I’m so incredibly tired of all the evil in this world.  But what I’m even more tired of is how the media takes pots of hot water and sits them on a fire to boil…and often boil over.  And what’s frustrating is how America takes huge bites of the bait.  There are so many things…awful things…that happen and as if the thing itself isn’t bad enough, then the media gets a hold of it and they just twist the knife that much more.

They pit country against country.

Race against race.

People against people.

All for the sake of what?  Access of knowledge?  Ratings? Because “the public has a right to know?”

And then you add the internet on top of the already news hungry reporters and media sources.  What a mess.

And we should be outraged.  And America will be…for now.  Until the media gets bored and moves on to the next racially charged crime or political agenda.  And George Zimmerman will be forgotten, left to live a life always in fear, always looking over his shoulder.  Treyvon Martin will still be a young man in the ground who was way too young to die.  And America will have moved on.  With all our Blackberries and iPhones, with our politics and our agendas, with our tolerance and our complete oblivion to the rest of the world.

But here’s where my stomach gets into a bit of a knot.  We should all be in constant outrage at what happens in this world everyday, every minute.

Today in the mail, I received a letter from the organization where my husband and I currently sponsor two children.  They were asking if there was anyway possible that we might be able to sponsor another child.  The need is dire.  And with the letter was a booklet with pictures of children needing a sponsor…children who live everyday in inhumane circumstances.  Children who reside in places where children die everyday because of lack of food, lack of clean water, lack of just the everyday necessities of life.  According to statistics at World Hunger, the estimated number of childhood deaths in 2010 was 7.6 million, and in at least half of those deaths, hunger was a factor.   Over 3.8 million children dead because of poverty-related hunger.  And in developing countries, approximately one out of every fifteen children will die before they reach the age of five.  THAT is cause for outrage.  Where are the breaking news reports?  Where are the interviews?  Where are the protests and marches?  Where is the outrage for these children?

Did you know that slavery was still alive and kicking in the world?  Did you realize that everyday around the world children are abuse and violated sexually?  According to UNICEF, in 2002 WHO estimated that 15 million girls and 73 million boys all under the age of 18 experienced some form of forced sexual violence.  In 2002 and since, it has been estimated by the International Labor Organization that 1.2 million children are trafficked for the purpose of exploitation each year.  That’s 1.2 million children sold into some form of slavery each year, whether it be for labor or for sex or for both.  THAT is cause for outrage.  But where are the around the clock new reports about those children?  Where are the front page articles?  Where is the bounty on the heads of those responsible for such horrific acts?

Christians around the world…in more than 40 countries…are being persecuted for their faith.  This persecution could range anywhere from harassment to outright violence, imprisonment and even death.  Can you believe that?  People in this world, in the year 2012 are dying because of their faith in the Lord.  THAT is cause for outrage.

I also ran across this startling number while researching the rest.  According to the Guttmacher Institute, 22 percent of all pregnancies, not including miscarriages, end in abortion.  In 2008, 1.21 million abortions were performed.  1.21 million little lives snuffed out before their eyes even see the light of day.  THAT is cause for outrage.

According to Domestic Violence Statistics, a woman is beaten or assaulted every nine seconds in the United States.  And more than three women are murdered by their boyfriend or husband, in the United States, everyday.  TODAY, more than three women lost their lives at the hand of someone who is supposed to love them as Christ loves the Church.  THAT is cause for outrage.

None of these things should escape the attention of every person in this country, but instead we are bombarded and goaded by the things that pit us against each other instead of uniting us all.  Why aren’t their marches and protests and news reports and public cries demanding justice for all these children?  All these women?  Where is the outrage?

What has happened to this world?

Oh Father that you would join your body, arm in arm, hand in hand, to fight injustice in this dark world.  God, I pray that you would break our hearts with the things that break yours.  That we would not be able to continue to tolerate hate, that we would no longer be able to ignore hunger, that we would not allow ourselves to be ignorant of the plight of those in desperate poverty.  Lord, implore us to action even when it seems that the thing we are coming against can’t possibly be defeated.  Raise up an army in your name, Hashem.