‘Do what needs to be done’

‘Do what needs to be done’
By Editor
Tue 02 Feb. 2010, 04:01 CAT

MANKIND’S ability to speak up, to speak out has been the bedrock of civilisation.

Docility has never improved anything. If something is wrong, there is need to speak out against it, to denounce it and demand change. It is as a result of this realisation that tyrannical regimes the world over and throughout the centuries have tried to silence, to suppress those who attempt to speak out.

There are so many things that are not right in our country; that are wrong in the way the affairs of our country are managed. But very few citizens are rising up to denounce that which is wrong and seek for that which is right to be done. You switch on the radio every day, you only hear the same voices speaking out – Proud, Konoso and so on and so forth. The same voices every day. It is the same George Mpombo, Michael Sata, Hakainde Hichilema, Lee Habasonda, Reuben Lifuka, Fr Frank Bwalya, Bishop Paul Duffy, among a few others, speaking out every day in a population of about 12 million when there could be 12 million voices.

Life is often unfair. The world in which we live is not always just. The parable of the African boy tells it all. Walking along the bank of a river one day, he was distracted by the cry of a crocodile in distress. The crocodile told the boy that it had come out in search of food for its little ones and was caught in the hunter’s net. It did not mind dying, but for the sake of the hungry young ones, it asked the boy to set it free. The hesitant boy was reassured by the reptile that it would never harm a boy that came to its rescue. Just as the boy released the reptile from the last string of the net, it caught the boy between its jaws. The boy accused the crocodile of perfidy. It replied that, when hungry, crocodiles eat whatever they could get hold of and that the boy was a fool to believe it. “This, my dear boy, is life,” concluded the reptile.

The crocodile asked the boy to check with the crow that was sitting on a tree nearby if it was unjust. The crow agreed with the crocodile saying that it had on a tree a nest with two young ones which a snake swallowed, just two days earlier. All the pleas of the crow not to harm the young ones did not stop the snake. That, the crow said, was the world! It was a donkey that the boy consulted next at the suggestion of the crocodile. The donkey told the boy how it had worked for its master for 10 years and, now that it was too old to work, the master had just turned it out to feed on scraps of paper and scarce grass. That was the law of the world, concluded the donkey.

Then came a fox whom the crocodile was happy to let the boy consult. His first condition before any discussion was that no dialogue was fair under duress and so the crocodile had to release its hold on the boy’s leg. The fox added that if at all the boy showed the slightest sign of running away, the crocodile could knock him down with its powerful tail. As soon as the crocodile released the boy’s leg, the fox shouted to the boy to run for his life. To the surprised crocodile, the fox said, “This is life, my dear, as you told the boy”.

It is clear that we are not always free and responsible as regards the situations we are put in, but we are free and responsible as to what we do about them. Holiness often consists in the way we face these situations. The holy person finds the ‘kingdom of God’ where he is and finds his peace doing God’s will there. This is the distinction between Christians and the disciples of Christ. Christians see in Christ a prophet (Matt. 16:13-16) and they go to him in fear and when in need, whereas the disciples accept Christ as their way, truth and life, that is, they seek only his will and do it.

The mature person while accepting serenely the things that cannot be changed, puts his heart and soul in transforming whatever can be changed into situations more worthy of the kingdom. Hence the saying: “I do not believe in a fate that falls on men and women however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act”. A mature person, a responsible person takes responsibility for his life and acts with the power God has given him.

He does not wait for a miracle in situations where human effort can find the solutions. While going through a forest once, two pious people saw a lion at a distance. One of them said: “There is no reason why we should flee; the Almighty God will certainly protect us.” And the other replied: “No, brother, come, let us run away. Why should we trouble God for what can be accomplished by our own effort?” The formula of St Ignatius of Loyola fits here: “Let this be the first rule of action: so trust in God, as if successful results depended entirely on yourself and not at all on God; nevertheless make each effort as if the result depended entirely on God and not yourself”. This is the mystery and challenge of God’s presence within us. Moses had to do the “dirty job” and get all the knocks; yet it was with the power he had from God that he accomplished the wonderful things he did. “Do what needs to be done,” is the secret of holiness. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven” (Matt. 7:21).

The quitter, the pious martyr, will find the problem too hard, the challenge too demanding. He forgets that “God is faithful, and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (ICor. 10:13).

It often happens that we are hurt by the behaviour of others. So many put up with such situations helplessly and suffer. Some even consider such suffering as participation in the cross of Christ. But Christ did not go in search of the cross. He accepted the cross in order to be faithful to his mission. We are invited by the Lord, who made us in his image, to confront assertively and lovingly those who hurt us, in order to establish better relationships.

To give up even an attempt to bring this hurt and pain in the world, including our own, is defeatism and not taking up the cross to build the Kingdom. There was the bossy superior who had the habit of scolding and correcting his subjects in public and in anger. There was heartache in the community on this account. One subject, when treated that way, told him politely and firmly in private: “I would like to work here without fear. I would like to relate with you with mutual love and respect. If I make a mistake, you have the right to point it out, but not in public or in anger. I have the right to my self-respect. If you shout at me again, I will have to tell you then and there what I am telling you now.” The subject was never again shouted at. She did not go about as a helpless wimp, nor was she treated as one.

Experience shows that this type of confrontation, this kind of assertive confrontation which neither blames the other, nor goes beyond clear verifiable facts, along with the expression of one’s feelings, helps the other person see your point of view, especially your pain. It takes practice to use this approach properly. Our culture tends to make us blame others or attribute to others more than what they have actually done and at the same time omit the expression of feelings. Often it is enough to tell people how their behaviour hurts us and they usually make a serious effort to stop such behaviour, for most people are good at heart. They behave badly because they do not know that their behaviour hurts us. Hence the need to speak out, to speak up, to denounce that which is wrong.

In our hurt and anxiety that this method may not work, we escape saying that it won’t work, nothing will change. The result is that we get hurt again and again and feel victimised. To face courageously the realities of life means not to accept a victim’s position. Another escape we use to avoid confronting issues maturely and responsibly when needed is to say, “But people should know”. The fact is that people often do not know how or how much they hurt us. Have we not ourselves been surprised when told that such and such an act or word of ours hurt someone?

What is important about a mature and responsible person is that he is willing to speak out, speak up, to act, to take the initiative to improve the situation, in contrast to the immature and irresponsible person who just waits for things to happen. If a situation bothers you, the best thing to do is to make the changes necessary for your own comfort. Insisting that the blame be placed where it belongs and that the person at fault must be the one to change, may only lead to further suffering, misery and unhappiness and impoverishment.

Speaking out, speaking up, taking action is not easy. But it is worth the effort. “Enter by the narrow gate…for the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt. 7:13-14). “From the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force” (Matt. 11:12).