Sometimes I go in to culture shock. Right here in America. Right here in Atlanta.

I know that people around the world talk about how rich Americans are and how much we have. And call me rude, but sometimes I want to say “blah blah blah”. [Yeah, that is a bit rude, but hang with me.] Because I understand I live in the top 3% of the world or what have you, but compared to what we are told is “rich”, I am far from it. But then things like the following occur, and I realize that we, alas, do have too much money.

I went with some wonderful friends to NorthPoint Mall for the singular purpose of visiting the American Girl Doll Store. And it was heaven for 9 year old Annie. I used to love the doll Molly and read all the books about her. Even now, at 27, it gave me chill bumps of excitement to see all of Molly’s paraphernalia gathered and displayed. [Mildly lame. I know this.]

Then we saw this. The Doll Hair Salon. Wait wait wait. Are you telling me that little girls actually bring their dolls to this store, have them strapped into a salon chair, cape tied around their neck, and someone does their hair? And the little girls [read “moms”] PAY for this? Up to $20!! I watched in awe. Amazement. Quasi-disgust. The worst part? It isn’t the children that are coming up with this stuff. It’s adults. Creating environments of wasteful luxury and then showing children that is their status symbol. This is success.

What kind of whacked out culture do we live in where people can literally throw away up to $20 on getting Samantha a swanky up-do? Why are things like this a priority? How ironic to give Kaya, a Nez-Pierce girl growing up in 1764, a $15 French twist.

As I stood there and watched girl after girl make arrangements for their doll’s hair transformation, my mind flashed back to the concert on Friday night.

Barnes and Wertz spent a good amount of time talking about the Mocha Club. This is a non-profit a friend of theirs created to donate money to needy people in Africa. They ask people to donate $7 a month to their cause, roughly the cost of 2 mochas.

And for that $7, two kids get to go to school for a semester. One person is SAVED from malaria. Seven Africans can have clean water for a year.

For you non-math majors, that means that about three people could be saved from malaria if Samantha’s hairdo budget got redistributed to the Mocha Club.

Welcome to America, where a plastic doll is far more important that another human.

Have mercy on our children, God. Make them like You. Not like us.