An Excerpt from "Storycatchers" : Extraordinary Grace

     With our bathroom remodel in full swing, mandatory state proficiency testing at school, a community meal with the Lummi's, our local Native American tribe, and life in general; time to write is precious this week. So rather than write something of my own, I will share an extraoradinary excerpt from a book I am reading. 
     In Storycatchers, by Christina Baldwin, there is a description of how an African tribe deals with a tribal member's wrongdoing:

I have read the story of a tribe in southern Africa called the Babemba in which a person doing something wrong, something that destroys this delicate social net, brings all work in the village to a halt. The people gather around the "offender," and one by one they begin to recite everything he has done right in his life: every good deed, thoughtful behaviour, act of social responsibility. These things have to be true about the person, and spoken honestly, but the time-honored consequence of misbehaviour is to appreciate that person back into the better part of himself. Ther person is given the chance to remember who he is and why he is important to the life of the village.

     The author goes on to say, "I want to live under such a practice of compassion. When I forget my place, when I lash out with some private wounding in a public way, I want to be remembered back into alignment with my self and my purpose. I want to live with the opportunity for reconciliation..."


Me too, Christina, me too.

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