Day: June 1, 2010

Garrett Kenyon with Children International wrote to make me aware of a situation that could use some love. I want to let this speak for itself:

César’s story began like millions of others – just another poor kid from the slums, struggling to survive. When he was 3, César and his brothers left an unstable home to live with their grandmother, Elsa, a little woman with a huge heart who’d do anything for “her boys.” The move was good for the brothers. On society’s ragged edge, love shields the young like nothing else can.

As soon as they were old enough, Elsa enrolled the boys in the sponsorship program. Life began to improve gradually. They were even able to attend school, something Elsa couldn’t have afforded without sponsorship. “The program helped a lot,” César remembers, “especially when we started school.”

They needed all the help they could get. Elsa was nearly 60 when she took on the responsibility of raising the three boys. But age wasn’t her only disadvantage. Years earlier, Elsa had lost a leg in a tragic accident. In a country where the disabled are openly shunned and even the healthy struggle to find work, the handicap made finding a job impossible.

So Elsa improvised. She staked out a busy spot in the financial district and began “watching cars.” When people parked in her area, Elsa protected their cars from vandals and thieves. When the drivers returned to find their vehicle unharmed, she hoped they’d give her a small courtesy tip.

But courtesy can be hard to come by when you’re invisible.

For Cesar, things could have been better, but his situation went from bad to worse.

The Grind

That’s when César made a brave decision. Like most teenagers, he dreamt of making a better life. Sponsorship had taught him that the key to success was education, so he studied hard. However, with one brother injured and the other in trade school, César chose to sacrifice his own dreams for his family’s survival. His decision wasn’t uncommon. Millions of reluctant children make the same choice every year.

Eventually, César found work as a bus driver’s assistant. Guatemala City is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, and of all the places to work there, a bus is, by far, one of the most hazardous. The gangs that terrorize the city regularly target bus drivers. When a bus enters a gang’s “turf,” a toll is demanded for safe passage. Some drivers refuse to pay, but the consequences are dire. In 2009 alone, 170 bus drivers were murdered. It’s become an all-too-common tragedy in a city gripped by violence.

But César had no other options. “It was the only job I could get,” he says. Luckily, his driver “always paid.”

An average workday for César started at 4 a.m., washing the bus. An hour later, the bus rolled out of the station, to which it would not return until 10:00 at night. César worked throughout the entire period. “My job was to charge the toll, get change, and ‘pull’ more passengers onto the bus.” He worked the 18-hour days with no complaints, never losing the warm, enthusiastic smile he was known for.

By the end of the day, his voice was hoarse from all the yelling. “Sometimes I’d get sleepy. While the driver ate dinner, I had to keep pulling passengers to fill the bus.” But despite the long hours, César “really liked that job.” He was helping the people he loved, finally pulling his own weight. It was a great feeling.

Becoming Invisible

In the end, it wasn’t a gangster’s bullet that brought César down, but an improbable accident. One morning, while “pulling” last-minute passengers, the bus pulled away from the curb. Normally, César would simply hop in the door before the bus picked up speed. But this time, for some unfathomable reason, his pant-leg got stuck in the bus’ wheel spokes. When the bus pulled away, it dragged him, rolling over his foot and crushing it instantly. Though César was rushed to a hospital, doctors were unable to save his foot. By the time he awoke from the sedatives, they had removed it. Continue reading “Children International has a good deed for you to consider”

Last week, the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer gave us an illustration of the verb “to vilify” by saying on his radio show, among other things, that Hitler couldn’t find any straight people to work his evil, he had to find gay people to do it. He followed up with a column where he blamed homosexuality for “six millions dead Jews.” I hesitated to even write that because of the horror of trivializing the holocaust, even in reporting what someone else said. However, he said it and he did it as ammunition in the culture war. He should be ashamed as should the AFA.

There was another illustration of Christians vilifying gays in the name of the culture war last week that is a close second to Fischer. Instead of blaming gays for millions of deaths, this radio personality says Muslim law is better than US law in that it provides death for gays. Watch and listen to Christian rocker, Bradlee Dean and a too enthusiatic female caller discuss sodomy laws in MN and how moral Muslims are compared to Christians. Please note what makes those Muslims so good.

The whole issue may become a part of the Minnesota’s governor’s race and is being followed by Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent. Enter Mr. Birkey:

But recent controversial statements by Dean — that Muslim countries calling for the execution of gays and lesbians are “more moral than even the American Christians” — have drawn the ire of some both within and outside the party.

“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” Dean said on YCR’s May 15 radio show on AM 1280 the Patriot. “This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.”

“If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that,” Dean continued. “That is what you are seeing in America.”

“The bottom line is this… they [homosexuals] play the victim when they are, in fact, the predator,” Dean said, before going on to make a claim that has no basis in fact: “On average, they molest 117 people before they’re found out. How many kids have been destroyed, how many adults have been destroyed because of crimes against nature?”

The statistic he quotes — 117 children molested — conflates pedophiles and homosexuals. It may not be accurate even about pedophiles. I have tried to find the source of it and the closest I can come is a website and book which sources it to a 1988 NIMH publication (not in newer editions) but with no specific study. Even if the stat has a legitimate source, it relates to pedophiles and not gays. It is possible I suppose that Dean is so misinformed that he believes his rhetoric. One wonders if he would change his position if he could be convinced that his view of gays was wrong.

On the whole, Dean’s radio performance comes across as a rant with little conherence but it is hard to come up with any other understanding of his words than this – he believes Muslim countries who kill gays for being gay have the moral high ground over the USA.

Some of the commenters on the other thread were discussing how this kind of rhetoric represents Christianity. So let’s keep that discussion going. Can’t you just feel the love?

UPDATE: Here is a 2006 Weekly Standard article about Dean’s Junkyard Prophet band. Wow.

UPDATE – 6/1/10 – Broadcasting from the Heritage Foundation (!?), the YCR guys are at it again…this time praising African countries who jail gays.

UPDATE: Exodus International posted a stinging condemnation of Bradlee Dean’s remarks on their blog. I suspect this will be followed by a similar statement from one of the Minnesota church affiliates, Living Word Christian Center.  Exgaywatch is reporting that the You Can Run group was featured there last year at a high school function.