Well, you can definitely (and should) look at each party’s platform on the issues like the economy, education, health care, job creation, tax increases/decreases, etc. Those are absolutely important factors in deciding who you vote for, but I challenge you to look at more. The aforementioned issues really only deal with our own country. What about the rest of the world? And I’m not just talking about foreign policies/relations. What about AIDS? What about poverty? What about all the injustices in the world? As one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world, we have a responsibility to those countries in need. Our leader must be one who is committed to this responsibility and acts on it. Not only should he/she look out for our country’s best interest, but also the world’s.

So when it comes time to cast your ballot, I hope everyone will consider not only the domestic issues, but also the world issues.

“Never forget, JUSTICE is what LOVE looks like in public!”

So, in the past 2 months, I’ve been cut for cancer, saw a phantom terrorize an opera house, saw/listened to Switchfoot at Kool Haus (check out the vids here), retreated with a fellowship, given up meat & seafood for lent, started teaching swimming lessons again for the first time in 5 years, visted some friends in ‘loo, started some cool business courses, had dinner with a friend from Brazil, started tutoring again with the Meds, winterliscioused it up at La Maquette, saw the Canadiens (unfortuantely) lose at the ACC, and been trying to get into a regular routine now that I have less class. Hmmm…looking back, looks like I had some good times. So, what’s next? Hilarities at Skule Nite 0T7, CCF elections, find a summer job, launch Acting on AIDS, Unity in Diversty, become a shadow for a skit on Easter Sunday, finish up my design project, vacation with the fam to Vancouver & Alaska, figure out what to do with my life.

Now, onto the promos:

Come to UTCCF’s coffehouse: Unity in Diversity! This Friday at 6:30 pm at the Buttery. Food, music, friends, dancing plus thelaunching of Acting on AIDS! It’s going to be a great night!

Also, come to the first Acting on AIDS workshop at U of T! If you read my Urbana blogs, you may remember me mentioning about how we should be the generation that ends the AIDS pandemic. So, here at U of T, the first Acting on AIDS chapter is starting. We’re having speakers come in from World Vision to share what’s going on in the world with respect to AIDS and what you can do. Come out, learn, and be challenged to act justly. Join the movement! Tuesday, March 20 at 6 pm in the Bahen centre, room 2155.

Ending off today with some hilarities. Probably not what Jesus meant by “turn the other the cheek,” but funny nonetheless. *profanity warning*

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AalXl2dc0Kk]

Actually, I was infected only for about 20 minutes.

Today, I finally visited the World Vision booth and went through the AIDS Experience (if you click on the link, you can go through the online version). I became Timothy, a young boy from Malawi. I experienced (or as close to experiencing it as I could) what he went through. How a travelling stranger comes and takes. Takes lives. Takes my father’s life. Then my mother’s. Then it comes for me. I get infected. All of this in the first 6 years of my life. I hear of how others who are positive are stigmatized and how one kid is even beaten by his father because he do doesn’t want to take care of a HIV positive child. As I receive my test result, saying I’m positive, I have to wait. Wait for someone to come by who isn’t infected to lead me out of the health clinic. The wait is surreal. The travelling stranger has come back. But this time, it’s back to take me. What do I do? Where do I go from here? After about 2 or 3 minutes of pondering all of this, a lady reaches out her hand, takes mine, and leads me out of the clinic. We come to the photos and stories of all the people who you can become (Olivia, Beatrice, Timothy & others). We’re then invited to the chapel to see the faces of those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Finally, before we enter back into the western world from Africa, we’re given an opportunity to write a short prayer and post it on the wall. Hundreds of white sheets of paper with prayers scrawled upon them are already pinned up. I write mine, pin it, and once again, become Jonathan, a Chinese Canadian, with wealth ridiculously larger than most people in the world, and access to healthcare that most in Africa cannot access. But I’ll never forget Timothy or his story.

So, what’s next?

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
~ Micah 6:8 ~

Same schedule as yesterday, just different passages and different speakers. Getting to know the other floor proctors more and some of the exhibitors too. Continuing to connect with them. Tonight, we had an extended session where the second half of the session focused on HIV/AIDS. I’ve been looking forward to this for the past few days and it didn’t disappoint. There were 3 scheduled speakers plus a surprise video from Bono, that’s right, U2′s Bono. First there were testimonies from Lisa Robinson (a nurse from Toronto who went to Africa to help educate people in Malawi about HIV/AIDS) and Kay Warren (Rick Warren’s wife who also went to Africa and experienced HIV/AIDS first hand). We then got surprised with a video of Bono exhorting us to join the ONE campaign and to use our voices to change the AIDS situation and drown him out. Lastly, we had Princess Kasune Zulu share about how HIV/AIDS has affected her and urged us to fight this, to be the visible image of the invisible God. Very moving message that got a standing ovation from everyone.

So what does this mean for me? Well, this AIDS thing has been on my mind for the last few months and this basically reaffirmed things for me, how I must not be silent, how we as a church cannot be silent. Talked with Mike Lau after the session here at the hotel and it was awesome to hear some of the ideas he’s got for what we can do as a fellowship to raise awareness about AIDS at UT like World Vision’s Acting on AIDS (AOA). Let’s be the generation that ends this AIDS pandemic.