Oran

I'm reading The Plague by Albert Camus. The story takes place in the listless town of Oran that the author describes as "ugly." Camus paints this picture: "a town without pigeons, without any trees or gardens, where you never hear the beat of wings or the rustle of leaves . . ." The people don't "eschew such simpler pleasures as love-making, sea bathing, going to the pictures". . . they seemingly only care about making money. In Oran there is suddenly tons of dead rats on the street. The people are burdened with the fact that there are dead rats on the street rather than why there are dead rats.

I wonder if we all live in Oran. Are we burdened with the fact there are homeless people in our town rather than why there are homeless people? Are we burdened with destructive youths running our streets rather than why there are destructive youths? Are we burdened with sexual images everywhere we look rather than why these images exist? Are we burdened with a new abortion clinic in town rather than why there is a need for such a place? And so it goes . . .

In my fellowship class (you might know it as Sunday school class) we discussed the areas of moral decline that really gets under our skin. After a good rant that took up the whole time; we challenged one another to think of a solution (or at least the birth of a solution) to the areas we ranted about. I'll be interested to hear what we come up with. After all anyone can complain--the hard work is being a difference maker.