I’ve just added a new page to the site, fundraising… I’d really appreciate it if you’d take a wee look at it and help me out if you can.
Basically, in exchange for £20, I will send you a 10 x 8 sized print of (almost) any of my pictures, including postage.
Click on the page for more details. Please pass the word on as well… really appreciate it!
Last night I went to see Amazing Grace at the cinema with a crowd of folks. The film tells the story of William Wilberforce and the fight for the abolition of slavery.
The film is incredible… you must go see it! There were several moments during the film where I had a tear in my eye. Ioan Gruffudd gives a stunning performance as Wilberforce, not least of which of Wilberforce’s faith. It’s hard to imagine that Gruffudd can’t have been impacted in so manner by it.
The film sparked some thoughts for me, I’ll share later when I’ve had time to process them a bit, but for now… just go see it OK!!
Technorati tags: amazing grace, William Wilberforce, slavery
“Riskless warfare in pursuit of human rights is a moral contradiction. The concept of human rights assumes that all human life is of equal value. Risk-free warfare presumes that our lives matter more than those we are intervening to save.”
Michael Ignatieff
I’m still reading Shake Hands With The Devil… haven’t had a lot of time to read lately as I’ve been so busy, plus this is a fairly heavy book to read… heartbreaking is more the word maybe. I was reading a passage from it this morning, when I came across these words, which cut me to the bone…
“As to the value of the 800,000 lives in the balance books of Washington, during those last weeks we received a shocking call from an American staffer, whose name I have long forgotten. He was engaged in some sort of planning exercise and wanted to know how many Rwandans had died, how many were refugees, and how many were internally displaced. He told me that his estimates indicated that it would take the deaths of 85,000 Rwandans to justify the risking of the life of one American soldier.“
I don’t even know what to say in response to that. I’m not American, and I don’t want to pick on America, because the UK and other developed nations were no better… but what???! Why should an American (or British or Irish or whatever) life be worth more than an African life? We have a lot to answer for. I have a lot to answer for. In what ways do we still perpetuate this idea that African lives are worth less than ours? How do we overcome it?
On Friday past I saw The Last King of Scotland at the cinema. An incredibly hard film to watch!
“Garrigan’s seduced, as are we, initially, by Amin’s charisma and charm, and only gradually does he become skeptical and eventually horrified as he realizes he’s the intimate of a ferocious dictator who, estimates say, killed off 300,000 of his citizens…”
[IMDB]
The thing I really liked about the film is that it doesn’t resolve. Amin is portrayed not simply as a crazed dictator, but as a human… a very brave and difficult thing to do. We like things to resolve, but the truth is, so often issues just aren’t so black and white… we can’t resolve them.
If you haven’t seen it, I’d recommend it. It is an incredibly well-made film, and it is interesting to watch the progression of Uganda from chanting supporters to horrified victims of a dictator.
Idi Amin: A man who shows fear… he is weak, and he is a slave.
Nicholas Garrigan: If you’re afraid of death… it just shows you have a life worth keeping.
Watch the trailer here.
A few nights ago I watched Hotel Rwanda for the first time. It was heartbreaking.
There is one part which particularly stands out in my mind: Paul, the hotel manager, who is hidding refugees in his hotel, is speaking with Jack, a foreign journalist. Paul thanks him for shooting footage of the genocide, as it means people will come to help them. Then, and this is what breaks my heart, Jack makes a comment which is, to our shame, too often true:
“I think if people see this footage, they’ll say ‘Oh, my God, that’s horrible.’ And then they’ll go on eating their dinners.”
We don’t care enough. It doesn’t have a big enough impact on us. There is so much talk about defending our fellow citizens and their freedoms. That is why we went to Iraq (supposedly) – to liberate the people, give them freedom, and protect our own freedoms. Have we forgotten, however, that as Christians our first loyalty is to Jesus? Our home is in heaven – we are citizens of heaven first and foremost, being a citizen of the UK or of the USA is secondary. Should our first loyalty not be to our fellow brothers and sisters around the world then? As Christians, as citizens of heaven, should we not be against war? Against the slaughter of innocent lives. Our brothers lives.
Forgive me if I have this all wrong. I’m still wrestling with it and trying to understand it in my own mind.
“… I believe in a God of scandalous grace. I have pledged allegiance to a King who loves evildoers so much he died for them, teaching us that there is something worth dying for but nothing worth killing for.”
[Shane Claiborne]
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