Still Supporting

A news story has been shown to the public. In it, Jason Russell, one of the founders of Invisible Children and the narrator of the movie Kony 2012, had a very public mental breakdown. The stress of his organization undergoing nonstop scrutiny over a video the company believed would get half a million views by December (when the video received over 80 million views in less than two weeks), the lack of sleep, lack of nutrition, and dehydration finally caught up with him. A quick google search can give the details of the events, but that isn’t the purpose of this post. I consider Jason a friend of mine. I’ve stated several times that I believe in him. Can I still say that, after these embarrassing actions? Is my belief naively founded?


To answer, I must say primarily that I am an idealist. For me, the ideal is encapsulated in a being I call God. All that is perfect, all that is true, all that is real is within this God. Human beings – like myself – will always be  a disappointment in comparison. I am selfish, I lie, I disappoint – there is an obvious difference between humans and this God. This realization can lead one down the path of pessimism, wherein the world is tainted gray and bleak, always coming up short of the ideal. Or the world can be perceived as a place of hope, wherein even though we may never achieve this Ideal, we can come close to it.


I guess it’s important to remind ourselves that no matter how close we come to what is Good, we will always disappoint. I believe that this is our nature: to always strive, but never quite succeed.


Sometimes it is important to be reminded that everyone – even those we look up to – are only human, and will eventually disappoint.


Jason is a friend of mine, He fights hard for what he believes in. He is not God. He makes mistakes. I don’t excuse or trivialize any mistakes of his, but I understand that he will not always be Ideal.


In the long run, I continue to support Invisible Children. To tear down a company because of the breakdown of one man is childish.


Moreover though, I support Jason Russell as a friend, a Christian, a brother, and a hero. If the situation were turned, I’d like to think he’d still have my back. And frankly reader, I hope a friend would have yours if you had a breakdown. Being heroic isn’t in having no negative aspects in one’s life, but about overcoming them.


May you, when you are at your lowest, always have someone who will stay on your side and believe in the goodness of your heart.


You rock, Jas.


Kony 2012.

On Kony 2012

A topic of controversy in pop culture right now is the company Invisible Children, after their Internet video campaign Kony 2012 was released to the public. Because the video has garnered so much popularity and struck a chord with so many people, many bloggers and other Internet users sought to tear down the company’s reputation.

[Man hates feeling uncomfortable, so if anything causes him to question his peace of mind, he attacks it.]

Don’t get me wrong: it is good to be thoughtful and critical of any- and everything. The difference between being thoughtful and being ignorant is apparent when one only reads articles written from the perspective he agrees with. This goes for IC supporters as well: we should read and acknowledge the negativity of the articles.

However, this stance does not belittle the message and goal of the video, which was to raise awareness of Joseph Kony. The video did not seek out popularizing the company, Invisible Children. To say that one must research the company before watching/sharing the video misses the point of the video. I say watch/share it, then research the company (if you want to devote time/money to them).

I am a big IC supporter, and this is how I became a part of the movement.

In 2006, I saw the rough cut of the movie Invisible Children at a friends’. Though it was stirring and moving, I experienced it only as a movie. I didn’t think much about it afterwards…

…until I randomly found myself at a screening of the movie at my college’s student union. I don’t remember why I attended: I think the decision was based on having nothing better to do. At this screening, I was more captivated by this plight in Africa. I think that a large part of that was the presence of the roadies – guys and girls no older than me who pledged themselves to a just cause and really acted on it, instead of like me a few months ago: stirred, but complacent.

A little about me – I am not one who is okay sitting back and watching a cause I commit to. Invisible Children was a movement started by a few guys barely older than me with that same attitude. I didn’t want to commit to them based on their financial history, their pristine siphoning of their funding, or their flawless personalities. Invisible Children, to me, was a group started by guys who saw something wrong with the world and then used their efforts to right it. That night, in my student union’s theater, I made a silent decision. I committed to Invisible Children.

In 2006, I was a sophomore in college. My only real task shortly thereafter was to spread awareness for the screenings that came to my college twice a year. In my junior year, I thankfully mentioned the movie to my Honors class. My friend Ruth (I called you out) came, among others from the class. She was moved by the screening. (She later called it a life-changing moment for her.)

Ruth used her time and effort to make the Lafayette Street Team for Invisible Children. Through this team, we organized and advertised our own screenings, and didn’t only rely on the roadies to come through to show the movie. We organized screenings of the movies, other videos of the company, advertised about the crisis, had an art sale benefitting them, and had a lot of fun doing that. A memorable event we had was when we had a white flag parade through downtown Lafayette. We were silent, and only talked to people who asked us what we were doing.

