Hi Guys.
Hello from home. It’s good to be back in Florida. Strange timing, just getting back and then these fires. Been watching all of it on the news for the last three days. On Monday, from my back porch, you could see the smoke blowing in from across the river. 300 acres burned just a few miles from our office (“the bungalow”) in Cocoa. According to FEMA, there were 120 different fires burning throughout Florida as of today. Nearly 26,000 acres burned. Thankfully, no lives were lost and it sounds like the situation is under control tonight.
It feels small even mentioning the fires in light of the recent cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China. The numbers are staggering – thousands dead and thousands more missing. i don’t know what to say. Life is a fragile, uncertain thing. Our thoughts and prayers are with those across the miles tonight. With TWLOHA, we often say that every story matters, that every life matters. We say that pain is real and that it deserves our attention. We say that people need other people. We would be following an awful trend if we bought into the idea that these things somehow only apply to people who live where we live, or speak the language we speak. There is distance in the borders and the barriers. Distance more with all the seas. The danger in the distance is that a great lie gets whispered. i don’t hear it, but i feel it when i see the pictures on the news. The lie i’m talking about says something like this: “It’s okay. This is happening far away. Those people are different. This doesn’t affect you. It doesn’t matter that much.”
It’s easy to believe that our own problems are the only problems in the world. It feels true at times. Maybe a lot of the time. But the better thing might be to believe that we are one. My friend Chris leads a network of communities serving among the poorest people in the world. His team work to be living solutions in the most broken places on Earth. Our team had the privilege of spending two days with Chris last week – he was here speaking into the work we’re doing, and helping us get organized. There was something special in a word that Chris kept using, something important. He calls the people who live in the broken places “friends”. He says this because he’s been there, and he’s looked them in the eyes. He knows their names. But i think he says it also to remember. To say that we’re the same.
The better thing might be to believe that we are one.
Do what you can. To learn, to care, to donate, to act, to give, to do. Your voice matters. Your prayers matter. Your vote. Your cash. This day. This moment.
This blog is being typed inside the borders of the richest country in the world, in an apartment with air conditioning, electricity, and cable television. There is a fresh pizza in the refrigerator, and plenty of water to drink. i am a fool if i forget the others tonight. The Atlantic blocks their voices, but they are certainly out there, as real as the air in my lungs. The many with less. The many in mourning and the many in need. In need of food or clean water or shelter. And maybe they sound the same in this: That they might also be people with broken hearts, people stuck in moments. In need of hope, in need of community. Remember them tonight. And find yourself in the process.
“Global” is not a nice idea. Global is reality. Let’s be the generation that realizes this.
Peace to you tonight.
jamie
PS: This was supposed to be a short introduction to a blog about all that we’ve been up to…but i don’t know how to transition from Burma to Bamboozle. So i think this needs to stand alone for now. There’s lots of good stuff happening and we’ll share that with you soon. Preview: Looking back on Up in Arms Tour and Bamboozle. Finishing new website. Gemma the Australian and Nada the Canadian. Looking ahead to Warped Tour. And something about a man named Al with a large video camera. All coming very soon. Perhaps tomorrow.
If you are reading this from a country other than America, we would especially love to hear from you below. Your words might serve as a healthy reminder that other people exist. Other places too. (If you’re reading this in America, you are certainly invited to comment as well.)
Completely obsessed with the song “Grapevine Fires” by Death Cab for Cutie. It is is based on an experience Ben Gibbard had during the California fires last Fall. Innocence vs fear. Innocence is the interesting thing.