The Good Doctor

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It's not.”
- Dr. Suess, The Lorax

Sometimes I'm just floored by the injustice in this world, and how very blind I am to its existence at times.
Days filled with papers, deadlines, and chaos have a tendency to inherently take precedence over my awareness of those around me. I go about my life so habitually focused on my selfish ambition... my own problems, my own frustrations, my own inadequacies.
Today I have just been struck by how easy it is to ignore those whom God calls me to love. The poor... the broken... the weak. Granted, this could be because I'm sitting in the library and should be working on my thesis.... so of course my mind wanders. :)
Lately I've been so self-consumed that I've been unable to focus on who He calls me to be. I'm blessed to be passionate about a profession that allows me to love the way that Jesus loved on a regular basis. But it's easy to get caught up in the mechanics of helping individuals without remembering the reasoning behind why I chose Social Work in the first place.
There is so much inherent hurt in this world... so many broken people with broken lives. I'm astounded on a daily basis as I talk with the kids I work with. Having grown up in such a sheltered environment, I didn't have to deal with half of the issues these kids deal with. Pregnancy... drugs... not having a place to sleep at night... those things weren't even on my radar in high school.

I've blogged before about my affinity for Dr. Suess... how I love his ability to translate deep and meaningful messages in the most beautiful and honest ways. I think we often underestimate his dynamic ability to utilize the most simplistic rhetoric in order to teach greater life lessons. I love the fact that his colored books can translate to both children and adults alike... their lessons, while silly, are applicable to all stages of life; and let's be honest- the silliness is the best part. ;)
One of my favorite works by the good doctor is The Lorax. While I'm pretty positive this book is meant to call attention to environmental concerns, I choose to apply it to the world at large. I know, I know... revolutionary. ;)
In this book, a young boy living in a decrepit and polluted world visits a creature called the "Once-ler." The Once-ler explains that the world used to be a beautiful and wonderful place... that he began to cut down the trees in order to create "Thneeds," an invention he feels as if everyone will be able to use. But much to his surprise, while cutting down trees, a teensy creature called a Lorax pops up out of the stump of a cut down tree and warns the Once-ler that there are consequences to treating the trees so badly. The land becomes poisoned, and the Once-ler realizes the error of his ways. The book ends with him giving the young boy the last of the seeds for these special trees, and urging him to plant the trees and restore the land.
My favorite quote from this book, aforementioned at the beginning of this blog, really speaks to the kind of person I want to become. "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better... it's not."
As simplistic an idea as it is... it's completely true. We have to become a people who are concerned about the well-being of those around us. We have to start caring, genuinely caring, about people. This is such a difficult concept- I know that I do not get it right even half the time, by any means. But I want to become a person who lives a life investing in others. I want to believe in the goodness of people and their ability to overcome.
So I'm choosing to care. I'm choosing to become a more conscious individual... focusing on the well-being of others, more so than my own. I don't know what this tangibly looks like... but I want to know.
Anyways... just some thoughts rolling around in my head...
Blessings on you and yours,
Amanda Christine