Tired Road Warrior

The first time I went through a LDS Temple was while I was in the Mission Home in SLC.  In those days (60s), they didn’t have the MTC; all missionaries went through a week of training in a dormitory-style building that sat next to the Salt Lake Temple.  On Thursday of that week, we all went through the House of the Lord.  For me, the experience was like being kicked in the stomach.  I was certainly not prepared for the experience.  It was far from the spiritual encounter that I had hoped for.

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The following article written by Belinda Luscombe appeared in Time Magazine (14 Jun 2010):

“Twesigye Jackson Kaguri’s American Dream was motoring along quite nicely until he was besieged by grandmothers.  Born in a remote part of western Uganda, he’s studied hard enough to get to college in the capital Kampala, and then to the U.S.  He had an American job, and American wife and the beginnings of a down payment to buy a house.

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In the March 2010 Sunstone Magazine, Stephen R. Carter provides a wonderful synopsis/review of the a Nick Hornby book:

“The story is about Katie (How to Be Good ), a general practitioner married with two children.  Her husband, David has an ill-paying job writing a column called “The Angriest Man in Holloway.”  Their marriage is falling apart and on the verge of ending when David meets a spiritual healer named DJ GoodNews.  The encounter turns David completely around, and he becomes the most ineptly philanthropic man in Holloway.

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I found the following short bio in the book “Strength is What Remains” by Tracy Kidder.  The book is about a Burundian refugee’s horrific experiences in his homeland and in New York.  While the story of Deo is very inspirational, it is the life of one of side characters that really haunts me:

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While I was on my Mormon mission in the Franco-Belgian area in the 1960s, I found somebody’s list of the 100 most important novels of western civilization.  On the list were two novels by the french writer Albert Camus:  The Stranger (or The Outsider) and the Plague.  I purchased a copy of The Stranger and in short order read it.  I found it very compelling, perhaps in the same way other young people find J. D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” haunting.

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The book “The Moral Underground” was recently given a short review in Time Magazine (Dec. 14, p. 23).  In her book, Lisa Dodson (BC sociology prof.) paints a rather dismal image of corporate America, who she feels is building wealth by abusing low-income workers.  “Helping the less fortunate in this context becomes as a form of civil and corporate disobedience.”  Time lists three of her examples:  (1) supervisors who alter time cards so that employees can take better care for their families; (2) the school nurse who keeps cots in her office so those with bad home situations can get a few hours of sleep; and (3) the doctor who thumbs his nose at insurance regulations in order to provide medicine for an entire household.  ”All see their behavior as necessary and moral acts of conscience.”

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Lately I’ve become obsessed with sub-Saharan eastern Africa.  It is a place that has been tormented by HIV/AIDs, terrible wars, over-population, corrupt and inept governments, and famine.  Just as you think things are calming down in the region, another disaster breaks out.  The current troubled area is eastern Congo.  Northern Uganda seems to be settling down, but Darfur and southern Sudan are still a mess.  Kenya, where we thought there was hope, recently had a troubled election. 

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There is great philosophy, writing, and word play in the Bible.  I’m personally fond of the Old Testiment Book of Ecclesiastes, thought to have been written around 200 BC.  It is a wonderful read because of the author’s exceptional command of language and beautiful King James translation.  The author is one of the most original thinkers in the Bible. 

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