E-M8 Entrepreneurial Management for Eternal Mission

A friend of mine forwarded one of those chain letter e-mails that when boiled down stated that a certain woman saw a child who was lost, took him to the address that the child gave and was brutally raped as a result. The e-mail continues to say that therefore one should never take a lost child home but rather to the police station.

 By this logic we should not drive because we may get in an accident, we should not play golf because we may get hit by a lightning, should not help an old grandma accross the street, because it could be a setup to steal our car, etc.  After all, the scenario in the e-mail is less likely to happen then being hit by lightning during a game of golf. It is by far less likely than a car accident.

Do people occasionally take advantage of our kindness? Absolutely. Does that mean that we should just never be kind? I hope not. 

 Kindness does not always pay and sometimes even causes tremendous pain, but I am more worried about living in a society where people are too afraid to show kindness. Disregard of other people’s pain and relegation of care for people around us is by far more crippling.

The basic fact is that most violent crimes happen among people who know each other well and are often relatives, does that mean we should forbid families and live in a way that puts as much distance between us and everybody as possible? That is counterproductive and impractical. It is irrational.

Most rapes happen on college campus. Does that mean that women should avoid going to college? That is rediculous. 

Just to put our fears in perspective, more Americans died or were crippled by car accidents than all of terorist acts, war, homicides and other violent crimes since the Vietnam war. But obesity kills and cripples 10 fold more people than do cars. Obesity kills more people than all the drugs, alcohol, smoking and other unhealthy behaviors combined. And for most people obesity (I am not talking about people with medical conditions), is simply a result of being too lazy or fearful to do something active with their lives. More Americans will die because they are afraid to go out then from all the thugs that are supposedly trying to get us the moment we leave home. Many fold more children grow up crippled physically, socially and emotionally because they are told to not play outside then from violent crimes perpetuated on them by strangers.

If you want to fear something, fear not making a difference in somebody’s life today. Fear not helping a child who is lost. Fear the judgement of God who gave his life for the least of these. Fear your children growing up completely insulated from the world, unable to cope, unwilling to help, incapable of getting hurt. That is a much more realistic fear.

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