What if the question asked when we arrive at the Pearly Gates
is how have you treated your fellow man, woman and child?
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In a
scene from the 1977 comedy movie "Oh, God!" John Denver's character
Jerry Landers sits on a bed in a motel room talking with God – played by
cigar-smoking, plaid-shirted fisherman George Burns. Jerry has a list of
questions for God, assembled by a small group of dubious theologians who want proof
that Jerry is indeed communicating with the Divine. Jerry has been given a few simple
yet profound answers when he lays down his clipboard, looks into God's eyes, and says, "God, we need
help!"
"That's
why I gave you each other." God answers.
What if
this is true? What if God actually gave these words to the author Avery Corman not
just in jest? What if our behavior towards each other is more important than a
life engaged in hours of prayer or meditation? What if the question asked when
we get to the Pearly Gates is not how many prayers have you said, but how have
you treated your fellow man, woman and child? How would we fair with our Maker?
I am sometimes
bothered by the appearance of those who attend church regularly, pray often,
and yet their behavior does not reflect compassion, fair judgment and kindness.
They judge people by their own discriminate thoughts that I don't even
understand. They don't speak to anyone outside their tight circle of the
already accepted, or if they do speak to someone new it's for ulterior motives.
I
would rather know those who speak kindly to a stranger, to those less wealthy,
less fortunate, to those in need. What happened to the "Random Acts of
Kindness" movement of the 90's? Conari Publishing, please re-fire the
presses.
On
weekends, city dwellers pour into our suburban community and barrel through
bookstores, shopping malls and supermarkets with their oversized purses banging
against people without apology. They are so used to shoving their way through
downtown street and sidewalk traffic they never think to say excuse me or
sorry.
Decades
ago, Lily Tomlin gave us the quote, "The trouble with being in the rat
race is that even when you win you're still a rat." Our after-hour shoppers
are beginning to remind me of the red-eyed, bald-tailed critters.
Once, I was walking with a young woman I knew
and stopped our conversation to give a stranger directions to an apartment. As
the woman walked away, the woman with me said, "You didn't need to do
that. She could have found it herself. My fiancé taught me that. I don't need
to take my time for people like that."
I'm
not sure what the "that" was, but I told her, "It took me all of
3 seconds to point the way, I wouldn't like myself if I hadn't helped."
What lies in the heart of someone who would withhold such a small gesture, I
wonder.
I have
long felt that any giving act by another is a prayer said on our behalf. When
someone does something nice for me, I feel warm-fuzzy and grateful, and I
believe their gesture is duly recorded in the Akashic Records of the collective
subconscious.
In
these oft troubling, uncertain and despairing times, the best of us will be
tested by cruelty, rudeness, and fatigue. Let's hold tight to respect, civility
and good will with each other. Prayers are good, meditation is good, religious
and spiritual practices can be good, especially when they include random and
discriminate acts of kindness.
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Diana deRegnier is a free-lance
writer and writes the weekly column SpiritLinks for www.ReligionAndSpirituality.com
from the San Francisco Bay Area. Her articles appear in numerous Internet and
print publications. Diana is also editor and webmaster for the non-profit
program www.SpiritLinksNewsletter.org
for spiritual explorers of any or no religious affiliation. © Copyright 2007 by
Diana deRegnier.