Justice Friday on Saturday by Johnny Koster

I’m Johnny, one of Phils Justice-loving-friends, dodgeball-heroes and next-door neighbour. Today I’m writing you a little something for Justice Friday, eventhough Saturday is already here. Saturday is a good day for relaxing; sitting on a balcony, writing a blog, thinking about injustice issues, while Friday is the day for adventure, living life to the fullest and breaking free from our daily burdens.

By the way, I’m dutch. Just so you know it

For a while now I’ve been thinking about getting a tattoo, but there two things are holding me back. One: I’m not really sure about what and where I want tattood. And this is important, right?
Two (the real reason): I don’t like pain. Allthough I’m kind of a big guy and I usually do not get hurt very easily, I am also a pussy when it comes to willingly undergoing a painful experience, like getting a tattoo for instance, or having needles put in my skin when I get shots, or even when I go swimming and the water is cold. I’m one of those guys who really slowly and gradually gets in the water. I need control. I don’t like discomfort or pain.

Actually, a lot of us have problems with pain. Nobody really likes it, right?
That’s probably why so many people on the earth are still suffering from preventable diseases, human trafficking, social injustice, and a lot of other things on a long, long list. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we are causing all of this, nor that I have to answer to everything that is wrong in the world, but I do think that we can be a major part of the solution. In our western world we have enough time, money and other resources to impact the rest of the world and create changes that save people (from death, from pain, from hurting, from loneliness). But… something is holding us back. Two things mostly.
One: we don’t always know what to do.
Two: Pain. Through the media we get so much input everyday about injustice and suffering around the world, while in the meantime we also see the injustice around us. Our comfortable, rich houses and communities are not free from hurting, loneliness or selfishness. Right? We all know it. On the surface we act like everything is good and fine, but inside we know what is really going on. And how do we handle all this information? How do we process all this? Often we don’t. We close our eyes, and with our eyes our hearts, because it hurts. We don’t like pain. We don’t want to think all day long about the 12-year old girl who is sold to a brothel to be raped on a daily base, just so that anonymous men can have their sick pleasures, or about the little boy that sits besides his mother, who is dying from aids, not knowing who will take care of him tomorrow.

There is a way to really change the world. Embrace the pain. Don’t close your eyes, let the pain come into your heart and let it change you. Cry with the childsoldiers and the suicidal teen. Get on your knees and cry out to God and feel the pain in His heart. You are changing lives allready, just lying broken on the floor. Then get up and see what else you can do. Around you, in your family and community, and get to know the people who are living in places that you have never heard of. Because they are there, they are hurting and they need you! Why you? Why not? If you were walking on the street and suddenly you see this little kid, lying on the sidewalk, almost dying because he hasn’t eaten in weeks, are you gonna do something, wouldn’t you give him the apple that you have in your pocket? Our the snickers bar that you just bought? And does it matter that this boy is not on the street you walk, but on some other street in Africa, or wherever? Does it make you less responsible? I don’t think so. But maybe I’m crazy. Some say I am.

I could rant like this for hours, getting more and more fired up and sad and broken at the same time. But I’ll leave at this for now. This is not even my own blog. If you want to know what I’m doing, you can check out intoallnations. Don’t get me wrong, all that I just said about pain apllies to me just as well, hypocrit that I am. I hate pain, but I know that’s gotta change. I want to hate hurting more than pain. I want to hate sin too, just like Daddy, but that’s a different story. We are all in this process together right? Let’s change the world together. Fire eachother up, because I know I need it and you probably need it to.

Right now I’m in the School of Photography along with Phil’s wife Amy. I want to be equipped to be a voice for the voiceless. To document the injustice that is going on around the world, our world and create awareness about it, as well as giving our generation tools to do something about it. Know and go. Sounds catchy doesn’t it? If you like to see some of the photos I’m making for the various assingments you can check out my photos and leave some comments if you like.

Time to feed my family (wife and 15months old daughter), so maybe I’ll see you later? Don’t remember to embrace the pain, or I will come back and tell you some stories about my wife when she was in labor and I don’t think you wanna hear that.

Johnny Koster