The problem with telling the truth

If you saw the movie "A few good men", you probably remember the famous line by Jack Nicholson. In response to Tom Cruise's statement, "I want the truth", he says, "You can't handle the truth." - Even if you never saw the movie, you have probably heard it quoted somewhere. I think so many times as people we say we want the truth, but that really isn't...well...the truth!  We want the truth when it is easy for us to understand or manage.

One of the reasons that I have been able to support Compassion wholeheartedly over the years is their integrity.  As an advocate, I have been told by the organization to be careful not to sugar-coat or sensationalize the needs and people in poverty that Compassion serves.  As an advocate, I always want people to want to sponsor a child, but I have to be careful never to coerce people into thinking that just because a child is sponsored, they are going to go on to a happily-ever-after life.  Some do.  I would dare to say many do - if we don't assume "happily-ever-after" for them is what we would expect it to be here in America. But some don't. After all, these kids are human and they have choices to make every day in a very sinful world and the effects of that sinful world are all around them. If we were guaranteed that every time we helped someone it would be thoroughly effective, than we would eventually live in a perfect world.

My first Compassion child I ever sponsored through Compassion ran away at 16 years old and eloped.  I had sponsored her for 7 years.  I don't know the circumstances surrounding her elopement or if she is living a life that would be pleasing to God today. The man she married may be a Christian or he may not.  From her letters, I had learned that her home life was not a happy one and that her mother was not completely enthused that she was part of the Compassion program. Could she have actually met a nice boy at the church and knew her mother would not approve and in a moment of teenage rashness, she ran off and got married?  Or had she succumbed to her environment and been enticed by the passions of the world and chosen to marry a man to whom she'd later regret being attached?  I will never know the answers to these questions. All I can do is continue to pray for her and hope that the lessons she learned when she was part of the Compassion program will be a root, down deep in her heart, and that if she is not following after God now, she will eventually find her way back again. 

When I read a Compassion blog post a couple days ago, I thought of her again.  Yet, this time I realized how much time had past since she left the program.  I thought, "She may already have little ones who will be old enough to enter the child survival program or even the sponsorship program. Would she seek after their help or is it possible that she is doing well enough to not need their assistance?" Again, that is a question to which I will never know the answer.  It is crazy to think that she is no longer "my Compassion child", but a young woman who has a life of her own now. 
But as I have sponsored her, plus several others over the last 13+ years, one thing that I have seen time and again with Compassion is their ability to admit the truth, even if it isn't so pretty. They know that people aren't programs and that programs are only as effective as the people who are part of them.  They have reinvented the process of how they do things so many times (even sometimes at the resistance of the advocates) to make sure that they are not more committed to their system than to the people they serve.  They have tried things that were huge successes and things they decided later were ineffective and had to be discontinued or redeveloped or molded or...you get the picture.

That is one of the reasons I enjoy reading the Compassion blog.  There are many positive stories, but also several that just bear hard truths.  A recent Compassion blog post talks about the balance that a writer for Compassion struggles with every day.  If you have a few minutes check it out.