The Huayna Split

I find myself torn the more time I'm here. On the one hand, there is school and all my students. On the other hand, there is everything else. Where do I put my time/energy, and what is more important to me? Or is that a stupid question, and it is completely possible to split myself, enjoying the joys and pains of both worlds. How spread can a person become and still be usefull to the people around him/her? Where is the balance between using God's wisdom and using God's strength? I believe these are questions that can only be answered by a quiet heart and open ears in the presence of Our Lord. so I will wait..... I had lunches/dinners with quite a few families this weekend, all of whom wanted to know where I've been over the last month. The truth was easy. I've been working at the school during the day, and preparing lessons at night. The conversations, however, made me miss many things that I used to be more involved in.......most generally, life in El Alto. After a year, I am still amazed at how willing these families are to put an extra meal on the table for a person who has so many resources already, especially when they themselves have the daily struggle of providing for a family of 8, maybe more. It is a very true, and sobering, glimpse into the heart of Jesus. I digress. Here is a song, composed by a guy named Bruce Cockburn, after he toured South America in 1983. I heard it for the first time while I was having dinner up at my old house in El Alto this weekend. I personally am a proponent of a form of democracy, so I can't say that I agree with this song at its core. And if I'm honest, I mostly put this in here because I like the last 5 lines (especially the last 2). Brent, these last couple of lines are specifically for you. Call It A Democracy padded with power here they come international loan sharks backed by the guns of market hungry military profiteers whose word is a swamp and whose brow is smeared with the blood of the poor who rob life of its quality who render rage a necessity by turning countries into labour camps modern slavers in drag as champions of freedom sinister cynical instrument who makes the gun into a sacrament -- the only response to the deification of tyranny by so-called "developed" nations' idolatry of ideology north south east west kill the best and buy the rest it's just spend a buck to make a buck you don't really give a flying fuck about the people in misery IMF dirty MF takes away everything it can get always making certain that there's one thing left keep them on the hook with insupportable debt see the paid-off local bottom feeders passing themselves off as leaders kiss the ladies shake hands with the fellows open for business like a cheap bordello and they call it democracy and they call it democracy and they call it democracy and they call it democracy see the loaded eyes of the children too trying to make the best of it the way kids do one day you're going to rise from your habitual feast to find yourself staring down the throat of the beast they call the revolution