Writing to the End

Last night I was challenged to complete my book.

I felt myself getting a little angry! Who on earth were these people that had made such an obscene challenge. Did they not know how busy I have been? Did they not understand that one cannot just sit down and churn out chapters of words infused with feeling? That meaningful writing does not just happen. That the right frame of mind is critical if my passion, concern, and love for my fellow man is to leap off the pages and into their lives.

I smiled and nodded, wondering how long it would take before I could get out of there.

Perhaps my smile was too broad? Suddenly the floodgates of advice were flung open and I was swimming against the deluge. You should set yourself a writing hour a week. Just write regardless of what it is. Editing is for later. Find the time. Manage your time better. How important is this book to you really?

And then I realised that these people really cared about me. That they were only trying to help me achieve a goal that I had set myself about five years ago! A goal that seems as far away now as it did when I created it. Perhaps they could already see that it was not going to happen. Was it that obvious that my failure to finish this project was acceptable to me?

Slowly, a little window in my murky consciousness opened. I can finish this book if I really want to. I already have 16 good chapters and a great book plan! Just 10 chapters to go!

With a little effort, I can make this happen!

In Addition

I have to add something to my last post.

If you have not read it, read it!

I was thinking through my approach to this grown man crying about his life and my lack of compassion due to my knowing better. In other words, I judged this man as being unworthy of my time, money, and attention. As a good Christian boy, I know that the right approach to this circumstance was one filled with love and compassion. Yet I found it incredibly difficult to follow the same example that was set so long ago.

When rereading this post, I had the realisation that both of us need help from above, perhaps I more than him, even though it seems to be the other way around!!

The Ugly Side of Life

Reality is that life outside of my little bubble is incredibly tough. We talk about drugs and crime but there are people who have to live with this stuff every day. They get to walk past known drug dens, see youngsters with things that do not belong to them, and know that they will soon be selling them to fuel their habit. For some people these youngsters are their own children! They understand that these youngsters are on a path to destruction, not only of their own life, but the lives of all around them. And they are completely helpless to change a thing!

Last night I was at one of my monthly meetings and listened in dismay to the stories of one of the men there. The meeting was a pre-school management team meeting and he is one of the members of the team. He was retrenched just over a year ago and has not been able to find work in all that time. He still serves on our team even though his children have all left the school. A desperate man, yet a man with an incredibly positive attitude and a life full of integrity.

His story must mirror that of millions the world over. I can’t help feeling terrible that I cannot do more to help him. Or can I?

He shared a story about meeting someone who is trying to help others break the cycle of drug addiction, crime, and prison that the youth of area seem destined to share. He spoke of this person with amazement and awe. Somebody who has given up their own comforts to try and make a real difference in the lives of others!

I drove home asking myself many questions. Mainly, why am I living such a comfortable life? Is there not something more that I can do to help?

Unemployed and Willing

A heap of poles in an ugly pile of rubbish, long ones and short. Wet, slimy, and dripping the autumn leaves that have coated them over the last couple of months. A truck load of sand looked on, preferring to be smoothed over the sloping ground but happy to be a pile. Everything just waiting...

For us!!! The jungle gym team...

Yup, building jungle gyms again! But this one was slightly different. We worked really really hard! OK, that not be why this one was different.

Building jungle gyms in poor areas generally results in people asking me for a job. It is kind of difficult to hire in help when you yourself are doing the job for nothing. Trust me, everyone who asks, finds this a difficult thing to believe, that anyone would willingly work for nothing. After the digging of 6 deep holes, a youngster sauntered up to the fence and asked the ‘can you give me a job’ question. I gave the usual answer together with the usual challenge that he was welcome to help for the day. For Nothing!

For the first time ever, this chap said OK he would work for nothing. We were flabbergasted and confirmed many times that we would not be paying for his services. 21 year old Bongani just smiled and said he may learn something and that would be good. He worked like a Trojan and without his help; we would never have finished the job.

In the end the jungle gym looked great but it was Bongani who really made me think. You have to wonder at the desperation that makes a 21 year old unemployed youth take on a non paying hard working job for a day just so that he may learn some skills. Simple skills like using a hacksaw and adjustable wrenches. That must be tough! He still lives with his mother who is a domestic worker for a family in town. She supports him and a younger brother and sister.

It was a window into life in one of the poorer areas of South Africa and it was not pretty. I happily paid the chap for his services, much to his surprise, knowing that I got more out of working with him that he could ever imagine.

Perhaps a small lesson here is that so many of us are filled with all sorts of skills and that sharing those skills could really make a big difference in other people’s lives!