I had the honor of spending a week in Haiti with Steve Burns, the author of the note below. Steve so accurately describes the frustration that most missionaries feel. I personally think that more people refuse to go on mission trips out of fear that their eyes will be opened to the daunting reality of how other people have to live so unjustly. Once you receive that knowledge, you have a choice to make: you can ignore it, or you can DO SOMETHING about it. Either choice is a difficult one.
I admire Steve's frustration of praying that the rest of the world would know what we know!!! Here's what Steve has to say after his mission trip in Haiti from June 16-22.
Knowing something, wanting others to know it also, but being unable to impart that knowledge can be frustrating. Even when you are able to share the knowledge you have, not everyone possessing identical knowledge will adopt identical philosophies. And that can be equally frustrating.
I have been fortunate in my life to, more often than not, have less knowledge than the general population. I cause the frustration much more often than I experience it. I'm an adherent of Quality Over Quantity. I think there was much wisdom in my decision to pace myself in accruing knowledge throughout my educational career. Inherently sensing the concept of "knowledge overload" I have been careful not to absorb too much information too quickly, much to the consternation of my teachers and parents. But from an early age I was keenly aware that gaining knowledge is a marathon and not a sprint, and I was determined not to hit the wall.
Recently, while many of you hares have begun suffering the consequences of your youthful enthusiasm, and I say that with the utmost respect for your superior knowledge, this tortoise has gotten his second wind. Not to downplay the amount and degree of frustration that I can still generate in others, but I am starting to find it quite irksome, yes, irksome, when others don't know what I know. And I have learned the hard way that grabbing a person by the ears and screaming in his face, "Why can't you know what I know?!?!" does very little to actually teach or influence him. It's frustrating to both parties, although I'm not nearly as concerned with his frustration as I am with my own. I was much more at peace when I was the frustrate-r than I am being the frustrate-e.
So here's the thing. Because of what I think I know, and that is subject to change, I have certain viewpoints on social issues such as gun control, abortion, homosexuality, death penalty, all the hot-button topics of today. But for the most part, I don't get in to discussions about those because those are not my highest priorities. Much more important to me personally are our relationship to God, furthering his kingdom, sharing the love of Jesus Christ, and caring for his children, especially the ones in abject poverty who have very little (or no) access to clean water, the ones who are starving and don't have even basic medical care. (Oh, he has a serious side?)
It's frustrating to see first-hand how many people have to live on $2 or less per day. It's frustrating to see whole families and entire communities living in makeshift tents with four walls made of tarp or sheets and a sheet of tin for a roof. I have found it frustrating on my return from Haiti to hear people complain about their $200,000 houses, measly $50,000 salary, the cost of gas and groceries, etc. It's frustrating that so often the plight of 1/2 the world (or is it 2/3) is met with a collective yawn and a ho-hum shoulder shrug from a country rich enough to feed all of them. As much as this might seem like an indictment on the American Dream lifestyle, I really don't mean it that way. I think that anyone witnessing the deplorable living conditions of so many third world countries would feel the same way. There's no condemnation for not knowing that you don't know. My frustration stems from the fact that now I DO know!
If I could forego grabbing you by the ears and screaming in your face, "Why can't you know what I know?!?!", and I will (forego it, that is), this is what I would want you to know:
*You are rich. I don't mean in some spiritual sense; I mean financially. You're rich. You don't think you are, but you are.
*God doesn't want you to hoard your riches. He wants you to share them. You don't need most of what you have.
*You can make a difference in someone's life by sharing.
Sometimes we wish we could undo what we've done or unsee what we've seen. Other times, we take that knowledge and use it to become a better person. We use it to further God's kingdom. We use it to introduce others to God's loving mercies. I hope that in sharing my thoughts that is what I'm doing.
Ironically, because this is not what I initially set out to write, God has taught me a lesson simply through writing this message: Frustration with others is self-centered pride. And He didn't even have to grab my ears and yell in my face.
"We come to know the workings of the Holy Spirit in ourselves slowly. How much more slowly, then, do we begin to detect the workings of that same spirit in others?" ~Fr. Walter L. Ciszek, S. J., author of He Leadeth Me