Displace Me was an event put on in 2007 by Invisible Children to allow their supporters to experience life in displacement camps, like most of the population of Uganda had to in those times, because of fear of Kony’s child abductions. The event was held for one night in 15 different US cities. We slept outdoors with only cardboard boxes as shelter (like those in the displacement camps. The night included times where we would write letters to our senators and also times of silent meditation/prayer for those in Uganda. Because of Ruth’s organization and work, “Laffy Town,” the group from the Lafayette Street Team, was the largest group at the New Orleans Displace Me.

Check out the video.

I am proud to report that the northern Ugandans are no longer forced to move to displacment camps.

In 2008, I graduated from college and moved to that state capital for graduate school. My commitment to IC was rather stagnant for my two years of grad school, regrettably. It was awesome news when my friend Blake, who I’d introduced to IC in undergrad, told me that he was accepted to do a paid internship with IC in San Diego. He invited me to visit him there, so I gladly accepted. I’d planned to go one Friday in May 2011, tour the office maybe meet the founders Laren and Jason. (Bobby started his own nonprofit at this time.) The week I was scheduled to leave, Blake called and told me that the office would be closed on Friday, so I couldn’t tour the building and meet everyone. I was bummed at this, but my point of going was to hang out with Blake, and that was still the plan.

Blake asked me to consider stopping by the IC office on Monday morning, before my flight. I told him that I didn’t want to risk missing my flight, and it was just an idle wish of mine to tour the IC office.

That night I received a text from an area code I didn’t recognize. It read, “Hey Matt, this is Jason Russell. Blake told me you were coming to Sand Diego and I really want to meet you! Please come by on Monday morning.”

He twisted my arm. I went.

This guy  who just texted me, I wasn’t enamored by him, like he was a celebrity. It was more like deep admiration and respect. I believed in what he was doing, and being involved in his cause shaped my character, so it was awesome to get to see him as a normal guy who wanted to meet a strange kid from Louisiana.

On Saturday in San Diego, Blake and I stopped by an (almost) deserted IC building, where we stumbled upon Laren, one of the three main founders, at work in his office. We talked for a little while, then he allowed me to go to their merchandice room and get whatever I wanted. I was fortunate that Blake was with me, or I would have emptied the merch room. I got to snap a picture with him before we left.

Monday morning, I got to meet Jason (who was still on his marathon kick, and took a bike to work). He talked to me in his office, and asked to hear my story. I told him about me, then I asked to hear his. Somewhere in the hour I spent there, we went through both of our stories, he showed me the picture album of their trip to Africa when they filmed the rough cut, and he gave me a tour of the office. I left him, telling him I’d text when I landed in Louisiana and letting me know he’d be in touch.

Yeah, he is a cool guy.

Four months later, he texted me saying he’d be at the airport an hour from me briefly. I asked Ruth to go with me, and we got to meet again in that airport. I noticed his genuine interest and pride as we told him of the grassroots effort in Lafayette.

That is my story about how I became involved in IC and about how I got to consider Jason a friend of mine. My point in relaying that is this:

I believe in the mission of IC. A primary mission of the IC movement is to spread awareness of the humanitarian crises facing the people of Uganda. With the Kony 2012 video, they have done that.

An obvious response is for people to question the legitimacy of the company. That is a very good thing. We need to always be wary of everything in our lives. However, to use questioning the business as an excuse not to be aware of the campaign is… pitiful. If an aggravating neighbor told us that we had something in our teeth, would we ignore the message because we didn’t like where it came from? Any message voicing the good of others is worth listening to. To poke holes in the sender doesn’t make the message go away; it becomes more resonant.

“The Ugandan people don’t like what IC is  doing,” some say. A Ugandan girl is coming to the local screening Monday; I’ll ask her, rather than a blogger.

“Kony isn’t even in Uganda,” some say. Is he still a wanted terrorist?

“All trials before for peace and his capture have failed and resulted in a bigger bloodbath.” Hence we want American involvement.

“The only reason IC wants US troops in Africa is so that Americans can be near rich raw minerals.” Unfortunately, I did really hear this. Talk about reaching for something negative to say.

Finally, I consider Jason a friend, and before that I believed greatly in Invisible Children. My hope is that you, reader, find something to believe in so much that even if it becomes popular or ridiculed, you still acknowledge it.

