Periodicals

We were up on the top floor of the library, reading our periodicals for poli sci when I interrupted Fiona.  "This is a bad statistic," I said, and then realized that had been a poor way to word it.  I wasn't questioning its validity, just stating that it is a problem.  It's bad.

"The average price of a human being today," says researcher Kevin Bales, "is about $90."  That's the price averaged across the global market.  In North America, slaves go for between $3,000 to $8,000.  In India or Nepal, you can buy a human being for $5 to $10."

So says the February edition of Sojourners magazine.

And so we talked about -- because we wonder about -- what on earth are we doing sitting on the third floor of the library, reading the news from all over the world and then writing reports on it when other people are being sold?  What's the purpose?

And we didn't come to any firm answers, although we talked for a while longer and I will probably be blogging through some of the conversations/questions that Fiona and I keep running into.  We know there is a purpose for which God has put us where He has -- that we have been given the chance to be in college now, that we are who we are.

But still...

I think it is good to be reminded sometimes of what else life could so easily look like.  To be thankful to God for all that He has spared us, and to wrestle with what faithfulness looks like, and to stay brokenhearted for the broken.