A few words from your outgoing VP of Nothing.

As I sit in my cold house through the canyon, preparing myself for the last dead week of my undergraduate career, I reflect on those days when I more regularly used this blog as an outlet, an escape, for my thoughts and frustrations from being thoroughly embedded within the sometimes stifling environment of academia.  I would retreat into Payson Library fully intending to knock out a few essays or lab reports, but instead, hours later, my “only” accomplishment would be two or three inspirational or gravely challenging blog posts.  While my grades suffered, I delighted selfishly in what I was learning as the VP of Education… I could only hope that my discoveries were at least being shared among our few followers.

I am not ashamed to say that I have actively pursued becoming a figurehead for IJM’s ideology over the years I have been a part of this community; nor will I feel shame in admitting that I have been far from perfect in this pursuit.  I have attempted to shape and encourage and inspire those with whom I have worked, and I have perhaps sometimes been naively over-confident in the power of words to do so.  Still, I have thought a lot this semester about the words that I would impart to form a definitive cap on my time with IJM, but I think with all that I have poured into this club, with the conversations I’ve had, with the posters I’ve taped, with the blogs I’ve written, and with the speaker systems I’ve battled, I have already parted with pieces of myself that I felt confident about sharing and not getting back (I sometimes personally refer to these blog posts as my own personal horcruxes).

Frankly, for this season of my life, I have run out of things to say to this club without sounding like a broken record.  So instead I’ve brainstormed on what I might share from those whose wisdom far surpasses my own, and, given that I have been thinking a lot about my potential (now confirmed!) time with Invisible Children next semester, I keep looking back to this letter written to an outgoing roadie class.  Here’s an excerpt:

But I tell you this, those of you returning to the world, you have been commissioned. Tear down the walls that hinder purpose, community, virtue, sacrifice, and comradeship. Tear down the temples of fantasy that tell you to pursue isolation, self-interest, comfort, and security. And do not believe that [we] invented the fruits of service. These virtues, they are the by-products of several simple things: a commitment to purpose, hard work, and an invitation to those around you to join the true path of humanity. These beautiful things will come in other communities, with other manifestations of purpose.

They are all children of the same idea: the world is a place worthy of our efforts to improve it, and human dignity is born of such pursuit. If you seek these things out, you will find yourself awash with friendship.

Commit yourself not to rejection, not to the negation of what exists, but to the creation of what can be. By pursuing what is worthy, you will authentically reject what is not. Seek out your skills, as specific as art or as broad as hard work, and put them in the service of something valuable. And I tell you a pay-check alone is not valuable. If it’s Starbucks, work there not for the pay-check, but for the chance to speak to people who need to be spoken to. Every human being is dealing with something heavy. Bless them and you will see that coffee shop, that community begin to transform. And to the degree you focus yourself in this way, opportunities will come.

Many of you are just beginning your time with IJM, and some of you are seasoned but have a lot left to give.  I am both ecstatic for you and hugely jealous.  I hope you continue to build community among one another and you delight in the hard, but rewarding work that comes with battling apathy and injustice.  But there will come a time when you too will have to part with this community, and when that time comes I ask you to heed the advice outlined above.

My own personal reminder to you: keep loving God and accepting His offer to fill you up each and every day.  Thank him incessantly, and pray with the knowledge that He is far more faithful than we are.

I love you guys so much and my pride for this school truly lies with you and the love you have shared with the world.  I owe you guys the commitment of my life to just battles, and, while we might be physically separated for the time being, I count on you to protect and fight alongside me in those battles.

In Peace, Hope, and Justice,
KR 

Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden.

If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

-J.K. Rowling (“The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination”, 2008)

All that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
C.S. Lewis

Hunger & Homelessness

The support we gather for Week of Hunger & Homelessness (WOHH) is equally matched with heated criticism. My initial reaction to this criticism is subtle bitterness, but there are misunderstandings about the week that should definitely be addressed. 

May this blog offer clarity and dispel any misconceptions of our actions. 

What we primarily aim to do is educate ourselves and the Pepperdine community. To do so, we are using:

1. An intense demonstration. We will be sleeping in Joslyn Plaza for the week in sleeping bags and cardboard boxes. We are not trying to simulate homelessness; instead, we are fasting from our beds and other luxuries that we take for granted. We seek a humble change of perspective and a newfound gratitude for life’s simplest luxuries. 

