| | ...and I'll keep it short because it's late and I want to go to bed.
I read in the news this weekend about protests in Lhasa, Tibet, China. This isn't new or unusual. In fact, China keeps a large standing garrison of troops and equipment in Tibet for just such an occasion. These riots were more interesting to me now because I've been there. I know where the protests were. I have walked the streets that are now littered with rubble and charred with ashes. I know people who were there...
Today as I saw more news of how China is once again cracking down hard on the protests I realized something for the first time. What happened in Tibet this week wasn't at all like a political rally in the United States. Here we decide if we want to go by who is speaking, what else we might do that day, how busy we are, or whether or not we want to take a few hours off work. This is not so in Tibet. Every single person who walks out into the square in front of the Johkang Temple makes him- or herself an enemy of the state. When they join a protest, they are not deciding if they like the weather, but rather are weighing the value of their lives and families in the light of national freedom.
It was not all that long ago in the scope of human history when people in my country made decisions like that as well. Today George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin are national heroes. Their faces decorate the front of our currency. Their names grace our stores, cities and states. Their words stare down from our monuments lifting up the age of challenge of freedom to a new generation. But this was not always so. Once upon a time these men, and so many others, were hunted as rebels, insurrectionists, and criminals who would face death if caught.
I think I'll leave this as a complete-the-story thought, because there are a lot of ways I could end. Here are a few... you decide the rest.
-George Washington gave up everything to stand for something. Funny how today's presidential candidates trip over themselves to give up everything in order to stand for nothing.
-Once upon a time, in stepped France, for whatever reason, to help the Americans cast off British rule. Is it time someone did that in Tibet? Sudan? Afghanistan? Iraq? Iran? Cuba?...
-Freedom on Earth is great, and yes... it is probably worth dying for. How much greater is the spiritual freedom that comes from Jesus Christ, and should I not be willing to die, every day, that others might find freedom for eternity?
-Why do I hear more in the news about Paris Hilton's clothing, or lack thereof, than I do about people dying for the cause of freedom?
-... |
| | Posted 3/17/2008 10:58 PM - 291 Views - 16 eProps - 11 comments
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