RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION
(Sometimes a Good Thing)^©

Webster’s New World Dictionary provides the following definitions:

Righteous—morally right, fair and just; morally justifiable

Indignation—anger or scorn that is reaction to injustice; affront

I just watched a movie called Water by an Indian-Canadian director named Deepa Mehta, and it disturbed me profoundly. Truthfully, I’m not even sure how it ended up in my DVD queue, because it’s not the sort of movie I usually watch, preferring escapist fare, as a rule. But watch it, I did, and changed, I certainly am.

Set in the 1930’s, the film is a story about a seven year old girl named Chuyia, a child bride whose husband dies, leaving her a widow abandoned by her parents and discarded at an ashram, or widow house. Here she is expected to atone for the sin of her husband’s death, surrounded by other widows, young and old, all leading a life of mostly quiet desperation.

It is a deeply disturbing film, and while the plight of widows (and women in general) in India improved somewhat in the 20th century, thanks in part to Mahatma Gandhi and law changes, I was shocked to learn that the stigma and resultant oppression remain.

The film ends by pointing out that “in 2001, there were over 34 million widows in India, many of them still living in conditions of social, economic and cultural deprivation.” Did you catch that number?

34 million—many of whom survive by begging and prostitution, as the film so horrifically displays.

So where is the righteous indignation on behalf of these women? And on behalf of girls and women in general, who suffer equally horrific circumstances in other countries, and right here in our own?

It’s so easy to sit in my comfortable apartment and lament the wicked ways of the world. But what can I, one lone person, do to change what is so plainly unjust?

At the risk of being accused of naïveté, I believe I am making an impact with Reconnective Healing. Last night, after watching this film I went to my healing room and with tears streaming down my face and a fierce anger in my heart, allowed God’s healing energy to enter through my hands and shoot out towards India. I don’t know specifically where the energy went, but in my heart, I know something or someone was being healed (including me).

If you care at all about the injustices of the world, and if you are tired of turning a blind eye to them, won’t you join in and become a distance healer? Surely there has to be a better way. We haven’t solved these problems with war, hand-wringing or apathy.

Oppression is not something we simply have to accept. Even if you’re not inclined to be a healer in your daily work life, consider it a form of tithing. Give back in return for all that you have. Shine God’s healing down on those less fortunate. Pick your target audience. And for a few minutes a day, with deep trust, know that you are making a difference, and that righteous indignation can become righteous action.

Know that change is possible. Become part of the solution. Don’t remain disconnected.

Search the internet and read about what Deepa Mehta endured, just to bring this film to completion.

What I’m asking of you is not nearly as dangerous.

RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION(Sometimes a Good Thing)©

RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION
(Sometimes a Good Thing)^©