To Write Slumdog on Her Invisible Bloodwater

Hello everybody!
I've been feeling exceptionally motivated lately, and I wanted to pass along some sources of inspiration.

I personally think all of this stuff is incredible, but I certainly won't ask you to watch/read all of it.  However, what I will ask of you is this: please find some organization/cause/charity/people group that enlivens you, and help!  It's nothing new and revolutionary to say that there is tremendous pain and injustice in the world, but those who actually do something to help are the true revolutionaries.

Before I get started, I thought I'd share a link that I recently found (thanks to AJ Jacobs' hilariously tongue-in-cheek, yet insightful book "The Year of Living Biblically").  For anybody who has heard horror stories of charities with multi-millionaire CEO's, charity navigator is a website that allows you to see the way many charitable organizations distribute the donations they receive.  It's a wonderfully helpful site, and I highly recommend it:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=11051

Now, to the list of life-changing media:

1. For starters (as I mentioned in my twitter), my wife and I saw Slumdog Millionaire last night, and it's one of the most life-changing movies I've ever seen.  Please (if you're allowed to see rated R movies) go to the theater tonight, tomorrow, this weekend, or wait until it's on DVD.  Just make sure to see it (again, only if you're allowed to see rated R movies with violence and cussing), because it truly moved me.  Here's a trailer for the film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIzbwV7on6Q

2. Secondly, my wife found an amazing church out here in Cali called Ecclesia.  We've thoroughly enjoyed attending the last couple of months, and it's a wonderful community that is working very hard to combat injustice in hollywood.  Our minister is a film-maker, and he worked on a rockumentary involving human trafficking and slavery called Call + Response.  We had the privilege of attending a viewing hosted by the director, and it blew my mind.  Here's a trailer for the film, which is currently in theaters:

http://www.callandresponse.com/

3. Finally (but certainly not lastly), I met a unique bloke (I love that word) in Australia named Az.  Aside from being hilarious, he was also a selfless, loving guy who is passionate about feeding the hungry.  Az a result (I couldn't resist), he performed an experiment called 7 Days/7 Dollars, during which he lived for a week off of $7 (the amount of money many families hope to make in third-world countries).

If you want to see the video chronicle of his 7-day adventure into poverty (certainly much lighter than the 2 previously mentioned videos), you can check out his you-tubed tales here:

http://www.500dreads.com/blog/?p=88

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this.  I realize that there are thousands of movies and groups trying to make a difference (Invisible Children, To Write Love on Her Arms, etc.), and I am by no means stressing the importance of these 3 over anything else.  They're just the ones that struck me in the last few weeks.  By the way, if you're reading this (or any other blogger on theonelove.org), money currently being generated for the blogger's organization of choice!  Mine is iSanctuary, a group that helps young girls get out of the slave/sex trade.

Please feel free to share some additional works that you like, and that have lit a fire under your booty!  I love this stuff.

Take care, and let's end hunger, poverty, injustice, racism, prejudice...tonight.  Haha.  Seriously, though...let's end it.