By Vic Midyett
When we visited with neighbors in the 1950s, in a part of Northeast India called Assam, the neighbors were usually tea growers. This was always a yummy and extravagant experience for me. Yummy, because we got to eat food we did not normally eat, although I can’t remember exactly what. Just that it was different.
We would sit around a large cane table with a glass top and the whitest of white starched table cloths. We would sit on cushioned cane chairs on a very large veranda overlooking acres and acres of tea bushes. The homes were always built on the highest point of the property looking down on everything. They all had a stunning view.
To one of dowels was attached a rope that disappeared through a hole in the upper part of a wall. The rope moved in and out causing the carpet over our heads to bellow up and down gently and create a slight, but refreshing breeze.
Before arriving at one of these outings I would be threatened to within an inch of my life to ensure my good behavior.
But what the…? How did that rope go in and out of that hole like that? I just had to find out.
On one occasion I asked to be excused to visit the boys’ room, and I made sure I went by way of the other side of that wall.
Well! There I found a little old man sitting on the floor, pulling the rope and letting it go, pulling and letting go. Over and over.
With sweat pouring off his face, he gave me his biggest smile. I returned it through overwhelming emotions of humility and unworthiness and embarrassment for him. Then, to our host's disgust, I sat down with the man and reached for the rope to help him.
The caste system in India was outlawed in 1948, when India got its independence from England, but it is still alive and well. It is something I have always struggled with because it’s not just in India.
We all do this too! Why? Do we think so little of ourselves that we feel we have to put each other down in some little way to prop our confidence up ever so slightly?
...But the greatest of these is love. –1st Corinthians 3:13_______________
Copyright © 2014 by Vic Midyett
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Delighted that the Missionary Kid had a story that resonated for Thor. Love - bring it on, we need so much more of it! [Thank you, Vic!]
ReplyDeleteThe caste system is indeed alive and will throughout the world. Those who have, believe they are due, the money, education, the fine home. new BMW for their child, and the right to set in judgement of what is best for those less fortunate. While children go hungry and die from medical problems that a visit to a doctor could have cured, this caste believe it is not their responsibility to carry the world on their shoulders. However if told about the caste system in India they would think it was terrible.
ReplyDeleteSo true, Ed. I recall when we lived in Hyderabad, in central India, a Naizam (local king) died. He had over 400 concubines and hundreds of kids. But more to the point in just one of his garages buildings on his property was a 8 ton truck filled with gold bricks. It had been there so long that it had buried itself into the ground beyond the axles. Why the US and Australia where I now live, would rather feed other countries then their own children, is shameful.
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