Knowing vs. Not Knowing

I was watching a video this afternoon of a new show on cable. The show follows the daily life of a comedian. The show focuses on struggles he faces in daily life and has a few of his stand up segments spliced in as "color" for the day-to-day activities.

One segment of the stand up routine troubled me. It was discouraging because the star was turning his greed into comedy. I realize that in our calloused world, laughing at American greed has become commonplace, however this few seconds of the routine showed me just how far we have come.

The comedian was talking about how his driving a luxury car actually hurts other people in third world countries. He said he realizes he could trade his used luxury car in on a brand new subcompact and get cash back because of the difference in value. He said he could then use that cash to feed hungry people in third world countries. The entire time he is doing the bit, the audience is laughing.

Now please don't hear be judging people who drive luxury cars. I too have had the privilege of owning luxury cars. My first car was a Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Since that car I have owned a Volvo 940 and a Lexus GS300, both entry level luxury cars.

My problem isn't with owning the car; my problem is with having come to the conclusion he could help others but instead turns the situation into a punchline for his stand up routine.

That leads me to my point for today. I believe it is one thing to not understand the problem, it is completely different to know there is a problem, have a solution, and then ignore your conscience, or worse, turn the situation into a punchline.

I recently saw a movie (yes, I do have a life outside of movies, but right now they are making my point for me) where an international aide worker commented his biggest problem was not that people in Uganda were starving to death. His biggest problem was to inform people with money there are people in Uganda starving to death when those potential donors don't even know there are people in Uganda.

It seems to me that as small as the world has become, as intertwined as the global economy has made us, there are still those of us who don't realize there is a Uganda and there are people who live there we could help.

I like my things. I've worked hard to attain them. I did not receive a large inheritance. I am not from a famous family. I have worked hard my entire life to be able to earn my things. I am grateful to God I was born in America, where I have the opportunity to work hard and raise myself up financially, as opposed to some other nation where I would not have the same opportunities.

Yet now that I know there are people starving each day, now that I know I can help, now what?

Does owning a luxury car, being on television, and having more than many people make our comedian a bad person? No! Having knowledge he could make a difference in another part of the world and turning that knowledge into a punchline, that is the problem.

If you are a Christian, God has called you to serve the "least of these." I believe our legacy as Christians needs to be about the entire world (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth). What conviction or realization have you seen in your life and have simply turned it into a punchline by ignoring your conscience?