Will the king’s people find their way home?

In this column we are going to learn about a community that wandered away from its roots and made a new home in a foreign country.

“But why did our people come here in the first place?” the youngsters would ask.

In this new country some people eat and drink; they live in luxurious homes and drive flashy cars; extramarital sex is a hobby for married men and women; people kill people as if they are killing rats.

In the disadvantaged communities people die of hunger and disease, while some are seen in the city and at road junctions stretching out miserable arms, begging for food and money.

Among the lost people of this country is a woman who is advanced in age. It is said that there is no one else of her generation still living. While she has become a curiosity because of her age, the woman is also well known for the stories she tells about her people’s country of origin.

“Tell us about our country of origin,” some young members of her community would ask.

“It was a beautiful country with good people and a wise king”, she would begin.

“Everybody was taught to work hard and to be generous. Because rice was the staple food, everybody was encouraged to harvest 20 bags of rice per year for consumption and selling. If you harvested 20 bags in any year, you were supposed to give the surplus to your siblings who had not managed to get the 20 bags. If all your siblings were successful in harvesting 20 bags each, then you were expected to give your surplus to the king who would distribute it among the poorer members of the community.

“But the amount each poor person received would depend on the effort he or she had made to reach the norm of 20 bags,” she explained.

“But why did our people come here in the first place?” the youngsters would ask.

“We were lured by the glitz and glamour of the rich people of this country. At first the king would send messengers to try and persuade us to go back, but the young ones among us were not interested in the values the messengers talked about: they talked about a life of sharing.

“Each person who had was supposed to have a sense of responsibility for the have-nots, whereas here each person cares only for himself or herself. The messengers spoke about discipline. For example, boys and girls were not allowed to have sex before marriage, whereas here condoms were freely distributed—even to school children. Life was made tough there, and here life seemed easy.”

“Why, then, do you miss a country where life is made tough?” the young ones would ask.

“Human life is difficult. As young people we were taught to understand that life is full of problems; that there are solutions to most problems; and that the challenge to a true human being is to face those problems and find solutions to them.

“This requires discipline and perseverance, which in turn produce character; and because we were disciplined people of character who cared for each other, incidents of crime were very limited and the occurrence of sexually transmitted disease was controlled.

“But in this country we have a free for all kind of situation, and the rapid spread of crime and disease speaks for itself,” she said.

“But why does someone not lead us back to our country of origin?” the youngsters would ask.

“The king eventually stopped sending messengers, and we no longer know our way back. In any case, I am now too old to undertake such a journey,” the  woman said.

“However, I am passing the baton on to you. Live to tell the story of our people, the story of what it really means to be a human being, what true human values are. If you remain true to true human values and teach these to your children’s children, I am certain the king will relent and perhaps send his own Son to lead us back,” she said.

“And at that point some members of this materialistic society may begin to listen to the king’s message.”