Reap what you sow

            Falsehood cannot lead to sustained growth. Like the seeds among the thorns, there may seem to be a quick growth but sooner than expected the poison contained within the system will destroy the entire edifice. Like the house built on the sand, the first storm and rain will bring the entire building down. Falsehood can have many shades – lie, politics, pride, prejudice, scheming, groupism, godfathers, personal agendas, quick-fix solutions etc.. Cancer that is contained within any of these falsehoods will manifest itself sooner or later.

Only goodness can lead to lasting growth. Goodness has no cancerous cells within nor any poison. Its growth may be slow and painful. Though slow in the long run it will be healthy growth. Fruits and crops that are speedily grown with aid of pesticides and poison, their effects are revealed in those who eat them. Instead, crops that are grown without pesticides but with more sunshine and rain although it may take a little longer time will lead to better health and longer life. Goodness too has many shades – dialogue, discernment, gifts of the Spirit, transparency, openness, sincerity  etc..

We reap what we sow. If we sow seeds of politics and  prejudice into our systems, be prepared for rivalry and division. If we have injected poison and falsehood into our system don’t be surprised how the quick growth is followed by resentment and complaints.  

Memories are short. We easily forget what we have sown. A year or two, five years or twenty is not a long period of time in the life of an association or organization.  Sometimes the results are soon, but oftener than not, those who reap the fruits are different from those who sow. After enforcing personal agendas and packaging lies as truth, we wait for good results. It cannot be. Those who did the packaging are often out of the scene and those who follow are left to bear the brunt of the storm and taste the poison.

Stephen R. Covey in his famous book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ says that one can try out many strategies and tactics to get other people to do what one wants, to make people work better, to make people love them and one another – but if one’s character is fundamentally flawed, marked by duplicity and insincerity - then in the long run one cannot be successful.  He says, “Eventually if there isn’t deep integrity and fundamental character strength, the challenges of life will cause true motives to surface and human relationship failure will replace short-term success. It is character that communicates most eloquently… Only basic goodness gives life to techniques.”

I would like to repeat the last phrase, “Only basic goodness gives life to techniques.” We can have any number of party games, conferences, motivational talks, or retreats to build up broken relationships and fix flaws in our system but fundamentally it is character, honesty, integrity, and goodness that give success to the work of our hands.

We don’t need to look far for examples to illustrate the truth of what is stated above. Formation houses that have been relocated to satisfy personal agendas,  had to be closed down in a period of two years. A place to shelter candidates have been shifted around to please the whims of a few and the net result is that not one candidate is going ahead. Making provision for higher studies and their growth we have divided and experimented without assessing the consequences of what we are doing nor consulting people who are affected by these changes. We are too close to see its effects and we wait to see the results of an environment of animosity on those whom we form. Big buildings we have put up for Technical training with big funds from donors lie vacant because politics and injustice have been at play from its inception. Mission stations even after six years it has been approved and foundation stone blessed fail to take off because pride and prejudice have been at play. The list could go on.  Why look outside, it is not difficult to find proof for what we have said in the history of each of us.

There has been and is a lot of talk about making all our works self-sufficient. I am a critic of the type of self-sufficiency we often put forward. In practical terms, it has meant closing down works that are not able to sustain itself. The Extraordinary Visitor to our Province has warned that our parish-boardings which catered to poor Catholic children and which needed very little of infrastructure are drying up and in its  place, we are on a massive building drive to cater to the needs of the middle or upper classes.  The Visitor says in the next five years we have plans for an investment of 100 crores for building English medium schools.  He warns us there may be a gradual, imperceptible movement away from the poor to the rich. “What will Kolkata Province be known for after ten years?”, the Visitor asks. Unfortunately, it is not on a positive note he asks this question. We need to give a simple, straight forward and honest answer to the question the representative of the Rector Major has put to us. We cannot talk of priority to the divine in the first chapter of our discussions and then switch on to  self sufficiency and self dependence for the rest of the discussions.  With our self ‘sufficiency mantra’ what will we reap after ten years ?

We reap what we sow.  Rather than reaping the bitter fruits of division, competition, rivalry as a result of our movement towards self sufficiency let us sow as Don Bosco would do,  seeds of love for poor, trust in Providence, care for the weak and neglected, priority for the  Divine and we shall reap fidelity, joy, unity and sincerity. We reap what we sow.

-        Fr T.V. George sdb