A special 24

I spent the 24th of May in the most different mode this year.  Usually it is amidst Salesians or family (holidays).  This time it was amidst rocks and under a blazing sun - very unique and offering great amount of solitude.  I went to one of our disputed property sites awaiting a land surveyor. What was supposed to be a four hour trip turned out to be a 16 hour wait... only to be told that it cannot be done!

Anyway, had the maiden experience of driving an auto-gear car.  Most importantly enjoyed the solitude.  Didn't mind any bit of it at all.  

As stopgaps

Very many confreres take offence or feel insulted when shuttled around to fill gaps, plug in vacancies, either for a short time or for a long term.  This has much to do with perhaps, 'earning a name' 'doing something solid' and what not.  It also has something to do with the area of 'specialisation' of the individual.  One is 'specialised' and therefore one is to be sent only to those areas where his specialization is needed.

For me Salesian obedience (transfer) is a simple, Go!  You go because you are sent.  I consider this shuffling as per need (real need), a compliment.  It is a great Salesian virtue. That one is found capable of fitting into any context, any situation and trusted with a responsibility, even if not specialised in that area, is indeed a privilege.  Furthermore what kind of a skill has one acquired if one cannot translate the specialization into the context in which one finds oneself.

Different value scales

During our group discussion we had an interesting tug of war. A rather stubborn pair of confreres - I said pair, purposely to mean it! - held on to their view even when everyone else in the group (of 8) strongly felt and showed otherwise.

Honestly speaking they didn't mean harm or ill. They just had a different set of values. I guess that's the case most of the time.  Not that people are bad or evil or wrong.  They merely have a different value scale, different priorities, varied glasses to look through.

Without money!

After a long gap, I'm putting down my ideas. Not that I did not have any ideas all these days.  In fact, too many and too varied.  Just too many other commitments on the priority list as well.

I attended a Province level meeting in the first week of June. Much better than most of the past.  Was happy to have a hand in its organisation and preparation.

One thing was apparent:  Quite a few of the confreres are convinced that without money no good can be done!

Thank God Jesus did not have any such ideas or convictions or mind-frame.  There'd be no Christianity, no Salesian Congregation and least of all no Salesian Province of Hyderabad!

Preventing theft vs Preventing becoming robbers

After two grueling days of doing all sorts of things and thoughts and loosing my peace of mind, and sleep and even temper over the growing tendency of theft and thieving by the boys, among themselves, tonight's goodnight was the climax.  Not that it is now over! It is just a beginning but a collective effort now.  Not individuals working for different purposes and ends but collectively arriving at a decision to curb theft.

While I had a discussion with all the boys (all 110 of them) and most of the caretakers, I kept saying to myself that the goal is not merely to prevent theft or robbery, but to help boys stay clear from becoming robbers!  As the instances of theft having been rising, I also realised that the 'new' thieves caught were once victims.  They now felt forced to 'join the gangs' or wanted to take revenge!  Therefore I was keen on forming character than merely preventing some random acts.

The easiest solution would be to lock it all up and intensify the scrutiny and "policing" but that's only a prevention of an act not the formation of character.  My focus therefore was on appealing to the conscience while ensuring that certain procedures and policies are in place.

Standing Tall

Preparing for the sowing

Reading the testimony of a Korean missionary in Africa, I was amused by his frank and open sharing about his maiden experience outside his own culture.  He shares some of the significant things that stand out for him as a person coming from a different culture altogether.  He also adds the fact that there were missionaries from his own country to the particular place that he is currently posted at... and wonders how the place could still be so 'remote' in development and growth.

I was specially struck by his optimism.  He went to the country expecting that the seed sown by his predecessors would have now grown into a huge tree only to realise that they did their best and had only prepared the ground... he was to do the sowing of the seed!

We all have expectations and dreams about very many things in life.  Not all are realistic or actualised but it is better to have dreams than none!  Greater are those who do not get discouraged but are willing to see the new and different possibilities that reality offers in contrast to ones own dreams and expectations.

Paradox

One of the million paradoxes of our times:
The US debating and deliberating who should use which bathroom (based on gender)
vs
India getting its citizens to use bathrooms (instead of opting for open defecation)

Descent of the Holy Spirit

Practically this whole week's readings, office of readings, scripture passages and all the intercessory prayers somehow lead to the event of the Pentecost.  A curtain raiser on the Holy Spirit.

The image of the whole feast of Pentecost too is a bit dramatic!  I guess there was no other way of expressing somethig which is not so common a phenomenon.  The flames landing on each individual!  Somehow I find it odd also.  Not the event but the interpretation and the way this descent of the spirit is treated by very many in the Church.

It is a top-down event!  God giving and we receiving... now that's fine with me.  But what I find it difficult to understand and accept (or even accept and understand) is that the moment that 'flame' lands on one, the whole person is 'ablaze'!!  Too dramatic!  Too charismatic (pun intended!)!

I'd like to see the picture as a spark which triggers.  Now for a spark to trigger off a fire, it has to feed on something.  If the spark lands on a sheet of ice, don't expect fireworks or a furnace!!  But if it does fall on something even remotely inflammable, not necessarily petrol or jet fuel but even something that can catch fire, if not immediately but after a while, then fine one can expect a fire, sooner or later.  Bereft of that basic requirement of 'combustibleness' no spark can launch a fire!  If it did, then there was something else that caught fire, not the 'ice'!

P.S.: Sparks are in galore!

Stealing

Something that struck me as a bit odd found among the Asian and African continents is this peculiar habit of stealing among children.  Not that it is not prevalent among children of other continents, but something that is more of  a blot than a passing shade.  I was reading the testimony of a couple of missionaries; one from Korean in Africa and another from the Philippines in Pakistan.  Add to that my own experience of stay in Kondadaba (mind you among Brothers!) and here at Ramanthapur itself (with street children).

The first time I heard of stealing among the seminarians in Kondadaba I was quite shocked; only to be told that it is quite a regular phenomena. Often the one stealing is not caught. Even is one is caught, he is not reported (for fear of him "losing his vocation" - as if he was sure he had one!).  In that sense the boys here at Ramanthapur are a little better off. Not only in the art of stealing but also in the honesty of reporting!

Why steal?  I perfectly understand when some boys steal food or take things because they want money to buy something to eat.  Children as they are, they have no means of looking after themselves as adults who earn money.  So if there is no sufficient food provided, then naturally they resort to stealing, merely to satisfy hunger.  I perfectly endorse it!!  So one of the first things I did here at Ramanthapur was to tell those incharge of the kitchen, especially the cooks: "Children should never go hungry! If they do not have, it is your duty to provide them with what you have. Never deny food to children.  Luxury for none, but enough for all!"  Thanks to that, I was told recently by some staff and even boys that stealing of goods of the house reduced much.

But something that still continues is stealing among themselves... small petty or costly things.  Most often I've noticed it is 'just taking'... not stealing!  They are merely 'taking'!!  Confront them with this fact of 'stealing' and they'll break down as though they have been charged with murder or rape!!  They do it merely as a routine thing, not something maliciously planned out or sketched (though there are a few who do that too).

I figure it has something to do with the way one is brought up.  How one's moral compass is formed over the years, especially when as a child.  They just don't see anything wrong in it.  While in some cultures this notion of right and wrong and the means of differentiating the two is learnt early on in life, in some other places, there is a lot of grey area left for one to learn from experience (often the hard way).