Adler and Me

            The human psyche is a huge mystery of great interest to me. In graduate school, I was taught many different theories that each had different views of how the human psyche is formed and maintained. I was made aware of a variety of approaches because of the belief of my academic program (and most of psychotherapy in general) that a trans-theoretical approach, one that recognizes the strengths and shortcomings of many different schools of thought, is more well-rounded than a loyalist approach, one that strictly adheres to one theory and assumes that it is best. I admit, though, that the theories I like most, I tend to use more often (such as the existential approach). However, I don’t consider myself a loyalist to this theory, and will accommodate without reservation other theories and approaches to problems presented in a counseling environment. One theory that I don’t focus on very often but recognize the importance of is the Adlerian theory of psychotherapy, called individual psychology.

            To begin to understand this theory, it’s important to recognize its namesake, Alfred Adler. As a boy, Adler was stricken with polio, so while other children played, he many times watched from the sidelines. His athletic and well-liked brother especially outshined Adler. Unsurprisingly, the inferiority complex is a main belief in Adlerian psychology. According to Adler, all people battle for belonging, control, and ultimately survival. (Of course, this is a gross understatement.) (Juxtapose this battle for survival with Frankl’s search for meaning for an awesome discussion.) Adler was adept at focusing on interior concepts, such as his own desires and how that developed in him. One of the most interesting ideas brought forth by the Adlerian theory is the formation of people’s personalities as evidenced by their first memories.

            Human memory is fascinating. Some events from over ten years ago are remembered easily and sometimes with pain-staking detail. However, typically one has difficulty remembering the lunch he or she had yesterday. The inexplicable part to this is that the memory of ten years ago may be of an uneventful and unimportant lunch someone has had. Adler asked why people are able to recall some events from our past and not others. He was especially interested in a person’s first memories. He theorized that the reason we remember certain events from our youth isn’t random, but we remember them because they helped to form our personalities. I shall provide an example of some of my first memories and hopefully show that they were woven into a pattern that became my personality.

            My very first memory is of being at my family’s business at about two-years-old, and playing hide-and-seek with my uncle. I remember calling out his name, “Harold!” (which, by the way, was my first word). I couldn’t find him, and my parents called me to the kitchen table, but I wasn’t ready to quit. I kept looking for him. Adler says that instead of finding importance in the events of the memory, the importance is in the feelings of the memory. This memory shows that I was hardheaded, even as a toddler. To put that in a better light, when I find a goal or something important to me, I tend to not lose focus of it.

            Another early memory of mine is from my last day of school in kindergarten. My teacher (who is a very nice lady and who I still see occasionally, though this memory embarrasses me) asked her class if they had a good teacher that year, or an old witch. In a sing-songy child chorus voice the entire class said “A gooooooood teacher.” Except for one conniving boy who said “An old witch.” Yep, that was me. I was hoping that other people would say it with me as a joke, but no one did. The joke hadn’t gone off as anticipated. The teacher really twisted the knife when she said, “Thank everybody, except Matt.” I say twisted the knife being more accurate than melodramatic: the guilt I felt and the fear that I’d hurt my teacher’s feelings tore at me. At recess, I went up to her desk and said that I was sorry, but the lesson was learned. For me, causing harm to other people results in me brooding over it and getting a knot in my stomach over it. (Writing about this 20 years later, I still feel bad about it.) When I intentionally harm other people (even for laughs), I end up hurting worse than them, so I better not do it.

            My uncles decided to play a prank on the nephews and nieces when I was about 7. Someone radioed to their CB one Christmas Eve night when the whole family was gathered at my grandparents. The person on the radio was Santa, who sent out an SOS, saying that aliens were chasing him in his sleigh. My uncles got a shotgun and fired it into the sky one, two, three times. After the third shot, Santa radioed in to say that he was safe and the aliens were gone. I remember being excited at all this excitement, confused as to why it was happening so fast, nervous at the loud noise of the firing gun, but ultimately safe and not afraid. I think that this attitude of experiencing a fast-paced and surprising turn of events but feeling safe and secure has lasted with me throughout my life.

            From these three memories, I can derive that I am a focused, sensitive, and trusting guy. Maybe this Adlerian exercise doesn’t seem 100% accurate to you, but it is fun. I encourage you to think of your first memories. Don’t focus on what happened, but try to decipher your feelings about what was going on. According to Adlerian thought, the reason that you remember these events is because they were essential in forming your personality. Your character was like wet cement being hardened to become permanent. The human psyche is a puzzle; any attempt to decipher it is time well spent, in my opinion.

This post is dedicated to Mrs. Nancy, who was a good teacher, and not an old witch.