seeing red

i've been trying to decide what to get everyone for christmas...

family, friends, and also a way for our church to give.

at HBU this week some orginizations have been trying to get people involved in the AIDS awareness, but it hasn't been working out too well.

most of these kids don't know anyone who actually has AIDS.

neither do i.

i've been thinking a lot about karen, betty, and my friend melissa.

all of them work or volunteer in places that involved people who suffer from AIDS...

and they don't just do it when AIDS awareness week rolls around, or when bono or oprah tell them to.

so i thought i'd find out who was a part of this whole 'red' campaign and this is what oprah.com sent me to: joinred.com

i think what they're doing is good...

i'm just wondering why we all have to spend money to do it.

motorola's got a red phone.

american express has a red credit card.

gap's got the red t-shirt.

armani's got a red watch.

converse (who my wallet can actually afford to support) has red shoes.

and apple's got the red i-pod.

none of these things are bad...in fact, they're pretty darn cool.

i'm just trying to figure out where we went wrong, if in fact we did.

when did we need to get people to buy things to actually care about AIDS?

i'm sure i'm not the only one feeling this frustration...i wonder if my friends who volunteer at the AIDS hospice care.

i doubt it, they're good people and are probably just happy that something-no matter what it is-has caught people's attention long enough to care.

but is this the first time someone has pleaded with us to help the AIDS epidemic?

no.

but perhaps i'll spend $250 to get that red i-pod...

or maybe some of those red converse (they actually let YOU design the shoe, they just put red insets)...

and then they'll give %15 to help fight AIDS and other worthy causes...

or maybe i'll just give all the money to AIDS instead of buying something.

perhaps no one will get gifts this year...

but instead, perhaps people will live.

dec. 1...tomorrow...is world's AIDS day.

i'm not sure what i'll do about christmas and how i feel about society as a whole...

(myself included, there's a lot of conviction in this blog)

......................................................................

in my greek class yesterday we covered the word that means 'hate' especially in the part of scripture where jesus is talking about what used to be said about loving your neighbor and hating your enemy...

we looked up what the word meant...

i ran through the words i expected to be there...

hate

malice

despise

and then the last one caught my breath...

indifference.

i don't want to be indifferent...but i also don't want to be naive.

there is a big world out there...and a i'm a little girl.

i don't know if that means i should buy red things or not,

but i want to try to help.

whatever that looks like.