People From Another Country

This past weekend, while visiting my wife’s relatives, I picked up an article from the religion section of the local newspaper. The writer describes a young friend who is going to Mexico on a mission trip. What really grabbed me was her description of mission: “They are not vacationing but, rather, seeking to live with people from another country and lend a hand where asked.”

Initially this struck me because my wife and I are planning such a trip. We will stay in a South African monastery while she, an archivist, catalogs their library and helps establish their archives. Rather than have any specific goal, however, I relish the thought of simply “living with people from another country and lending a hand where asked.” When that happens, the other people set the agenda; we share, not our opinions or our ideologies or our cultural biases, but simply ourselves.

Whenever I read that one sentence from the article, I kept wanting to read it as “lend a hand where needed.” But that’s not as helpful. Needs are open to interpretation; I can decide what you need and try to provide it—and that won’t help. But when it’s “where asked,” I have to wait for you.

But does one really have to travel to be present to others like this? In a way, we are all “people from another country” to one another—people with vastly different perspectives, ideas, and values. So if each time we encounter someone, what would happen if we simply lived with them, remained present with them, and listened? Perhaps nothing would happen. Or perhaps we would be available just when they need us.