The Good Lie

I admit I've been uninspired to blog lately.  I saw a movie that moved me and made me think of all of the unimportant things in my life that seem so important.  As the title of the blog post suggest the movie is called 'The Good Lie'.

'The Good Lie' is inspired by a true story of the Lost Boys of the Sudan.  I saw the trailer for the movie a while back and while it seemed like a movie I would be interested in, the trailer did not do this movie justice.  The trailer shows kids orphaned by war and then cuts to them going to America and their struggle to fit in.  It seems almost criminal that this movie hasn't made a million dollars at the box office yet and I totally blame the trailer for this injustice.

What made this movie so impactful to me is that it didn't sugar coat the journey these kids took to get to America. The movie is so strong when it is focusing on the pre-America journey. It falls off when the kids finally make it to America. It was almost like the movie was written by two different people.  In the America part of the journey I was left with wanting more substance, more heart because the pre-America journey got me invested in what happened to the kids.

A good portion of the movie followed the loss of their parents and then their journey to safety. It was hard to watch (SPOILER ALERT!!!!) and hear the screams of innocent children and know they were being slaughtered by soldiers.  Theo the oldest boy sensed danger was ahead and he stopped his "brothers" and sister from following the group up the river.  Instead he knew they had to cross the river right away.  As soon as he started to cross a body floated past him, then a few more, and by the time the last kid crossed the river there were so many bodies floating down the river it was hard to watch.  Who knows if this exact scenario happened but similar things did actually happen (END OF SPOILER).

It hit me that this is what happens in the world in which I live.  The Sudan is still a war zone.  I've known for years about the wars in the Sudan and I've been too self absorbed to really pay attention to the lives that are effected by this.  It was the same reaction I had then I realized that the world turned a blind eye to the Jews being slaughtered by the Nazis before World War II.  I naively thought that people must not have known because surely they would have done something.  I was horrified to read that the world knew what was going on and they didn't care because it wasn't their problem.  The world started to care when Germany made it their problem by invading other countries.  At the time I wondered how people could be so cruel. Now, I know it's not cruel but self absorbed, and I am "those people".

According to beliefnet.com, "Since 2003, the massacre of African Muslims by Arab Muslims in Darfur, a Texas-sized region in the African nation of Sudan, has resulted in more than 400,000 deaths and 2.5 million displaced people. And despite a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the largest Darfur rebel group, the killings, mass rapes, plundering, and crop-burning continues."

The Huffington Post ran an article in January of 2014 explaining the Sudan has since been split but that hasn't stopped the violence in the new South Sudan.

The hard thing for me is questioning whether knowing what has happened in the Sudan, and what is still happening in South Sudan, makes a difference. Yes, my heart hurts for them AND my life will go on. Compassion is a great trait to have but is it enough?  People are suffering but in all likelihood it won't inspire me to try to help in any lasting way.  We as a society have a very short memory and I definitely know that I do.

It did motivate me to do a Google search on ways to help and the two most popular suggestions were to donate money and to raise awareness that this is going on through social media.  It seems like such an insignificant request on the surface but if it raises money for the people who have the knowledge to help then it's a good thing.

The movie helped open my eyes to other people's struggles and it doesn't have to be the struggles of people half a world away.  People are struggling in our community.  I recently met a woman that is working on a project to buy coats for homeless teens.  She said that there are 14,000 homeless teens in Maricopa County.  That's mind blowing and sadly I had no idea that there are so many homeless teens in my own community.  I was moved by her desire to help the teens but it didn't inspire me to take action.  Without action my compassion means nothing.

It's crazy how self absorbed I can be and that isn't who I want to be.  Granted you can't be everything to everyone but I can do a better job of paying attention to the needs of those in my community and the world.  When I'm on my death bed I want to know that I did my part to serve others. I am taking action by writing this blog post.  I'm not going to write it off as an insignificant thing because nobody truly knows how we impact other people.  We can share what matters to us and hope that it inspires others to think about and act on what matters to them.

“I do not wish any reward but to know I have done the right thing.” ~ Mark Twain 

Side note:  (SPOILER ALERT) I love the concept of the good lie.  It was introduced in the movie as part of a discussion of Huckleberry Finn.  Huck lied about Jim to protect Jim. As such, the character, Mamere, in the movie explained that this was a good lie because Huck's only intention was to protect Jim. Mamere powerfully shows the impact a good lie can have later in the movie.  I won't spoil how it happens because I want you to see for yourself, but I will say that everyone should strive to have at least one good lie in their lifetime.

If you want to be moved and inspired you need to watch 'The Good Lie'.