A Little Kindness Travels A Long Way

I just finished reading a wonderful post by Rach, where she was helped by several travelers at the airport on her journey home from Kansas. Really, the kindness of strangers in this world can be beyond description. It is so necessary, so sustaining, so hope-filled that the world can be a better place.

Which leads me to share some of my own experiences, on the direct-teaching project we are participating in with our Baha'i friends this week on Hilltop using "Anna's Presentation". We met so many wonderful neighbors.

George and I have committed to this project, to share the message of Baha'u'llah with our neighbors in the Hilltop area of Tacoma. In years past, Baha'is have taught through firesides, the media, personal teaching, and many other formats, some of which are more effective in reaching a large number of people. Our National Assembly has encouraged us to use a more direct approach, as it ultimately (throughout the world) is the most effective, and has immediate follow-up procedures that foster continued contact with someone interested in the Faith. Now the process is beautifully organized, and delightfully easy. Support from the community is ongoing, detailed, and immediate. (Note this post.)

I have done door to door teaching before, many years ago, and found the process very labor intensive. We traveled hundreds of miles to open a county in Illinois to the Faith. However, all those experiences offered skill-building. (Much as you would learn the customs and language when working in a foreign land.) I learned a lot through those efforts - what services people needed, and how to better integrate them into a community when they are still entrenched in old, destructive patterns. I think of humanitarian groups establishing relief support services after an earthquake or in a war-ravaged area in Africa: Maximize your efficiency providing the greatest support in the most simple, yet organized, way.)

So we went through the neighborhoods, meeting many nice people, who were open, receptive and kind. They invited us into their homes, where we had meaningful discussions. (We also conversed with people through their screen-doors, and through open windows when they worried about who we were. And, we had some good laughs, especially when Nabil was greeted at the door by a man wearing only a bathrobe, red lipstick and a pair of gold ear-rings!)

I started out the week teaching with Mauricio, who is a civil engineer. He is one of the sweetest, most soft-spoken men you'll ever meet. Mauricio benefited our efforts by being bi-lingual, sharing sharing the concepts of the Faith with a Spanish-speaking couple that had questions about the Faith.

I also taught with Martha, who is a psychologist. I have to laugh, as we were definitely paired to be an 'empathetic' team, spending two hours with one man who took that long to deconstruct (criticise and condemn) just about everything in his life before he could genuinely admit that throughout most of his life he's reacted out of fear, fears that probably originated in childhood. As Martha and I listened, he became more pensive and thoughtful, calmed down.

The neighborhood on Hilltop is in repair. It is one of the older neighborhoods of Tacoma, where crime and drugs have caused enormous disintegration. Homes are abandoned, or purchased by developers and upgraded. Then new people move in, people who are interested in building neighborhoods - they are risk-takers, motivated by good will. We met many of these people. Some of them had heard of the Baha'i Faith, and as we chatted in their homes, we all came to appreciate that we were on the same path.

I noticed things that really caused me sadness, though - the children who were left alone in their homes, on Easter. Young children, teenagers, who were so ready to visit and listen to us on their porch steps. I wondered if anyone ever REALLY sits down to talk with them. I thought, with great relief, of Toby here, a resident of Hilltop, who has 21 family members living in his large house, most of them under 24, some teenagers, a new granddaughter, many extended family members. He became a Baha'i several years ago, and uses all the Baha'i principles of consultation to manage the daily life in his home. His energy and joy is contagious.

I also noticed, on Easter, that food wasn't being prepared in some of the households, and I wondered if that was because of poverty, the drug culture, or because religious traditions are deteriorating. In one home we visited, an old man called from inside to come in. We waited, knocked again, and we thought he said "come in". But, we weren't sure. Turns out he is partially paralyzed, so it took time for him to answer the door. He invited us in, told us about his sick wife who has to go to the hospital in a few days. We said prayers together, and as we left I realized there was no meal on Easter, there were no friends or family, just a dark room with all the agonizing concerns of old age. The elderly man was gracious, simple and kind. I was glad we spent time with him, glad that he was not forgotten.

When I return to my home at the end of the day after I've greeted so many people, I realize that people are so malnourished, spiritually. Life has dealt a lot of pain, suffering and neglect that is palpable. Now I understand why it is necessary to reach out. Because often it is not just about theology and concepts for a better world. It is about understanding our common humanity, taking on responsibility for others.

We'll be walking this walk until we've greeted most of the residents in some of the 'safer' neighborhoods, where there is an attempt at flowerbeds, where children play at the local park, where it is safe to walk the streets....just past the empty crack houses with boards across the windows.