Five weeks ago we began a journey together inventing a new blog. Thanks for reading and participating. I can't tell you how much it meant and means to me that a group was interested in the ramblings of Sue and I. I would like to share one last story.
On the airplane coming home the Clint Eastwood movie, Invictus, was shown. As most of you know the story line centers around Nelson Mandela and the Springboks, a rugby team that won the World Cup against great odds on behalf of the new South Africa. I just had to cry as I watched the portrayal of the human issues taken to such extremes and at such expense in that poor country. Several times Mandela refers to the poem written by William Henley in the late 1800s as he looked at amputation of a leg to save his life. It goes:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole.
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
What a great poem and movie! I met a lot of folks who are truly bloody but unbowed. If any of you are interested in having more contact please look at http://www.pfrwanda.org for general info, an opportunity to sign up for their newsletter, or go to prisonfellowshiprwanda@blogspot.com for amazing stories periodically of what is being done, and if you care to communicate directly, Guma's email address is gumaalexandre@gmail.com. I, of course, am a bit player but would love to share thoughts and feelings with any of you at any time. There is a free Starbucks coffee in it for anyone who contacts me at dlminson@yahoo.com or calls at 503-648-5579.
My personal bead is a bit different than Henley's. I can't make injustice, hatred, poverty and sickness go away. But I can live a life consistent with the calling of my God in an arena where those things are clearly present. I can also do things to make a difference in people's lives who have a great deal more to deal with than I. God loves each of us and wants desperately to relate to us in the midst of our human stories. Christ died for the redemption of our very beings. So, pray with St. Francis and with me:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light,
where there is sadness, joy;
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in the giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal live.
Thanks and God bless each of you.
dlm
