who said that, "Capitalism is first and foremost for the poor of society, not the elite, because the elite already have money."
Anyhow, just some food for thought. As my friend Corey Paxton said about this incident, "Just Do Something, anything!"