Tough Questions in a Culture of Relativism: Volume 4 - Why Should Anyone Care About the Plight of Orphans?

Imagine that you just returned from a trip to an orphan care community or have recently adopted an orphan.  This won’t be hard to imagine for many reading this blog because you might have actually done one of these things recently.  Well, upon your return or finalization of your adoption, you tell everyone about your experiences and share your passion for orphans with them.  You tell them about the plight of orphans and specific ways they can get involved from home and through mission trips.  You expect them to be captured with a love for orphans as you have been, and for them to want to act to love some of the world’s millions of orphans in some real way. 

Instead, when you’re done pouring out your heart, you can hear a pin drop in the room.  Or, at best, you get a polite response that sounds something like this: “That’s awesome. I love that God put that on your heart.  But that’s just not my thing.”  Or, “I am so happy for you.  That sounds like a great trip.”  Or, “I’d love to help but I have so many other things going on right now.”  Or, “I’d love to help but don’t have any extra money to help out right now.”  Or, . . ., well you get the point.

Some people may hear your stories and see your passion, and still say, “So what?  These are sad stories and these kids definitely need help to make it in society.  But why should I care?  I mean, they’re not my kids.  It’s somebody else’s problem, right?”  

That’s just it . . . it’s not someone else’s problem.  We are all affected by orphans and are all called to love orphans in some real way.

With that in mind, how should you respond to your friends and family members who just don’t get it or who think that it is “someone else’s” job to help orphans?  

Why should we care about orphans and at-risk communities when they aren’t our children, they often aren’t in our local communities, and they don’t affect our lives in any direct ways?  

And beyond caring, why in the world should anyone actually invest any of his or her precious time into figuring out how to love them with excellence and best practices?  

The reality is that if we didn’t look for these children, we would likely never see them - and even if we looked for them and saw them, they would have little, if any, direct impact on our lives.  So why should we care?  Why should anyone adopt or be a foster parent?  Why should anyone advocate for orphans in any manner?

I want to hear your thoughts on how to respond to these all-too-common questions in our society.