BAJD 2010/World Day Against Cyber Censorship

I am a 50-year-old American who has spent 2/3 of her adult life in Jordan. I’m not married to a Jordanian, I am not a Muslim. We came for Iraqi refugees on a short-term basis, and fell in love with Amman.  There is a part of me that has become Arab, and sometimes I operate out of that part so fully that I think I have the right to confront my home-away-from-home like a local. As I will do now, in love, in a manner that is constructive.

Love is a verb, not a noun. It is a choice. It can’t be forced and nothing kills it faster than compulsion. Or betrayal.

But true love has a habit of forgiving and resurrecting, stronger than before.

It returns just a little wiser, for loving and trusting are two different relational currencies.

In my work with victims of abuse, we say that it is crucial to forgive your abuser, for your own sake. To relinquish the ‘right to revenge’ unhooks the victim from the cycle of hatred. Often abusers are people we love. Can we choose to love them again? Yes.

But do we trust them?

No. Not yet.

Trust is an earned commodity. If it is broken, it needs to be re-proven, restored, re-earned over time. That involves acknowledging the problem, fully and even publically owning responsibility and culpability. It means carefully, over time, laying a new track record of trust-worthiness.

Everyone who lives here knows what a huge issue corruption is: it is a rampant, permeating cancer which at its cellular level revolves around favoritism and lies. It is dirt that has been ground into the weave of Jordan’s fabric of society at all levels and destroys the fibers that hold it together.

It worked when that was the only game in town. Those who had none just had not, khallas. And those who had got more, and protected that privileged place by various forms of informational shell games and sleight of hand.

But the internet has redefined the game. It has provided access of information to expose the depravity of the game. It has given a platform for the have-nots to plead their case, and for the haves who are sick of ‘having’ at the expense of the have-nots.

God has a habit of leveling the playing field from time to time, hearing the cry of the have nots and forcing the haves to come to grips with their greed. He has called us to care for one another, and when we withhold from our wealth and cease to engage with those around us, He has His ways of equalizing.

Freely flowing, uncensored information is a gift to hold greed and corresponding corruption in check. Greed is in the genetic code of bani-Adam, no government or religion or level of education has succeeded in eradicating the selfishness of mankind. But those who allow a level of informational freedom are getting farther than those who don’t, as there can be trust that the bad news will come out sooner or later.

Freedom of internet speech needs to be held dear in this country I love. It will help provide a balance, and those who practice corruption, knowing they may be exposed, may actually chose to practice business and life with transparency. The law is the tutor to grace.

Transparency builds trust.

Trust needs to be restored in Jordan.

With it, Jordan can fulfill her mandate to a regional leader for positive change.

Without it, we will become an aid-butressed buffer country with no real impact.

Jordan, let your people speak freely; I believe you will. They have much to say. With each conversation, a new track of trust will be relaid.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” from Saint Paul the Apostle

Love you, Jordan. Jesus loves you. Be your best, create a new standard of trust.