Crossing the Universe

Eight miles up here above the earth under the diamond studded ebony shroud that constitutes the night sky, I find myself in a good place for healthful introspection. The interior lights have been dimmed, allowing weary passengers to sleep off their journey to another reality. Platinum light from a full moon casts sharp shadows across the silver wing. Six or seven miles below us a cloud deck conceals the world beneath. To our great relief, several days ago the atmosphere shook off its intense fury, dissipating the last of its violent hurricanes for the season. Today the air has been like glass, making a long flying day serene and fertile for thought.

There is much to think about when going from one galaxy to another. In a certain sense I have traversed realities that are perhaps as great as those one might experiencing jumping from one star system to another. In the span of a day it has been possible to leave one of the very poorest regions of our world, one devoid of most of those things many consider necessities and return to a world of nearly unbounded abundance and options. The reality in which I ate my breakfast did not include paved roads, mail service, safe water, TV, parks, theaters, private cars, flush toilets, health care, or a thousand other things considered necessities for those living there. Even from this great height, I can occasionally see cities through breaks in the cloud cover. These cities are brilliant with light; criss-crossed with paved highways dotted with private cars, studded with emerald parks and athletic fields, ablaze with the neon of night life.

I wonder if any of the people below realize that they not only live on the only planet in our solar system capable of supporting life, but also on a very privileged and small part of this sapphire orb that allows them to chase dreams and live out many of their fantasies. A number of people have written me in recent days telling me they could not comprehend or relate to the mountainous tropical reality I was living in. I wonder if they comprehend how truly extraordinary their own reality is – far more so than the one I just left.

It is easy to succumb to the seduction of development work that says solutions can always be had by throwing money at problems. What we have been finding in the mountains of Haiti is that throwing hope and empowerment at problems always yields solutions with long-term consequences. In the darkness of the reality of poverty and oppression that exists in Cange, there is an emerging band of hope on the horizon. Disenfranchised people are finding dignity, the opportunity to learn and do meaningful work, to drink safe water, to learn how to read and discover the worlds within the covers of a book. They are finding spiritual meaning in their lives. They are finding that they don’t have to climb on one of these metallic silver denizens of the sky to chase dreams. They can do it right there in the beautiful mountains of their own land with their own people and their own families. The ultimate measure of our success in Haiti will be when no one living there wants to leave.

I am told of a cowhand that lived on a vast hacienda in South America. He had never been off the spread. He was asked if this bothered him very much. With some surprise, he asked why anyone would want to leave paradise. His land had become paradise for him. Perhaps it will one day be so for those millions Haitians who will never see the inside of one of these turbine-driven catapults. We will tell them of a Kingdom they can live in and experience abundant life that does not require them to buy passage up here. We will also give them a cup of water as part of the deal.

It is time to land.