Once an entire village caught in a draught, decided to pray for the rain. On the designated time everyone arrived. Only one little boy turned up with an umbrella. That is faith!
I was reminded of this anecdote as I picked up this latest in series by Mitch Albom. The title, ‘Have a little faith’ aroused my curiosity. Personally I find ‘faith’ a very delicate subject to be handled publicly. Chiefly, owing to its most popular definition- ‘Organized religion’.
As Mitch himself quotes in this book. ‘Jews in America, like devout Christians, Muslims or Sari wearing Hindus, often bite tongue because there’s this nervous sense that somebody out there doesn’t like you’.
It’s not just America Mr. Mitch.
Given the background, the subject is handled beautifully. The author, a Jew by birth and almost atheist by deeds, learns the lessons of faith from two opposite personalities belonging to politically opposing religions. If it sounds too farfetched, one has to read this true account of three individual all tied with a singular rope of ‘faith’.
And as one reads on it becomes clear that it is not about these three people. It is about all of us, the entire humanity tied together, holding on to each other looking for something to rest our faith in.
Mitch Albom, the bestseller author of ‘Tuesdays with Morie’ and ‘five people you meet in heaven’ has again come up with a masterpiece. However, when it started, it was only a curious attempt of a man often running away from God to understand the man of God himself.
The story is woven around the fact that Mitch was requested by the rabbi of his hometown synagogue Will smith, to do his eulogy. Since Mitch had always had an awe of this man, he agreed on the condition that the rabbi gives him a chance to understand him as a person. However, what Mitch had expected to be a few meetings turned out to be a journey lasting over 8 years till the rabbi died.
It is said that when the time is right, the teacher arrives. The meetings with the rabbi sowed a seed of understanding faith in him. That is when another teacher arrived on the scene. Henry Covington, a reformed drug dealer and convict turned Pastor.
Throughout this period Mitch had several meetings with the rabbi, whom he called ‘the Reb’, and kept visiting the Pastor. Both men talked to him about their lives. More so Mitch had the opportunity to learn so much more about their lives from other sources. The Reb had devoted his entire life for his faith and his community. The Pastor on the other had had squandered away majority of his life getting involved in extreme antisocial activities and had turned to faith when he felt all other doors were closed on him.
The Rabbi’s life had been one of an example. The pastor’s life had also been an example- albeit, one not to lead by. The reasons that had turned them to religion were contrast. The conditions in which they were preaching were opposites. Their religions were politically contrasting.
And yet, Mitch realized, as the readers do, that both of them were representing the same—How to endure when difficult things happen! And both of them were symbolizing the same—the importance of faith in trying times! And as if to add to the series of connectivity, he find out that the people in Henry’s church call him ‘the Reb’.
Everyone has his own faith, but it is important to have faith. And faith is far beyond any particular religion. On one occasion when the Rabbi described the death of his young child and the pain he felt years back, Mitch asked him the obvious question, ‘Didn’t you loose faith on your God?’ To which the Rabbi answered, ‘it is far more comforting to think that God listened and said no, than to think that nobody’s out there.’ Such is the power of faith.
While listening to the stories of the homeless and talking to the Pastor, Mitch has expressed his own Revelation, “I used to think I knew everything. I was a “smart person” who “got things done”, and because of that the higher I climbed, the more I could scoff at what seemed silly or simple, even religion.”
“But I realized something…that I am neither better nor smarter, only luckier. And I should be ashamed of thinking I knew everything, because you can know the whole world and still feel lost in it.”
As the book describes it: Have a little faith is a book about a life’s purpose; about losing belief and finding it again; about the divine spark inside us.
Mitch Albom has written about some of the things he was able to mobilize to help Henry’s church get back in shape and to get people to help it. He seems to be the right person to be writing about faith, for he extensively supports various charity works in and around Detroit. The details can be learnt on his web site http://mitchalbom.com/service .
A book that I would keep in my reference library. Recommend to buy the hard bound copy as the cover design is inspired by the rabbi’s old prayer book held together by rubber bands. Gives the feel of someone sharing his faith with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment