Why Burma Needs Our Help

Let's face it: journalists could do better. The world is bigger than the US, Iraq, The Gaza Strip and North Korean nuclear threats.

People are dying...like now. They're out there trying to have ordinary lives like the rest of us. They live, laugh, love--just like the bracelet. They have bills to pay, mouths to feed, parties to attend and family celebrations to dance badly at. They're not so different from us. They're people with hopes, dreams and hearts.

Life is fragile as an incandescent lightbulb, all it takes is one bump and we go crashing to the floor, broken forever--our light permanently extinguished. As Hilary Duff sings, "in a moment, everything can change" then it's lights out, game over, the end, adios, bye-bye.

I'm not trying to depress you or make you think about all the darkness in this world because life is beautiful. Babies are born, couples fall in love, young adults graduate from college, great music is made and there's chocolate, we've always got that.

But in this journey, let's try t keep as many lamps plugged in as we can, because we need all the light we can get in this fallen world. And that brings me to what's happening over in Burma.

The Telegraph (London) reported on Jan. 21, 2007 that "The military regime in Burma is intent on wiping out Christianity in the country." And by wiping out they don't mean fun and games, they're burning down churches, imprisoning, raping and killing. But this plan is a symptom of a bigger human rights injustice, the Telegraph explained, this regime is targeting ethnic majority tribes like the Chins and the Karens, which are mostly Christian. So it's basically a racist, anti-Christian movement and that's so not cool.

Breakpoint has a substantial response to all this madness:

The first thing we need to do, of course, is to pray. And then we need to educate ourselves about what is going on in Burma and educate other Christians, including our pastors, who should speak out from the pulpit, and, finally, our neighbors. Much of what is done in places like Burma is made possible because the world’s attention is diverted. Tyrants count on our being more interested in American Idol than in genocide when they formulate things like the Burmese “Program.”

They follow up with a how-to information sheet that lists several U.S. Representatives and other government officials that you can write and call to express your concern and protest against these monstrosities. And there's a link to a letter template to make the process easier for you.

If you feel like being a hero today then a couple of letters could be all it takes to change the world somehow.

And for all my NBC's Heroes fans, let me put it this way:

Save the Chins, save the world.

For more info visit Christians Concerned for Burma

*Hat tip to Jason at Spoiled for the Ordinary for informing me about this issue.