The Voice That Challenged a Lie
In 2004 Victor Yushchenko stood for the
presidency of the Ukraine. Vehemently opposed by the ruling party Yushchenko’s
face was disfigured and he almost lost his life when he was mysteriously
poisoned. This was not enough to deter him from standing for the presidency.
On the day of the election Yushchenko was
comfortably in the lead. The ruling party, not to be denied, tampered with the
results. The state-run television station reported “ladies and gentlemen, we
announce that the challenger Victor Yushchenko has been decisively defeated.”
In the lower right-hand corner of the
screen a woman by the name of Natalia Dmitruk was providing a translation
service for the deaf community. As the news presenter regurgitated the lies of
the regime, Natalia Dmitruk refused to translate them. “I’m addressing all the
deaf citizens of Ukraine” she signed. “They are lying and I’m ashamed to
translate those lies. Yushchenko is our president.”
The deaf community sprang into gear. They text messaged their friends about the fraudulent result and as news spread of Dmitruk’s act of defiance increasing numbers of journalists were inspired to likewise tell the truth. Over the coming weeks the “Orange Revolution” occurred as a million people wearing orange made their way to the capital city of Kiev demanding a new election.
The government was forced to meet their demands, a new
election was held and Victor Yushchenko became president.
Philip Yancey writes
“When I heard the story behind the orange
revolution, the image of a small screen of truth in the corner of the big
screen became for me an ideal picture of the church. You see we as a
church do not control the big screen. (When we do, we usually mess it up.)
Go to any magazine rack or turn on the
television and you see a consistent message. What matters is how beautiful you
are, how much money or power you have. Similarly, though the world includes
many poor people, they rarely make the magazine covers or the news shows.
Instead we focus on the superrich, names like Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey.… Our
society is hardly unique. Throughout history nations have always glorified winners,
not losers.
Then, like the sign language translator in
the lower right-hand corner of the screen, along comes a person named Jesus who
says in effect, Don’t believe the big screen – they’re lying. It’s the
poor who are blessed, not the rich. Mourners are blessed too, as well as those
who hunger and thirst, and the persecuted. Those who go through life thinking
they’re on top end up on the bottom. And those who go through life feeling
they’re on the bottom end up on the top. After all, what does it profit
a person to gain the whole world and lose his soul?”
Source: Philip Yancey, What Good Is God,
pages 184-186
When Words Rise Above Politics
Ben Chifley spent a decade as Treasurer and
then Prime Minister of Australia during and after the Second World War. He died
in the evening of June 13, 1951.
The same night he died the Australian
Government, led by Chifley’s chief politic opponent, Robert Menzies, was
holding a gala ball to celebrate the golden jubilee of Parliament. Preparations
had been made for weeks for what was to be the grandest of occasions.
The ballroom was filled and the party was
in full swing when Menzies received news that Chifley had died. He climbed the
podium to announce the terrible news.
To a hushed room Menzies spoke. “It is my
sorrowful duty to inform you that tonight, during this celebration, Mr Chifley,
former prime minister and leader of the opposition, has died.
I do not want to try even to talk about
him, because even though were we were political opponents, he was a great
friend of mine and yours, and a fine Australian.
It does not matter about party politics in
a case like this. Oddly enough, in Parliament we get to know each other very
well, and we sometimes find we have a warmest friendship among people whose
politics is not our own.
Mr Chifley served this country
magnificently for many years. Sorrow of his own people is shared equally by
myself and members of the Government. I hope this cruel blow for Mrs Chifley
will be softened by the knowledge that there is no Australian who hears this
sad news tonight who will not have a tear to shed for a man who has served his
country.
Indeed, he has served his country and
undoubtedly he has hastened his own passing by his devotion to his own land,
and indeed, to the people of the world.”
Then asked whether the party should
continue Menzies replied, “In the circumstances there will be no more music. I
do suggest that you have supper and that we then leave quietly.”
Generous words for a political opponent are not what we expect these days.
But Menzies speech reminds us that the power of
words to bring healing, hope and encouragement is as great as their power to
tear down and destroy. What a pity then that we so often leave the healing
words to times of crisis and death, instead of making them to mark of our daily
conversation.
Source: Information on Menzies words
from Good Weekend Magazine June 9, 2001
Words That Can Kill Courage
The story is told of a theological college
in Sydney where a final year student prepared to preach to the students and
faculty.
It was many years back and it was the
custom of faculty to critique the sermon afterward.On this particular morning
the Principal of the college stands and says “Mr Jones would have done better
to stand up this morning and say ‘I have no word from the Lord’ and then sit
down again.”
I’m still not sure whether is truth or
legend, and I don’t know what happened to John Jones, whether he went on to
become a pastor.
But I suspect that those were words of
death in his ears every time he ever stood up to speak in public again.
Certainly he may have needed critique, but not like that.
Scott Higgins
xxxxxx
Angry Words Leave Invisible Scars
There was a little boy with a bad temper.
His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his
temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence.
The first day the boy had driven 37 nails
into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to
hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came
when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all.
He told his father about it and the father
suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to
hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was
finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took
his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, “You have done well, my
son, but look at the holes in the fence.
The fence will never be the same. When you
say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife
in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say ‘I’m sorry’,
the wound is still there.”
Alternate Application – gossip. When
telling the story substitute “gossip” for “anger”, but with the same result –
the wounds are still there.
Source: unknown.
Why Gossip Can Never Be Taken Back
A woman once repeated a nasty piece of
gossip about a friend. The news travelled, and soon everyone knew the nasty
news. The woman’s friend was deeply hurt, not only by the untruths being said
about her but by the betrayal by a friend.
The woman who had first passed on the
gossip was also wounded, wracked with guilt over the pain she had caused her
friend. She approached her grandfather, a man she had always seen as very wise,
and asked what she could do to set things right.
“Buy a chicken, and have it killed. Then on
your way home, pluck its feathers and drop them along the road. When you have
done this come and see me again.”
The woman was somewhat perplexed by this
advice but she followed it anyway. The next day she returned to her
grandfather. This time he told her to go and collect all the feathers she had
dropped on the road yesterday and bring them to him.
“But that’s impossible” she said. “They’ll
have all blown away.”
“Exactly” said her grandfather, “it’s easy
to drop them, but it’s impossible to get them back. It’s the same with gossip.
It doesn’t take much to spread a rumour, but once you do, you can never
undo the hurt. But perhaps you can ask forgiveness.”
Source: unknown
Read also: 10 Powerful Stories About Worship, Faith, and Humility