A man stands on a terrace that overlooks a deep valley. He is absorbed by painting the golden clouds of the oncoming sunset. A while later he pauses to assess his progress. He starts walking backward so he can view his painting from a distance. He is unaware that he has reached the very edge of the terrace and that the next step he is about to take will be toward the valley below.
You are standing a few steps away from him. You realize what is going on. Thoughts race through your mind. What shall you do to save him?
If you scream, "Stop, look back," you may scare him and make him lose his balance and fall. If you attempt to take hold of him, both of you may lose yur balance and fall. There is only one way to save him: smear his painting.
When he sees your hand moving against his precious work of art, his feet will freeze, and he will move toward you with all his strength. Only then may you take hold of him and explain to him what was about to take place. Yes, you have smeared his painting, but you have also saved his life.
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The above story is excerpted from a book, Metaphors of Islamic Humanism, by my friend, Dr. Omar Imady, copyright 2005.
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About Me
- Elizabeth Mahlou
- I am the mother of 4 birth children (plus 3 others who lived with us) and grandmother of 2, all of them exceptional children. Married for 42 years, I grew up in Maine, live in California, and work in many places in education, linguistics, and program management. In my spare time, I rescue and tame feral cats and have the scars to prove it. A long-time ignorantly blissful atheist converted by a theophanic experience to Catholicism, I am now a joyful catechist. Oh, I also authored a dozen books, two under my pen name of Mahlou (Blest Atheist and A Believer-in-Waiting's First Encounters with God).
Recommended Reading List
Because I am blog inept, I don't quite know how to get a reading list to stay at the end of the page and not disappear from sight. Therefore, I entered it as my first post. I suppose that is not all that bad because readers started commenting about the books, even suggesting additional readings. So, you can participate with others in my reading list by clicking here.I do post additional books as I read them and find them to be meaningful to me, and therefore, hopefully, meaningful to you. One advantage of all the plane traveling I do is that I acquire reading time that I might not otherwise take.
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