I want to ask you a question…
I’m standing on the road talking with a slightly drunk guy who wants my t-shirt. I’m in the middle of a huge township in western Zambia (about 3 weeks ago). The guy’s drunk cos he’s trying to escape the pain of the reality he finds himself in. We were chatting about how tough life was in the town. Then he asked me, ‘what are you going to do to help me.’ He then suggested that I give him my t-shirt so he could remember me when I’m gone.
Question: If he had asked you, ‘what are you going to do to help me,’ what would you have said? Would you have given him your t-shirt?
When he asked me, I had nothing to say. I acknowledged how tough it was for him but said I was only on a short trip and couldn’t really help. I didn’t give him my t-shirt either.
It devastated me to look him in the eye and say those words to him, because I’m not sure I believed what I was saying. Was it that I couldn’t help because I couldn’t, or because I chose not to? That it was a mixture of both makes me ashamed because I’m acknowledging that in part, I made a choice to ‘act helpless.’ That makes me sad.
Now of course, its not just about ‘helping people,’ being the donor, ‘them’ being the ‘recipient,’ but however you read that story and whatever thought-through rational answer you could give, the challenge is still there. Am I making choices in my life that mean I have an answer to the question?
Shane Claiborne seems like a guy who’s made some decisions about living life and is sticking to them - I like the fact he’s called himself an ‘ordinary radical.’ However, I find myself romanticised into the idea of living a ‘radical’ life by some of his crazy stories. Yet I know that living life day in day out doesn’t produce many crazy stories - just a lot of routine mundane people and stuff.
But I long to live some kind of radical life, almost dogged by the fear that otherwise I’ll suddenly find myself in my 40’s, tied up in a life I never wanted. At the moment I’m a disconnected ‘ordinary ordinary.’ I’m hoping that my dialogue with Shane will help me to work out what being a very ordinary yet radical person means in normal speak.
Question: If you had been asked, ‘what are you going to do to help me,’ what would you have said? Would you have given him your t-shirt?
ACTION POINT:
If you resonate with some of what I’m saying, come and join the conversation with Shane. The details are here:
‘Living as an Ordinary Radical: A conversation with Shane Claiborne’
7.30pm, Wednesday 30 April, Hosted by Church.co.uk (1a Kennington Rd, London, SE1 7QP)
Invite people to the event using the Facebook event linked to ‘Journey Beyond’ Facebook group. Email vm_london@tearfund.org for more information.
See you there.
