Deleting the Cheating

There are people who know and care.
There are people who care and don't know.
There are people who know and don't care.
There are people who don't know and don't care.

Which of the four of these is the best? Which is the worst?
Knowing and caring can be a massive burden, but only when it translates into action. The most obnoxious people in this world are people who know and care but don't do shit about it. I'm so glad your heart hurts for starving babies in Rwanda. That was sarcasm. I'm not glad. The only difference between you and me is you "care."

I took a trip to Haiti a few years ago right after the big earthquake. Truthfully, it sucked. There was one lady who came with us who fancied herself an evangelist. No one warned me. During this trip I got a glimpse of what goes on all across this planet when it comes to Christian missions. We had giant bags of food to give the people, but we made them sit and listen to "The Reverend" scold them for being sinners for an hour before we gave them the food. Then when she was done punching them with the love of Christ, we closed ourselves inside iron-gated walls and made the people come in one by one to get their bag of food. I felt like writing a note on every bag that said, "Here's some food you barbaric, heathen animal. Fuck You." I'm fairly certain that was the title of the sermon that day. I've been on a handful of these trips now and I can promise my three readers that I will never ever EVER again be a part of something that calls itself a mission trip.

I guess that was a bit of a tangent. Let's get back to the meat here...why I don't care about Rwandan babies. Ok, to be honest, I do care, but my point is it makes absolutely no difference. I have visited slums and orphanages in South America and the Caribbean and the main thing I learned from it was those kids could not have cared less that I was there. When we brought them toys I noticed some of them playing with the toys, but I also noticed that a lot of them would rather play in the dirt with the sticks and whatnots that they already had. Question: Is it possible that these people aren't suffering as much as we think they are? Why do we as Americans automatically assume that everyone wants to live like us? That they want to live the same wasteful, extravagant, and ridiculous lifestyles that we live. Do you really need eight pairs of jeans and twelve black t-shirts? Do you need a television in every room of your perfectly climate-controlled home? The people who have all of these things are the people who would read this post and be appalled and disgusted that I could say I don't care.

It's story time. A few years ago I briefly hung out with a girl who was a super passionate, Jesus-loving, feed all the little children in the world person. When I first met her I thought she was going to be really cool because I assumed that if she was like this then she must be a really sweet and kind girl. After hanging out with her for a week or two I started to realize that she was actually quite a bitch. She was extremely self-righteous and judgmental, and she was generally angry at the world. I was learning that in order to love the little children you apparently have to hate everything else. She and I were attending the same school and she talked a lot about all the people at school that she disliked or that annoyed her. Most of the time the reason was because she wasn't satisfied with their level of godliness. So naturally she hated them.

One night she and I were hanging out downtown and we stopped to sit on a bench. One reason I didn't write her off after the first date was because she liked to discuss theological issues, and if you've read this blog before you know I enjoy discussing such things as well. So we sit and chat for a while and then all of the sudden she says, "Do you ever wear any other shoes?" And yes she said it in the way you think she said it...with judgment and condescension. I said, "Nah not really. I've gotten used to wearing these all the time. Plus I just really like them." So she responds, "All you ever wear is jeans and those same shoes. It's kinda weird." Things got a little awkward after that. It took every bit of goodness inside of me (which isn't much) to not rip her apart. I mean verbally, of course. This is someone who supposedly wants to dedicate her life to feeding and clothing the sick and the poor, but it bothers her that I wear the same shoes every day? Does anyone besides me see a problem with that?

A country full of selfish, greedy, soulless takers. America is fuckin' RIGHT! Woooohoooooooo. 
We're so accustomed to being these things that all of our hypocritical actions don't even register in our minds.
I know you like shit. I like shit too. The whole point of what I'm trying to say is it's ok to like shit, but if you're going to pretend that you "care" then be prepared for me to smack you in the head next time you start talking about starving Rwandans.

You know what I care about? My one pair of shoes. 

Sexy.