WRITEON FOR JUNE 24, 2020 sister alies. Two very nice things this week: the beginning of summer and Father’s Day. How did you celebrate? Whatever you did I hope it was with mask and social distancing! That ‘19beast’ is around Ackerman and environs so don’t be fooled! I had several folks laugh at me when I told them one of my recent highlights was the new garbage bin! Really? Yes! Here’s a very ancient Sufi story that for me casts light on how I can be far away from the ‘whole picture’ and make some bad judgements. ‘Some blind scouts were sent out to get information about an enormous creature that was just outside their town. Although the scouts didn’t know…it was an elephant. Each scout only touched one part…and when they returned to their superiors, one reported that the elephant was large and round, like a rough rug. He’d touched the ear. The one who touched the trunk disagreed and said the elephant was long and straight, like a hollow pipe. The one that touched the legs said it was stately and firm like 4 enormous pillars. Their superiors were left in confusion. Each scout had spoken in certainty yet everyone’s evidence was contradictory. Each scout only had a fragment of the truth. No one had the complete picture. And everyone took the part for the whole.’ OUCH. I can make mistakes by not being more careful before I spout off my opinions. Parts are just that…parts. They are not the whole. Like your vehicle…you don’t buy a whole new car if you just need a new oil filter. In this time of serious conversation about so many important things, especially respect and justice for all, we need to see where we have only the parts and not the whole picture. This will help us to turn things around. OR we can remain blind and see ‘nothing new’. OR just see what we feel. OR we can open our eyes and explore new information, hear new data, and then piece these things together with what is familiar and we’ll be a lot closer to the ‘whole picture’. What a loss to our community and really to the world, man of God, BRO. BILL TAYLOR, REST IN PEACE, FATHERS DAY, JUNE 21, 2020 from Covid 19. Prayers for his family, church community, and friends. BLESSINGS.
