As An Individual, Dream Global

Dearest Friend, 11 November 2007
We are ever seeking hope. The new establishment of any community is founded on the premise of hope, with the desire of freedom. We move towards Liberty in hope of better circumstances.
We are asking for better circumstances. Where do we fit in this search for hope and can we make a difference where there is none?
Is there hope for the injustices that plague us? For the competition of power? Of resources? Is there hope for those who hunger? And what about disease: diabetes, Heart Disease, and AIDS? And for violence? Where is the hope for those who are brutally enslaved to sex, to labor, to societal roles, empirical rules, who are deemed less than human?
If there is to be no one separated by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, health status, socio-economic status, political declaration, or social class why is there?
Tracing human history, we first were created, Big Bang, Creation, and/or evolution we came to be. We are suffering and looking, suffering and dying, suffering and asking why. There has already been movements of social, political, and economic concern. These battles have changed the course of our story yet there is so much that remains undone, neglected, abandoned, and if we see it can we not do something about it? Radical figures like Moses lead the exodus of the Egyptian slaves, King David though a murderer was the greatest King of Israel, and Jesus whom continues to promise freedom for all who believe. These individuals entered and changed history. Are we the hope we’re looking for?
If Jesus is the Savior, is Freedom, is Love, is Hope, is the Beginning and the End… If He came fully divine into full humanity, through a virgin named Mary, by the Spirit of God, to walk the earth, teach, die a death on a cross, to rise again, with a promise to return for full restoration where does that leave us? After His death His teachings continue and are being accepted worldwide. Wouldn’t you think with His promise and the globalization of His teaching this world would be a little different? Would not it seem that hope would be apparent?
What do we do? I want us to make a difference. I want us to be like Socrates, like Plato, and Aristotle, like these great thinkers who influenced the world by being themselves, by applying their passions. I want us to be like Mary who, by faith birthed the Son of God changed everything, like Paul who fought violently until he met a man named Jesus then became one of the greatest men to travel and care for others, like Constantine who saw the cross and changed an empire, like Luther who is the Father of Reformation, like Scottish Scientist Sir Alexander Fleming who discovered Penicillin and began saving millions of lives, like the renowned Martin Luther King Junior who had a dream, a stand, a voice, a passion and died for it, who set his people free in the process, who changed the course of this world. I want us to be libertarians, freedom fighters, to be human and struggle, to be a people united and have a voice- to vote, to be a free willed individuals who on no other basis than being human value each other.
The Enlightenment empowered thinking minds to venture away from status quo, the Middle Passage paved the way for America to take this land, the Civil Wars fought for political power and how to govern, the Industrial Revolution took humanity from man to machine and raw materials to finished products, then the rights of the workers and not just the workers but civilians, thus the Civil Rights, then Women’s, then Gay/Straight Alliance Movements and yet here we are. Isn’t it time for Human Rights to be the motivation for a Movement? How did we get to a point where we look into each other’s eyes and deem another as non-existent based on any difference? When did we give ourselves the right to dehumanize each other? Can it be said, “We are human, therefore We are?”
Now I ask not just where our my place within this context? I personally don’t know what it means to feed nations in order to solve world hunger, to have world peace, to wipe out disease, to stop violence nor end the captivity of every human being. However, I do know that without hope death becomes appealing and when death is appealing chaos becomes comfort and anger a means of remembering that you’re alive. And it seems like we live in a world that only knows pain. And if this is true then isn’t this our only universal commonality? Are we united in the endurance of the human struggle?
Cannot we be kind to each other because we understand that each one of us is in the greatest battle of our lives? Cannot we desire to give each other hope? Cannot in the face of this death we acknowledge that we have the greatest opportunity to choose life?
In thinking, in asking, in wrestling I do not assume that you are like me by any means. On the contrary, I ask that you allow me to be me, as you be you, and others be themselves all of us further defined by our experience within struggle, and that we, collectively grounded together because we’re human, begin to think, ask, and wrestle what it means for us to be the changers of Our Own History.
Now I would like to share with you an opportunity that has come in the way that radical opportunities come into my life, at 4:00am a few months ago. I woke up suddenly with the need to research world travel. I went to Chile, Bolivia, then towards Nepal first stopping in India, moving to the Great Wall of China after Everest Base Camp. It’s funny because I made a vow to myself that I wasn’t going to travel with nor during my last year here at North Park. My agenda read :get done and get out! Well, here I am going back to Thailand this winter.
I am going on a team of fifteen and we leave Chicago January 2nd to return on the 14th. We will work alongside the local leaders to encourage the community. We hope to develop long-term, cross-cultural relationships that will be continued with North Park as future teams travel there. This is an incredible opportunity to engage in the global community and join together for a common purpose, hope.

This is great because as part of my education I would like to understand the socio-economic, geo-political, and humanitarian issues the world is facing and I want to learn first hand. As a global citizen I want to take this responsibility and make it an active pursuit of cross-cultural knowledge and communication.
Furthermore, on developing relationships I acknowledge that I am absolutely limited, by my personal convictions, to my perspective of the world. Through global relationships I will have at least the opportunity to interact with diverse worldviews and hopefully further global awareness and passion for international injustice.
Finally, I thank you for reading these words, for being a place where I can be myself, where I can be exposed as a thinking woman with a few solid thoughts! As you set this letter down I encourage you to make time in your day to just ponder what your life would be like if you dreamt of the footstep of the world. What, honestly, do you have to lose? There are adventures to be had, cultures to explore, and hope to be given! Please think of this team and me as just the beginning, as a small movement towards the betterment of humanity. May you find the inspiration to move too!
Going unto a world in need: first seeing the person before me,

Kristen Anne Gerber
720-984-9198
kgerber@northpark.edu

If you wish to donate towards this $2,000 adventure there are a couple of ways to do that.
1.) Thoughts and Prayers
2.) Donations Online or by Mail (both instructions @ www.npumin.com)
a. Click on Programs
b. “Donate Here”
c. “Make your donation here” input name, address, for credit card, phone, number, and e-mail address
d. “Designation” = Global Partnership- Winter Break, Thailand
On this page it will ask for your credit card information and there will be a “Comment Box.” Please write my name here if you want me to directly receive your donation or leave it blank to support the students with the greatest need for this trip! If I receive all the donations necessary to cover my cost the overflow with go directly to other teams members!