Can You Imagine

'Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.'" Robert Kennedy

So often when I am in my neighborhood I hear my Latino neighbors exclaim “Mira!” which means so many things in Spanish. When I am in Africa “Can you imagine!” takes on the same sort of meaning. Mostly it means I can’t imagine that. That’s how I have felt this past week. Unfortunately with the daily updates and the gut wrenching emails I have received from friends, I can imagine.

My pastor over there wrote that they were not safe at her church or on the compound of the Research Center. Her husband had lost his job and could not return to their home. She was despairing of what they would do. I have received advice from another Kenyan to tell my friends to get their papers in order and get them out of the country so that in case they end up in refugee camps I can help them. There is the concern that they not get separated from their children lest the children get separated and lost in camps for years. How do you write that to friends? Maybe because they are friends, you have to. I have written these painful words to friends this week and also helped some get out.

One of my friends and her 2 young children were slaughtered on Saturday. While peace talks go on, the politicians remain locked in a dance they do not seem able to stop.It is quite dispiriting. I do not know how to talk about this with friends. Most people can’t comprehend this pain and probably many are puzzled by why I care so much. Further I suspect, they are puzzled with my plans to return in March. Damn, as my daughter would say, I drank the Kool Aid. I still think I can do something for the children and friends I have come to love in a land so very far away.

The one real light today, after a difficult one with personal stuff and the mundane insanity of daily living, was a friend. He asked me who did I talk to about all this. I told him, God. The nice thing was that he confronted me on that and made me think that there might be some people who would listen even if they didn’t understand. I felt incredibly grateful and humbled by this kindness given out of pure humanity. That simple unconscious act of reaching out and validating another whether we understand or not, is all any human being wants. In each of us is that power and in the shimmer of a second we can reach out or turn away.We can bless someone with our humanity or move along without noticing. Today someone didn’t turn away. Thank you Chris. Can you Imagine!