Religion

 Nobody wants to suffer. Nobody likes it, even if it is inevitable and must be endured. We’d much rather sing a happy tune, wear a smiling face, and pretend there is no ache in our hearts and lives. Yet, if we are honest with ourselves and truthful with our reflection on life, suffering is always present in one form or another.

 I know, I know … ‘trump” is a loaded word these days. Whatever one’s affiliation might be, in life’s game folks are always looking for a trump card to hold. This holds true in religious circles as well as political ones. Heated debates derive from our individual and communal desires to be right, inerrant and accurate in our facts and our faith. However, to do so also carries both a challenge and a consequence: CHANGE! In turn, change demands continued conversation, communication, and charity.

 Change comes with a high cost for most people. Echoes of “we never did it this way” or “we always did it this way” are loud, long and rarely laudable. I can remember the angst my Sicilian mother-in-law felt when I failed to ask her advice regarding the “proper” way to make spaghetti sauce. My own Neapolitan mother was probably equally miffed, though she dared not show it, when she discovered I didn’t follow her recipe either!

“By God’s grace I had good communication skills. I could go and talk to people and influence them. Hunger made me speak.” Those last four words, which I read in an account by Shreya Pareek about Sindhutai Sapkal, tore at my heart.