Cruising along on our way to Kisumu, me, my good friends Rose and Keith, their children, Rose's Mother and Brother, heading out of Nairobi for our next big city destination, Nakuru. The vehicle is rather dated, well, not so much dated as it is just out of shape. In fact, you might hear it blocks before you actually see it. Basically, its a minibus, seats 14 with pop-up roof intended for safari park excursions. It has a crack in the windshield, spews volumes and volumes of dark exhaust (and its passed emissions inspection, if that tells you anything about vehicular inspections in Kenya), the passenger seatbelt doesn't work and it has no shock absorbers (that I could detect anyway). Its a Toyota. But don't let any of these minor flaws mislead you. This car is sound. This car navigates pot holes and speed bumps that would make a lesser car, plead for mercy. Say what you will about Toyota, but I'm convinced that they manufacture vehicles specifically made for Kenyan roads. I've been on other road trips in Kenya where you just knew you were going to break an axle. But no way. These cars withstand the nastiest of road conditions and road deterioration and no roads, for that matter. My Highlander would have been trashed long ago. I'm a BIG fan of Toyota in Kenya. Not to mention that it takes its occupants to the brink and back (Kisumu) and they live to tell the tale. Thank you Toyota.
Anyway, we're cruising along when we're flagged down by the Roadside Police. One thing you have to know is that in Kenya, few police have cars. They'll flag you down, arrest you for some fictitious violation and then say, "Drive me to the police station." That is, if you're arrested. Most of the time, the'll inspect your car, at roadside, fine you and then collect the fine, at roadside. One stop shopping has a whole new meaning. So we were stopped, which, by the way is a routine occurrence in Kenya, fined 400 kenya shillings (a little over $5.00 U.S.) and then sent on our way. Keith says the infraction was the cracked windshield. Now, we could be stopped again and fined for the same cracked windshield (as it turns out we weren't but there are no guarentees). Bear in mind that, if we hadn't paid the "fine" at roadside, we would have received a summons to apear in court to receive an even heftier fine. So this is roadside justice,... its quick, usually painless, if somewhat annoying, and cheap compared to the alternative. Courtroom justice would have cost more in money and time. By the way, the word "justice" is purely incidental. It fills space, nothing more,.. though it could easily be called roadside "hassle". How about roadside injustice? And of course, let's just say the 400 kenya shillings doesn't go to the municpal treasury. Its really very funny once you get used to it,... you just build the time into your day, and you have no worries. Its all about expectations (you should expect to be stopped). So the next time you're in Kenya, better be sure to carry around an extra 1000 bob,.. you never know when you'll need it, lest you hear the words,.."you're under arrest,... drive us to the police station."
Welcome
Welcome to All. This blog is a discussion site, looking at our lives through our experiences, our spiritual, and, not so spiritual lens, ....what our lives look like at The Front. We are and some would argue, always have been, in interesting times. Servants, past and present have been at constant struggle with whatever the issues of the day have been. Where do we even begin to name them: poverty, hunger, education, shelter, .... and did I mention poverty? Fifty-one years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty, a war by the way, we're still fighting. Then again, we've always been at war with poverty, and yet poverty has remained steadfast. Jesus apparently got it right: "The poor will always be with you." But Jesus was a smart man. Did he mean what we think? Does poverty always have to be with us. Let's talk about this, and whatever else, in real and truthful ways. Let's view our lives from The Front.
If you have come to help me, then you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is linked to mine, then we will work together.
----(Anonymous) Australian Aborigine Activist
--mailto:--neilpitts@aol.com
----(Anonymous) Australian Aborigine Activist
--mailto:--neilpitts@aol.com
Contemplative Action
The Rite of Initiation: You are going to die
A shocking statement. Perhaps. But the Franciscan Priest, Richard Rohr,,who has studied the Rite of Initiation has said the following::
"Every initiation rite I've studied had some ritual, dramatic, or theatrical way to experience crossing the threshold from life to death in symbolic form. Some ritual of death and resurrection was the centerpiece of all male initiation. It is probably why Jesus sought out and submitted to John the Baptist's offbeat death and rebirth ritual down by the riverside, when his own temple had become more concerned with purity codes than with transformation. It is probably why Jesus kept talking to his disciples, three times in Mark's Gospel, about the necessity of this death journey, and why three times they changed the subject (8:31-10:45). It is undoubtedly why Jesus finally stopped talking about it, and just did it, not ritually but actually. Death and resurrection, the paschal mystery, is the theme of every single Eucharist no matter what the feast or season. It takes us many seasons and even years to overcome our resistance to death.
"The transformational journey of death and resurrection is the only real message. It makes you indestructible. The real life, God's life, is running through you and in you already. But allowing it to flow freely doesn't come easily. When you do, the spiritual journey really begins. Up to that moment it is just religion. Everything up to then is creating the container, but you have not yet found the contents; you are creating the wineskins, as Jesus says, but you are not yet drinking the intoxicating wine."
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