God Grew Tired of Us

The amazing and inspirational stories of the Lost Boys of the Sudan often reveal hardships and horror that no American child has ever had to face. Their incredible journies don't stop, however, when the young men reach America. Sometimes heartwarming, sometimes sad, and sometimes very funny, this movie is a great introduction to the history of the (ongoing) situation in Sudan. It also highlights some of the issues faced by the Sudanese here in the U.S. (work, school, assimilation, potato chips.)

The movie is great and you should watch it, but allow me to digress for a moment:

More information on this topic can be found in many arenas lately. Which is a wonderful thing -- more people need to find out what happened, is happening and what we can do to make a difference. In my opinion, one of the best places to start is a book by Dave Eggers, about a Sudanese named Valentino Achak Deng, called What is the What. Read the fantastic NYT review here. (Not everyone likes the book -- check out Travis Nichols' review here.)

You can also visit the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation here.

When Jon and I saw Valentino speak earlier this year, one of the most memorable moments for me was when he said that he felt the need to tell his story because he believed the rest of the world would not have let this happen if they had known about it. I wish I believed this, because I do feel like the world knows about horrors that happen all the time, but our governments and media are complacent and we, Americans at least, in general, do not care about that which we don't see as affecting our day to day lives. In fact, we are blind to the hardships of others to a criminal degree. Movies like God Grew Tired of Us and books like What is the What are a step in the right direction, making these stories visible and tangible and un-ignorable.