BATTLEFIELDS BIG AND SMALL

The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena, but the small clearing of each heart. Yann Martel – Life of Pi

Have had this quote on my fridge for several years, a constant reminder that even in the light of huge conflicts being waged around the world, we all still have to face inner battles on a daily basis in order to face the world with any sort of integrity.

Prior to the presidential election in Nigeria on April 16 three nationally recognised youth leaders appeared on Nigerian television praising the country’s young people for their exemplary conduct during the parliamentary elections the previous week. One we know of who is part of the national youth monitoring team for the elections appealed to young people to not get caught up in any potential violent activity which might be instigated by politicians intent on their own agenda rather than working towards cohesion and progress within Nigeria.

With high hopes for a positive outcome from the election, everything turned on its head within two days as incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan’s main rival Mohammadu Buhari rejected the outcome of the election. In almost no time at all violence erupted, with the political animosity taking on a religious dimension, as Muslim supporters of Buhari went on a rampage burning cars, buildings, churches and pursuing Christian supporters of Goodluck Jonathan in what they declared a holy war.

In the midst of all this our friend who has a deep love for his people and seeks to build community in villages and towns and care for those who are marginalized, was in a dire situation. In the three days and nights it took before troops arrived to restore peace, he and other Christians feared for their lives as young people were sought out and killed. Despite his experience in community and youth work he found his core values challenged, a very confronting experience for him. I’ll let him tell it in his own words.

During that period I was very annoyed, I was filled with hatred and vengeance, I had wanted to kill any Moslem on sight. I kept asking the question: what wrong did we do? Is it a crime to be a Christian in a secular state like Nigeria? The innocent people that were killed what was their crime?

But I asked myself the tough question: what will Christ want me to do? He wants me to be a peacemaker. He was innocent but was declared guilty and sentenced to death. I have put the past incidents behind me. I have come to look at this from the perspective that this trouble was caused by people who don’t want Nigeria as a country to move forward. I have forgiven them personally and have looked at what steps to take towards reconciliation and National healing.

It will take a long time for things to return to normal…I don’t know what I am feeling right now but we’ve got to be strong. Please pray for us as we look at ways to bring lasting peace, reconciliation, and development in Nigeria.

To see gains in community work go backwards, to see the Cholera Relief Effort come to a grinding halt after the recent cholera outbreak, to see relationships and networks fractured, would make it easy for many to throw up their hands and walk away and leave the mess to someone else. But our mate is not giving up. The community looks to him for leadership, and despite his feelings of inadequacy in the light of the riots and the task ahead of bringing healing and a lasting peace, he is not backing away.

To confront the dilemma of choosing to care for those who only days before had you literally in their sights, is no small thing. I can only wonder what my choice would be if my life was threatened. Finding the right response in such a situation is to embark on a minefield, no pun intended, but to deal with the myriad conflicting emotions and values and overpowering survival instinct, having to make decisions with little or no warning, I’m certainly not one who’s going to judge the actions of another under such duress.

Most of us will never have to make such a decision, but wherever we confront situations where our values are challenged, where injustice is staring us right in the face, how are we going to respond? How am I going to respond? I can wax lyrical about what I think I might do, but unless I’ve really done the work on the inside that gives me a solid foundation from which to live, the positive outcomes I would like to see happen out there, in the public arena, will never happen.

Would I be able to put self interest aside and reply with a resounding “yes” to the tough questions like our mate in Nigeria faces? Confronting to say the least.