Sun rising over Papua New Guinea's airport Here in Papua New Guinea the people are exceedingly friendly. They are poor (the going wage is 15 cents an hour) and natural (they live off the land mostly, have lots of children, and delight in both). They sit about a lot, talking with each other and just looking at the trees, the birds, the sea, and the weather. In this way they are more contemplative, more receptive to reality, than their “busy” cousins from America and Europe. I went hiking yesterday with three youths and found it hard to adjust to their loping gait. I wanted to race up the mountain and get back, both to set a personal best and to get back “to work” on my computer. But after an hour of carefully placing one foot in front of the other, with the luxury of casual conversation and looking about, I found the measured pace quite natural.
Because the locals here take lots of time to look and listen to the world around them, they are naturally religious. They wouldn’t think of denying the existence of a heavenly Father, nor would they think of taking his manifest gifts for granted. They thank God in childlike praise within their many houses of worship. Like the island breezes that blow through my open windows all day, like the many-colored birds that chorus riotously in the early morning, their simple faith daily refreshes the soul.
Because the locals here take lots of time to look and listen to the world around them, they are naturally religious. They wouldn’t think of denying the existence of a heavenly Father, nor would they think of taking his manifest gifts for granted. They thank God in childlike praise within their many houses of worship. Like the island breezes that blow through my open windows all day, like the many-colored birds that chorus riotously in the early morning, their simple faith daily refreshes the soul.
The sisters welcome me to PNG (Papua New Guinea) But there is trouble in paradise. Dogfights. Hundreds of dogs lounge around the dusty streets, many ownerless, almost all of them skinny fleebuckets. They incessantly bark and bite at each other, especially between midnight and 5am. As all of us sleep with windows wide open, we get a front row seat at the fights. Last night I woke many times to the hellish din of howls, shrieks, screams, and scuffles among these mangy mutts. “Why can’t you all find something better to do than barking all night?” I complained before reinserting my earplugs and turning over.
Don’t get me wrong: some of my best friends are dogs. But dogs are not that smart, and they need help to focus their lives beyond fighting all night and sleeping all day. I remember working one summer in a packing plant. All but one of my eight-man crew were high school dropouts, and one day “Skinny,” one of the dropouts, summed up his life as the “three F’s”—feasting, fighting, and one other F that I won’t mention. Some of these men I considered friends, at least for a summer, but I wondered why they didn’t expect more from life than a kind of doggy existence, such as I see in the down-to-earth locals here in Papua New Guinea. I hope they eventually got married and got beyond the self-absorbed level.
But not likely, because marriage and family are disparaged these days. The one hope for us mangy mutts to elevate ourselves to has been pooh-pooed by society. O how I miss the days when marriage and family life were prized! It hardly exists in my urban parish. As sophisticated as we appear, our lives are not much more than the “three F’s,” for without marriage and family we are just dogs in paradise.
Don’t get me wrong: some of my best friends are dogs. But dogs are not that smart, and they need help to focus their lives beyond fighting all night and sleeping all day. I remember working one summer in a packing plant. All but one of my eight-man crew were high school dropouts, and one day “Skinny,” one of the dropouts, summed up his life as the “three F’s”—feasting, fighting, and one other F that I won’t mention. Some of these men I considered friends, at least for a summer, but I wondered why they didn’t expect more from life than a kind of doggy existence, such as I see in the down-to-earth locals here in Papua New Guinea. I hope they eventually got married and got beyond the self-absorbed level.
But not likely, because marriage and family are disparaged these days. The one hope for us mangy mutts to elevate ourselves to has been pooh-pooed by society. O how I miss the days when marriage and family life were prized! It hardly exists in my urban parish. As sophisticated as we appear, our lives are not much more than the “three F’s,” for without marriage and family we are just dogs in paradise.
RSS Feed