As the last born in our family, I had the privilege that my other siblings did not have of accompanying my parents in most of their trips. Many of those trips we did not drive or hitchhike but had to literally walk both ways for long distances. We often walked from Masambanjati to Thekerani in Thyolo and come back the following day. I enjoyed being part of those trips because as a child, I got excited seeing new places and meeting new friends. Nevertheless, I did not like the habit that both of my parents had of greeting a lot of people on our way which delayed us. For instance, a trip that would have taken us only two hours walking, it would take us close to four hours. I was surprised by my parents because it appeared they knew everybody along the way and took an interest to ask most of those people about their life and some of those people gave long responses.
I used to walk ahead of my parents especially when they talked to people thinking that my action will make them shorten their discussions and catch pace with me. However, this trick did not work to my advantage because most of the times I ended up sitting somewhere and wait for them. As a result, waiting for them ahead became more boring than just walking at their pace. There was a day we arrived home late when it was very dark due to many stops we had on our way. While struggling to make our way home, I asked them, “Why do you greet and talk to all those people?” My dad responded by saying, “Why should we rush and walk past somebody who may be sick or looking for help?” My mom explained to me that while it was important to arrive home early, it would be worse to break other people’s hearts because of our speed.
To them cherishing good relationship with other people was more important than reaching the destination. It appears some years ago people in a society were very connected to each other and they highly valued personal relationships. The same pattern of behavior that my parents portrayed to me parallels with the behavior that Jesus demonstrated after news reached him that His friend Lazarus was sick and another message that he was dead. Jesus did not rush at the expense of His relationship with others on the way who needed his help. Bible records on John 11 that Jesus took four days on his way to Lazarus’ house and eventually arrived late. He was four days late but on time because finally Lazarus was resurrected.
Reflecting on these two accounts, I ask myself this question: What is wrong with our society today? Why is it that we seem to focus more on our destination at the expense of establishing good relationships with people? Instead of valuing good relationships with people we only use them to push us to where we want to be and after reaching our goal we dump them. Today’s society is less concerned with what others go through. It is easy to excuse ourselves by not knowing somebody you live with in the same community or apartment because everybody is busy with their life. Unless we go back to the roots that our parents and the Bible established, this society is doomed for failure. Many hearts have been broken unknowingly because of living the life that only focuses on what we want to achieve in life.
My beloved, speed is life, but good relationships with people must always be cherished because each life that you meet, is special before God. Remember both the Priest and the Levite in the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ on Luke 10:25-37 had good intentions of special duty to do at the temple. Nonetheless, because they valued very much their destination, they failed to help a human being who desperately needed help. In the final analysis, the Samaritan shined in the story because he allowed his itinerary to be changed in order to accommodate the stranger who was in need and his action saved that man’s life.
HOPE TO LIVE BY 