“A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race” -Joseph Smith
Helping out at the Hunger Banquet last week and trying to make decisions on summer plans, has me thinking a lot about humanitarian work lately and why I love international development. It honestly is a depressing field of work, it is slow moving and it is frustrating. There are problems with methods of doing development work--people trying to work from the top down rather than the bottom up, people seeing themselves as saviors here to fix the world but doing more harm than good, giving emergency aid (which is necessary, but not enough) but not sustainable aid, corrupt governments that will not help their own people, it goes on and on. Poverty is real and it is everywhere. I do not think it is possible to eradicate poverty. Not until we are all living the gospel. But I do think it is possible to change lives. I do believe that through correct and sustainable methods, it is possible to lift individuals and families out of a cycle of poverty. I do believe that just working side by side with someone, building a friendship and bringing happiness to each others' lives is making an impact, making a difference.
I say I want to save the world, but I know that it is not really possible. But I'm not going to give up. Realizing that I cannot end poverty is not going to make me stop trying. Ishmael Beah, former child soldier and author of
A Long Way Gone said,
"We have a responsibility to expose ourselves to our world, to see our common humanity, to learn about other people -- not only in times of war, but in times of peace." When we see that common humanity, we will want to help that person and lift them up. We will see the love of God in their eyes and want to bless their lives, as we have been blessed.
Yes there is the argument that they may be living in poverty, but they are happy. And they are, I'm sure they are. But why not make their lives
happier? Why not ease their burdens a bit by taking away the fear that they will never be able to pay for their child's education, so their child will never be able to get a good job that will pull them out of this poverty. That will make them happy. But they were already happy in the state they were in, that's enough. No! Don't they deserve more happiness, like you and me?
Warner Woodworth (legitimately one of my heroes) gave a thought about the aforementioned quote by Joseph Smith today in a meeting about getting a group together to go down to Haiti for the summer. It really hit home with me, and I love it. It can be applied to missionary work, to development work, to serving in your community, to serving your neighbors, to serving your friends.
So, today humanitarian work makes me happy. It inspires me and gives me hope. And if anything, it is at least incredibly rewarding for the people doing the service. And I realize I have hardly even scratched the surface with humanitarian work so I am definitely no expert. I probably have no place to even say all of these things, but it is something that is really important to me. I cannot wait to get out there and do more...dang school, have to get skills first.
One last quote...don't know who said it, but I like it:
"Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it."
such a hard little worker
