Monday, December 1, 2008

A glimpse of hope

“Well done is better than well said” – Benjamin Franklin

We live in a world characterized by instability, terrorism, materialism and WORDS WITHOUT ACTIONS. You may have a wealth of knowledge today but if you don't do anything about it, you are not any more effective or enlightened than you were last week. Unless knowledge, awareness, insights, and understandings are translated into action, they are of no value. There is no value in just saying you understand, aware, sympathize if you are not acting on it and what matters is to act rightly.

I have never been particularly impressed by the heroics of some people who are convinced that they are about to change the world through violence. I am more overwhelmed by those individuals who struggle to make one small difference after another.

Mother Teresa lived in poverty among the poorest of the poor and believed that to know the poor; you must live like the poor, with them and be like them. Sympathy and empathy is just the ability to identify with another’s feeling and putting oneself emotionally not physically in the place of the suffering. No good will ever come out of sympathy and empathy if they are not put into action.

In the special report section of the Straits Times dated 29th November 2008; dedicated to awareness of AIDS, there was an article about Fr Giovanni Contarin from the Order of Camillian who devoted his life to care for HIV patients both the very young and old, many abandoned by their family. He lives up to his religious vow to take care of people even when there is the danger of death. His words “Entering the world of suffering of the sick and elderly touched me very much and helped me to discover the divine in human suffering.” Yes, entering is the word, not just by-passing and I totally agreed and convinced that one can only discover and encounter the divine in human suffering. Try looking for God in the rich, famous and powerful or in the church and among clergy, you probably have to go on for 40 years on desert land.


Fr Giovanni’s word brought to mind Fr Michael Mohally of the Missionaries Society of St Columban who has worked among the poorest in Cambodia for many years. When I met him in Singapore some years back, he told me that words and feelings have no value at all. You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering, complaining, sympathizing or even emphasizing. Turning it over in your mind won't plough the field; it’s just waiting for the cows to come home. Men must not only see, feel and believe. They must act, and act righteously not foolishly. Words without the right actions are the assassins of idealism.


It brings comfort to know that there are still a handful of clergy and religious who live up to their vocation and vows selflessly, faithfully and virtously.

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