Solidarity is a word I struggle with. It is a word that invokes beautiful and comforting feelings. Personally, I feel it has come to mean a variety of different things for people and organizations, making it over used and has lost some of the beauty. Just look it up on Wikipedia. But true solidarity is hard. Really hard. True solidarity means making difficult and costly sacrifices. To me, it means taking genuine safety risks and making yourself uncomfortable alongside the oppressed. A person I admire once told me, as I was complaining about something that made me uncomfortable, get over it, it is good for you. And I try to remember those words everyday because if I am comfortable I am doing something wrong. It is when we are uncomfortable we learn and grow the most.
Being a Christian means making hard sacrifices. I once read there is no cheap grace and nothing could be more true. Over and over again Jesus makes this clear. The grace of God is limitless but it is not free. We have to take action in order to receive it. Jesus was a radical and lived radically, I am not yet in a place to be as radical as he was. But I also accept that my acknowledgement of this does not excuse me. So I work really hard at being radical in other ways, and making sacrifices that are uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous. So, I came to Colombia. Because that is what it means to follow Jesus.
In order to practice solidarity here in Colombia I have had to enter intone a community as an outsider. As a well educated upper middle class white female. I will never fully understand what it is like to live in constant fear, to have to lower my voice and whisper when I speak about the government. I will never understand what it is like to be unable to fill my children's bellies or face the reality or possibility of homelessness. I will never understand what it is like to be violently torn from my home and deal with the violent and unnecessary death of child. But I can choose to walk with the people of Colombia, taking safety risks alongside those who are targets of the violence to truly seek solidarity. These risks are required of me because my love for my neighbor demands it.
At the same time the Colombians have taken such good care of me, and shown me more love and generosity than I have ever experienced. And I have experienced some love and generosity in the past. Mary Kay and I have been to 5 churches in 3 weeks and each time we are sincerely welcomed. We are given the biggest hugs, fed the largest plates of food and given fruits at every occasion. We are given the master bedrooms in our home stays and the best fans. The Colombians sacrifice a lot to have us in their communities. And yet they hardly see it as a sacrifice. They tell us it is a honor. And that is because their sense of hospitality far exceeds my own but also because our presence is important. Even though they constantly worry about our safety, and accompany us across the street to the store, the reality is that THEIR safety is our priority. By taking part in this program I am following the command of Jesus when he told us, "I will lay down my life for you, and you must do that for each other." Together, Mary Kay and I are practicing this type of solidarity with the Colombians, as they are with us.
