Open Writing

We have municipal elections coming up soon. There is much talk on the radio about voter registration, especially for the youth. Throughout the day, advertisements emphasize the importance of exercising our democratic right, contributing to the smooth running of our communities and demanding better service delivery. As someone who has had the vote for many years and participated in numerous national and local government elections, I admit to muttering, "I know all that! Stop stating the obvious, will you?"

Then I hear from my daughter at university that she and her friends are too busy with lectures and tests to think about politics. "We don't know any of the parties or what they stand for, and we don't want to make an uninformed decision." This leads me to temper my objections to the electoral commission's publicity campaign.

Besides, I know how unhelpful impatience can be. I love doing cryptic crosswords, but being unable to read the small print or hold every clue in my head simultaneously means I have to rely on repetition. Most people would shy away at the prospect of tackling a crossword puzzle verbally, simply because it would test their patience to the limit. Yet my Dad and I used to spend hours tossing around ideas, he consulting the crossword dictionary and penciling in the clues until the whole thing was done.

Patience with the ignorant, the uninformed and the handicapped is a matter of accepting that we are all weak in some department or another and having the grace to allow others a chance to catch up. Some need extra time to become informed or understand the information they are receiving. Others need extra space to seek the information they require and safely apply it.

I am not suggesting that we resign ourselves to catering for the lowest common denominator. This is not an argument for approving poor performance. Rather, it is a call for compassion. I have been a straggler on a hike, and I know how important it is to be helped, encouraged and integrated into the group. Progress should never be at the expense of the disadvantaged. If there is no compassion for those who are struggling to keep up, the group divides, resulting in each sub-group feeling betrayed by the other.

This is why the Bible speaks so strongly about caring for the lame, the blind, the deaf and the mute. In terms of needing support, they are like the widows and the orphans, who also get frequent mention. We are all on a quest for a better world, but the kingdom of heaven cannot come unless we share God's point of view and become mindful of the "lost sheep".

The reason we don't automatically take this point of view is that we are so used to exercising our judgement. We discriminate between what is relevant and what is not, what is significant and what can be ignored. In this way, we separate, classify, prioritize and promote, and so achieve our goals.

However, such a result-driven focus can hinder our sense of wholeness. Nature progresses through cycles and seasons, and so does human life. Our very own bodies are designed to take things slowly and in proper sequence. We breathe in, then we breathe out. Interrupting the natural rhythm of respiration results in light-headedness or coughing. Similarly, the world expands with great discoveries, then contracts with the inevitable need for integration, consolidation and downsizing. Disrespecting the natural ebb and flow of social development is bound to have catastrophic results.

In other words, we must wait. We must endure being told things we know already. The question, of course, is: How? How do we stay compassionate towards the weak when the tedious repetition of what we consider to be obvious threatens to drive us crazy?

I suggest that we have to go deeper into our knowing. Being in possession of facts is, as the Bible says, mere foolishness in the eyes of God. Beyond knowing that it is time to register as a voter for the upcoming municipal elections, there is an ocean of knowledge that I haven't begun to tap into. And I am not talking about the knowledge held by electoral officials and candidates. I am talking about the way my mind functions. Why do I feel as I do about voting? What is it about being told what I already know that annoys me? Where does this belief com from? How do I rationalize it? Why do I feel guilty about it?

Going deeper into knowing is a humbling exercise because it makes us aware of how little we actually know. Indeed, it can even be threatening because it confronts us with our own contradictory nature. We discover that we are full of inconsistencies and dark corners which we don't want to explore. Of course, no-one says we have to, but we benefit by acknowledging them. At least, when we next complain that something is boring - that we have heard it all before and are wasting our time being made to sit through it - we have the option of examining what we don't yet know … inside ourselves.