Value People

We are currently on a journey through Imagine Thailand’s seven OUTWARD FACING VALUES.  We spent the last 3 months on “We value bridge building”, the first of our values.  This month we’re moving on to the second value … “We value people”.

Consider this statement:  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Now consider:  Each person is created with inherent value and incredible potential.  We celebrate equality and diversity.

One of those statements was made on July 4th, 1776. The other was made half a world away and almost 245 years later.  But they’re remarkably similar.  Why?  Because the truths they embody are timeless: never outdated, never old, applicable everywhere and in every culture.  People—all people—are of inestimable value!

At a conference a number of years ago, the keynote speaker, a missionary in the slums of Kolkata, told how when he first arrived in India he was deeply affected by the toxic caste system and the blatant, very public prejudices it engendered.  By luck—or bad luck—of ethnicity or birth, you could be a rich elite or an “untouchable” foraging for food in fetid garbage dumps.  

He vowed that he would transcend the prevailing culture.  He would not, would not, favour one person above another.  He was tested the very next day.

As he squeezed through the mass of humanity thronging the local streets, he was bumped hard from behind.  He turned quickly to see what had happened and found himself inches away from a man who had no nose, no ears, and no fingers.  Mucus oozed from the hole where there was once a nose.  His clothes were nothing more than ragged strips of cloth. Dirt encrusted his face, and a smell of decay emanated from his diseased body.

The missionary recoiled in sudden, involuntary horror.  But just as he did, in that split second, something caught his eye.  Written on the man’s disfigured face was pain.  Intense, resigned, hopeless pain, borne out of a thousand disappointments and a thousand faces registering revulsion.  His soul was as ravaged as his body, assaulted for years by a society that deemed him less than worthless.

Propelled by a force that was not his, the missionary reached out, put his arms on the man’s shoulders, and whispered, “I am so, so sorry.  Please forgive me”.

And from watery eyes a silent drop trickled slowly down the dirt-stained cheek.

He invited the man to his home, got medical help, fed him, clothed him, and gave him work.  His body became strong, and his soul registered life and hope.  The changes were truly remarkable.  

But it was not the only change.  There was a second healing.  A healing as deep and beautiful as the first.  Eyes that once primarily saw appearance had become blind, replaced by a tender insight that now saw the beating of hearts and the hopeful longing of the soul. 

This leper mattered.  Refugee children matter.  University students matter.  The elderly, the young, the infirm.  The people of Thailand and every person who flees to these shores.  They all matter, because they are “created with inherent value and incredible potential”.  Our passionate prayer at Imagine is to have the eyes to truly see, the courage to help, and the humility to serve.

Next month we move to our third value, "We value presence".  Stay tuned. 

In the meantime: Add value.Act with valour.