Sayid Abdul Karim

This is Sayid Abdul Karim and his 9-year-old grandaughter. Sayid is 80! In case you're wondering, I am not personally acquainted with him or his grandaughter. I have said a prayer for them today though, and I'm truly burdened for their plight. What you don't see in the photograph (you'd have to see the full version on MSNBC) is the fact that they are in a makeshift tarp tent in a refugee camp in Afghanistan, which is located about three miles from where their village used to be. Today their village is identified by the rubble from their erstwhile homes, and the blank stares of the many disaffected lives wondering aimlessly around. A bomb, rudely dropped on their simple and unremarkable lives, made sure that this is the case. You may wonder why this matters to me, especially since I don't know them personally. Well that's the point isn't it? She could be my daughter, and he could be my dad.

Her look haunts me. His look scares me. Her look suggests that she has seen things that nine year old eyes shouldn't see. His look suggests that she is the only reason he has for wanting to live one more day. Stubborn questions keep resurrecting before my minds eye, such as: Where are her parents? Did they die in the bombing? Does she have any siblings, and if so did they survive? Did she ever get a chance to go to school and learn that there is so much more to life than bombs, shelters, and refugee camps? Does she even believe that it's possible to live in a safe, peaceful world? What's worse is that there are no real, concrete answers to all of these questions. That is why the Church must be the Church! We must love, serve, give, and go, so that the world knows that there really is hope even in the midst of a world struggling to become more human.