2. Educational opportunities. We want to educate the student body about the realities of homelessness and its prevalence in LA county. The week is stacked with more formal opportunities such as convo, a coffee house, a hunger banquet, and more. We will also be educating ourselves on facts and statistics surrounding homelessness. 

3. Straight up Service. We are enabling and encouraging students to actually serve the homeless community that we are advocating. We will provide Thanksgiving dinner at SOS, a local homeless ministry, for approximately 300 homeless. We will also be raising money, collecting sleeping bags, making care packages, and much more for the local homeless in Malibu and throughout LA county. 

4. Perspective shift. Whatever your connotation of homelessness is, we want it to change. In fact, let’s just shred the term homeless. They are people. Individuals with names, faces, and stories to tell. That’s where our theme comes, “Have you seen me?” Let’s allow ourselves to look beyond our jaded stereotypes and see people through Christ’s eyes, and learn how to love (essentially everyone) like Christ loved. 

So what’s the big deal?

See, here’s the cool thing about poverty. It’s everywhere… and the affluent city of Malibu is no exception. Frankly, it’s easier to walk around in TOMS shoes and wear whistles around our necks than to actually interact with a homeless person. Don’t get me wrong, I’m ridiculously passionate about Africa, let my collection of Invisible Children paraphernalia testify to that, but I care about my community first… that’s just Biblical. 

Moreover, it seems that we have put “helping the poor” in a box. It’s only for particular people who have a specific “calling” to do so. It really ticks me off when people comment on my “passion” for the homeless. Helping the poor is not a calling. It’s the GOSPEL. It’s what Jesus did… all the time. Let’s not confuse ourselves, the Gospel writes that some are called to teach, some to speak in tongues, some to prophecy, etc. However, helping the poor was never a matter of Spiritual gifts. Helping the poor in our communities was never an option for believers. Let’s not forget that Jesus did tell a guy that if he wanted to enter the Kingdom of God, he had to sell everything he had and give to the poor… 

All of that said, know that a lot of prayer is going into this next week, and God is going to do His work. We just ask for open hearts among the student body. We are not pressuring people to participate, but solely to be aware of the brokenness that lies right outside of our campus. Let a passing judgment become love. Let love lead to understanding, and understanding to action. 

-Kacie

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after the homeless and loveless in their plight and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

Can we just talk about how the Lord’s Resistance Army is now making national headline news and is being brought up during primary debates? Anyone as blown away as I am?

‎The enemy loves dreamers. Dreamers are a dime a dozen. He’s terrified of doers, though. People who work and hustle and finish actually change the world. So the second you start working don’t be surprised when the voices [of doubt and fear] get loud and distracting.
Jon Acuff

Halloween candy

Me: Hey guys, can we get Halloween candy that doesn’t put kids at risk?
Housemate: What do you mean?
Me: Like… we probably shouldn’t get chocolate because slaves are harvesting it.
Housemate: But…. chocolate is SOOOO good.  And the other stuff is so expensive.
Me: But…
Housemate: <changes the subject>

It’s really interesting how we convince ourselves that certain things are okay.  I don’t mean to throw my friends under the bus; I think a lot of people are accustomed to building up these defenses because it’s difficult to reconcile seemingly innocuous pleasures with harsh realities that anything that we want to do will seriously hurt other people.  But it’s a battle that we should fight, right?  Yeah, things can get expensive when we try to be conscious, but the bliss of ignorance might not extend past ourselves.  I mean, I’ve been trying to find inexpensive, ethically produced underwear, and I’ve gotten seriously disheartened by the price tags on these things; I’ve come within an inch of losing my resolve and just buying the cheap stuff, but you just have to keep reminding yourself that slaves aren’t theoretical, that they aren’t just the occasional sad public service announcement or a well-directed documentary, they are the result of consumer choices, and your vote is in your dollar.

Here is one mom’s take on the choices we make when buying chocolate, especially during the chocolatey-ist season of the year.

And here are some examples of ethical Halloween candies to give out on your doorstep this year.  By no means is this list extensive, either.  You have choices.  Go discover them.

KR