I went back to Youth Group last night for the first time in close to a year. It was fun, got to see a bunch of people I'd missed, talk and laugh with old friends. Or young friends, maybe I should say.

The program last night was on La Gonave, a small, impoverished island off the coast of Haiti. One of the members of the church came and told us about the island, and about how she worked with Children's Cross Care USA to bring money, food, clothes, toys, along with medical care to the island. It was sick, it really was. I'm not talking about the pictures she showed us of the kids with malnutrition or of the small stick and mud houses. The sick part was her attitude. She was a nice lady, very caring and genuine, and totally convinced that it was her and our responsibility to save this poor island. Ever hear of the White Man's Burden? This was it.

It's one thing to send doctors, or to bring children to the states for a few months to correct a deadly ailment. That I can certainly understand and condone. And taking food and vitamins to La Gonave is definetly a reputible and worthy endevour. But this woman was talking about taking the people of La Gonave and making them Americans. She wanted to take them good cloths, because they didn't have any. She wanted to take them books and paper for schools. She wanted the little girls to have dolls to play with. This all sounds noble. But all the pictures of kids on La Gonave had them smiling, even beaming. They were half or totally naked and playing with only a flat, dirty soccer ball, but these childern were truly happy. The women were wearing their traditional clothes and carrying water in buckets on their heads. But they were smiling. I'm not accerting that life on this island is great, or good, or easy. But the fact is that our going over there to "take pity on them" is almost more for our own pride then it is for their benefit.

America has the highest standard of living in the world. We have the greatest wealth per person and overall. Life expectancy and the Literacy rate are higher hear than anywhere else. I love America and have no desire to live on La Gonave, or in any third world country. But that doesn't mean that we should turn them into America. Taking things to them to spare them from death is one thing, but trying to change their way of life because we think that ours is easier or better...... it's something else. And I don't think that it is anything noble.

I didn't bring this up at Youth Group. Most of the people there didn't want to hear it or simply couldn't, and there wasn't really time. But in the closing prayer circle, when we were asked to name our joys and concerns, I lifted up the joy of the people of this little Carribean Island....