We're Taking This Lying Down

I just got back from my first protest. I feel like I should put this in a baby book or something. "My first protest." I commuted for the Invisible Children in the Sudan. People all over the world joined me in a stand to end the war there. I have never experienced anything like that. There were about 200 people with sleeping bags and pillows; snacks and drinks; cards and books. All to gather to support a common cause. Most of the kids I found out were under 18 years old. We wrote letters to Congressmen and President Bush. We also made an art project about what we think we were doing. "What does the Global Night Commute mean to you" was my question.

I don't know why I have such a strong heart for this cause but it gets me to my core. Maybe its becuase these children are being forced to murder other people. One child said, "I get a headache if I don't see blood." That makes me cringe. Possibly, becuase I have been interested in education lately; the betterment of children in society, that I am such an activist for this issue. Whatever it is, it surprises me and it humbles me every time I think about those kids. Sleeping outside on pavement (in the pouring rain mind you) was just a taste of what those kids do. They do it every night. They do it to live. Here in America, I have a bed, a comfy bed at that, to sleep in every night. I dont worry about people coming to abduct me in the middle of the night, shove an AK-47 in my hands and tell me to shoot the kid next to me till he's nothing but a puddle of blood. It seems so surreal to me. Never being overseas kind of limits my knowledge about the world to a television and books. I dont see how such violence goes on in the world, but it does. In America, we have it pretty nice.

Sleeping next to 187 strangers was a new experience as well. If you have seen the film, Invisible Children, there is a camera shot of the kids sleeping in a hospital. They are the commuters. Well this morning when I got up thats exactly what everyone looked like. It kind of gave me the chills to think, "wow these kids do this everynigth and its not even this glamorous." They might not have a blanket or a pillow, and people brought every kind of pleasure from home. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, iPods. I didn't bring any of that. I chose to experierence is as real as possible. Waking up every hour wasn't much fun. Sleeping next to Mr. Snoring-so-loud-I-could-barely-sleep wasn't much fun. Being in the humidity, and almost in the rain wasn't much fun. Being close to so many people who shared my concern for the kids in Uganda, that was fun. Waking up at dawn and having quiet time with God, admist all of this, now that was fun. Looking back and saying that I was a part of something that could change someone's life; priceless.