 |
 |
After I mentioned that something had boggled my mind a friend asked what was happening inside my head during the “boggling.” Her challenge drove me to a dictionary, which offered the definition, “to be overwhelmed, set reeling.” We all may know that experience. Students are sometimes taught in ethics classes that when the complexity of what you confront stops you cold, follow Aristotle’s advice: Do what a good person would do.
In his own parish the priest organized an AIDS council to represent the Anglicans at the interfaith body. He started a school that has now prepared 8 students (3 of them girls) to take the exam qualifying them to be auto mechanics. Adult literacy is another problem in this neighborhood, so the priest has begun a class to teach people to read. Thirty women eagerly attend. The men, however, have difficulty admitting illiteracy. He thinks that little by little the men will come along. A number of Malawi people seem not to be stopped — “boggled” — by the facts. They just do what a good person would do. It isn’t easy, nor do they appear self-righteous in their actions, or self-important. Certainly there is no glamour. In fact the work is hard and frequently disappointing. They do what they do, I’m pretty sure, because deep inside is a feeling that they must, and all the words in the world wouldn’t begin to account for it. One day I asked another rural pastor why he worked so hard for others. The question seemed strange to him, but politely he came up with something. In his second language what he said was, “Many people lose their dear life.” Thank you so much for helping us to help people like this. Rev. Dr. William Rankin
Email GAIA info@thegaia.org • Tel 415-461-7196 • Visit our website: http://www.thegaia.org |
|