As hurricane Sandy, the Frankenstorm, has pelted
the eastern seaboard in recent days we’ve been inundated with statistics about
how many people have lost their homes, their lives, their electricity, etc. The
list goes on and on. But even before that recent and pretty epic tragedy there
were already plenty of statistics for us to deal with. Many of us can quote the
numbers of children who die each day or year from malaria, malnutrition, AIDS
and so on. We have statistics on virtually every subject imaginable. In fact,
we have a whole world of statistics. The western world seems to like them
because they are easy to quote on the nightly news or in government reports. They
impress us in documentaries and fund raising literature. We love our statistics
because they’re informative and concise and they boil down enormous issues and
problems into digestible morsels of data, the way scientific notation condenses
nearly incomprehensible numbers into representations that we can at least
pretend to understand. But we also like statistics because they are safe. They
can impress and influence us without our having to deal emotionally with actual
starving children or sick people or combat casualties or rape victims. Nice
round numbers insulate us from the pain and suffering of strangers, the atrocities
of conflict, and the devastation of disasters. Statistics move us just enough
to encourage our donations or votes, without forcing us to get our hands dirty.
They tie desperate needs and overwhelming social issues into nice, tidy
packages that we can respond to without getting too flustered.
However, it’s extremely difficult to love a number.
We can feign passion, but true compassion requires action. The fact is that we
can never actually change the world by simply throwing money at statistics, for
they are but the shadowy reflections of much deeper issues. Laurie Beshore, the
author of the book “Love Without Walls” recently put this in perspective for me
when she said, “Behind every number is a name. Behind every name is a face,
Behind every face is a person. And behind every person there is a story.” In
the end, we can never change the numbers unless we change people’s individual
stories. Writing a check helps. But the only way to actually change the world
is to step into people’s lives and care about them individually. We have to learn
their names, hear their stories and intervene in those stories. It makes us
feel good to write a little check and send it to some organization, and we
absolutely should do that. But if that is all we do then we are, in a very real
sense, simply subcontracting our compassion. If you actually want to change the
world you have to love people individually and make a difference in their lives
individually. Programs can never change the world. Politics can never change the
world. Only love actually changes the world. And it happens on the front lines …
one person at a time.
So the question is are you going to change the
world, or is someone else just doing all the work on your behalf? If there’s a
tug of some kind on your heart right now I beg you to respond to it. Don’t just
read the statistics. Do something about it. Actually, personally,
inconveniently, selflessly do something about it. This is your call to get
involved in the solution. I’m sharing two poems below which I hope may provide
some inspiration to take action. The first recaps what I’ve written above,
perhaps in a form you can share with others. The second explains why I care so
much. Perhaps it’s also one to share with others. Now, let’s go change the
world. Because together, we can make a difference.
The Face
Behind the Number
We read all of the statistics
Or we hear them on T.V.
And they move us for a moment
But that fades so rapidly
Because we cannot love statistics
Or connect with what they mean
When we are isolated from them
And their objects are unseen
But behind every statistic
Is a name, a face, a life
Every number is a person
Who knows pain and fear and strife
And every person has a story
As unique as fingerprints
Which no statistic could do justice
Being but the merest hint
So if we want to change the numbers
We have to know the names
See the faces, touch the lives
From which each statistic came
We must befriend the people
Embrace them individually
Bind our lives to theirs and intervene
In their stories lovingly
That is how we change the world
For no statistic can be changed
Until we change each person’s story
Because each number has a name
By Frank Carpenter ©
The Least
of These
I know that look, the look of pain
I've seen it time and time again
In the eyes of children on the street
And people who just need to eat
I've seen it on the tired and old
Whose lives were spent on fool's gold
And lonely people everywhere
Who simply want someone to care
It's the face of poverty and need
Of famine, flood and tyrant's greed
The face that haunts me in the night
And even in the broad daylight
Imploring me to stop and care
Instead, I pass and blindly stare
Ahead, to comfort and security
And away from those who so need me
My pristine little world is safe
From homeless beggar and starving waif
But not from God, whom I asked in
Whose voice I hear above the din
Who pierces hardened hearts like mine
And melts the ice of stubborn minds
And calls me to reach out and care
For those in need and in despair
For Jesus feels every tear
He knows each pain and every fear
Those with hunger, heart ache and disease
Jesus knows the least of these
So if I turn my back on them
I have, in fact, done so to him
For only by the way I care
Will people know that God is there
Lord, break my heart and bend my knees
That I may love the least of these
By Frank Carpenter ©
Don't forget to check me out on Twitter @frankpoet
