My heart has been moved. Beyond going on a short-term missions trip to Guatemala or living in California for a summer in the inner city of Los Angeles or working in the inner city of Milwaukee loving and teaching kids. It has been moved beyond writing a check to a missions organization, beyond future life aspirations to change the disparities and injustices in peoples’ lives “someday.”
Today is when my “moved” heart has become activated. Moved to DO SOMETHING.
I’ve read countless books and articles and seen countless videos and movies spreading awareness for these causes that make my heart bleed just a little bit more. I’ve written blog posts and e-mails and chapters to books about the injustices seen in modern-day America: sex trafficking, modern-day slavery, racial discrimination, abuse, sexual assault, the exploitation within the foster care system in America, homelessness…and the list goes on.
But the list is just a list until these topics are willing to be talked about; until something is done. It seems as though there is a “taboo” on the touchy subjects. But they are real. More than statistics. More than a story on the 5 o’clock news. They are lives. People. In need of hope, in need of justice.
As a student at the University of Minnesota I have the opportunity to make change happen. Even now. Even without the official degree in hand. Today, I can do something. And so I will. Partnering with the International Justice Mission (www.ijm.org), I am starting a campus group to spread awareness, mobilize change, and to stand alongside those who are already doing something in our very own city.
You can do something too. See what IJM is doing internationally. Support our group, stay updated (I will post a link to our website in a later post). And spread awareness yourself. Social media is a vital outlet that can be used to make incredible steps of change for those who have not yet been given the voice to speak up about the “hard topics.”
You have the tools, you have the heart, you have the knowledge, now DO something.
-A
ajmeity 