Who We Mourn

Michael Jackson........I realize that he was a "cultural icon" and that he did, at one time, have an impact on popular music. It's also always sad to lose a loved one, so I would never try to minimize that. But I just don't quite get the worldwide reaction to his death. We live in a part of the world where people die and experience intense suffering daily. Just this morning news has come out of the North that 45,000 people have been chased from their homes due to the continuing terrorist activities of the Lords Resistance Army (http://www.radiookapi.net/) - 45,000 people!!! No food, nowhere to sleep, young children, pregnant women, old men.........women and young girls raped on a daily basis........innocent people. But instead the world is focused on the death of one man, whose last decade of life was marked by freakish changes in physical appearance, incredibly bizarre behavior, drug addiction, and sexual allegations.......

I think it's sad that Michael Jackson died.......I always think it's sad when someone's life begins to decompensate, especially in front of the entire world. I think it's sad when someone's life spins out of control and they are unable to reign it back in.........loss is not easy, no matter how weird, dysfunctional, or self-destructive someone has been. But today, I choose to mourn for the 45,000 people in Northern Congo.......and the thousands and thousands of others who have not made the news, but who do not eat everyday, whose children can't go to school......for the thousands of women and young girls here who have been raped and mutilated, for the young boys who have been kidnapped and forced into rebel military activity. I'm glad that God's love and concern extend to all - the rich and the poor, the celebrities and the "invisibles".........but today I mourn the "invisibles".