East St. Louis: In Focus

At first glance, this picture seems to portray the creativity that characterizes kids in the inner-city. However, the graffiti in the background is gang art, and the bears indicate multiple tragedies. Each time a person from the neighborhood is killed, a bear is nailed to a telephone pole. Each bear represents a life that was cut short because the youth of East St. Louis choose to invest their lives in drugs, violence, and gang activity. This is a sobering reality that few of us will ever face. As I sat in a truck taking this picture, it occurred to me that kids are dying each week, that my own children will grow up on these streets...and that my mind is too often preoccupied with things that possess only earthly significance. I’m learning that the greatest reality, the thing of utmost significance, is that—apart from Christ—lives are lost, and these youth spend eternity in a place that is far worse than the one where they spent their earthly lives, something they never dreamed possible.