Am I not My Brothers Keeper?

I am once again here and humbled, it has been a rocky time. I have allowed myself to be pulled from my Path...drawn to the perimeter in many ways as of late. I have welcomed into my inner circle.. my comfort zone if you will, what I said I never would again. I had started to sway from my unqualified commitment to this Christian Life that I hold so dear. The comfort I had found here writing of Africa and equally of my journey of the soul has finally taken a firm grip on me and planted my feet back upon the Path. The Path I walk with HIM. My thoughts today are based upon the writings of Genesis...the thought of being "My Brothers Keeper" and just what that can mean. The world we live in today is one that is so packed with stress and strife, it is far beyond anything I would have thought possible in my lifetime. Who would have thought thirty years ago we would have such a thing as a "PC" a "Net book"or a "Blackberry". Who would have thought that children disappearing from within the safety of their own home would become almost commonplace. Thankful I do not have television, I choose to teach my young daughter about things like love, kindness and a sense of fairness. I have been ostracized for my use of the word God on many occasions in the last few years. These are simply not the days of Lassie and Timmy and family block parties, no instead these are the days of "Reality television" and random massacres in schools. Society has become enchanted with Voyeurism and most parents spend 15 to 45 minutes a day with their Children. It's sobering and it's true, I checked. America is obsessed in huge numbers with watching several people {strangers} thrown into a house together that go on to live every day life. Apparently the thing is, to predict which ones will have sex and which ones will tear another to shreds behind their backs on National television. This is our entertainment and motivation? Families have grown inordinately apart and yet the Country keeps moving and... progressing. There was a time when people watched out for one another, I remember it. I was free to walk down the street in my neighborhood without my Mother being all that concerned for my safety other than perhaps due to the remote possibility of being hit by a car. My daughter asked me yesterday when she will be able to go outside alone and I was at a complete loss for words. My response was, sadly "not for quite a while." We don't have a backyard due to the fact that we are apartment dwellers in a big city. The streets even in this fairly upper middle class area are not an option. The decay of society is at everyone's door, it is on everyone's mind in one way or another...So, my question is this...Are we and should we not BE our "Brother's keeper"? Should we NOT BE watching out for one another? What WILL it take people, what will it take? I ask in desperation, I ask in the hope that we can start a ripple before we all drown in our preoccupation with self... It is as you all know by now, my deepest desire to evolve on to Africa through all of my daily work towards transitioning. I am having a horrendous time getting my arms around what I will be leaving behind. For all the times I may have heard "Why Africa ?" I am left to ponder how it is people that show no apparent sign of regard for people in their own neighborhood should care if I choose to help women and children in Africa. In all the research I have done and all of the amazing people that have been put in my path I will tell you what I have found. Repeatedly I find the common denominator in African people appears to be a sense of gratitude...a graciousness we as Americans have seemingly outgrown. For all that we have and all that we cling to in our culture, all over Africa people are concerning themselves with the very real threats of daily survival. In fact such a vast number of Africans very survival is so shattered by violence and heinous crime's perpetuated against them, I refer to it as that only out of lack of a better term. Here in America and in every part of the world it seems so painfully obvious to me that it is TIME we start to be our "Brother's keeper" before it is too late. Let us pay attention, step up to the proverbial plate and instead of talking about change, actually DO IT ourselves...reach out, step away from your comfort zone and be bold. Reach inside... Surely you will find the wellspring is in there even if it has been stagnant. I pray for peace for all people and know that in God's world we truly are interconnected, we truly are brothers... and sisters. Mimi Nakupenda...In light always, Malaika~ My command to you is this: love one another as I have loved you. – John 15:12