Taking the Time to Make a Difference

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I hate to admit it but I was talking one recent evening with an acquaintance, and we were comparing our back injuries and problems. If you are among regular readers of this column — I thank you for taking the time to do that — and you already know I have reached a certain age of (hoped-for) maturity. I don’t have a lot of ailments to talk about, but a recent bad decision on my part helped send me to the hospital for a couple of days with lower back pain. Ever since I left the hospital, good friends have been asking me, “Are you going to write about this in your column?” For a while, I fought against the idea, but after a few more conversations about the whole thing, I gave in. The bad decision was trying to put a heavy box up on a shelf that I could not quite reach, standing and stretching up from a small step ladder off to one side of the shelf. Some instant pain developed, and over a month or so it became electrifying pain strong enough so that I could give in willingly to my wife’s suggestion that it was time to visit the emergency room. It took two days to get the “immediate relief” I had hoped for. Some days after my release, I attended a function at Seton Harvest, the community supported agriculture project which provides shareholders with fresh produce. I only mentioned my back pain because I felt the need to tell people why I wasn’t doing any of the work that evening. (We got together to dig sweet potatoes.) The man I was talking with said he got really good advice from “Farmer Joe,” Joe Schalasky, who runs the operation. The advice passed along to me was as simple as it was useful: Never lift anything unless your feet are pointed at the thing you intend to lift.

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I remember very well how my feet and the box I lifted were pointed in several directions at the time I hurt my back. But much more intriguing to me are the words I remember, words of advice, a few days later, when some friends met for a CFM meeting. In this conversation, we were talking not about physical ailments, but pains in our society. The words from the second reading that Sunday, from the Letter of St. James, came into mind. “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.” What struck me was the stark reality of Farmer Joe’s advice, and how it applied to society today. The issue may be health care or the economy or immigration or any other issue that will take some heavy lifting to settle. In truth, all of us need to stand with our feet pointed toward the thing that needs to be handled. All of us need to face each other full on, squarely, openly, honestly, with our direct attention – not looking askance at others’ views, not with a sidelong glance, not off balance. Our efforts to resolve difficulties must be pure, peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity.

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Take the time to examine something in your home that needs to be lifted up. Point your feet at it and give it your full attention. Take the time to examine an issue in your neighborhood or parish, or some instance of conflict with another, and see if you and the others can face each other without inconstancy or insincerity. Take the time to stand feet forward before the leaders of our society and give them the same honor you expect of them.

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