An article written by my father, the Rev. C. Thomas Paige, as it appeared in the Tri-State Defender on the date shown.
“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.” — I John 3:14
BROTHERHOOD
How glorious it is that in this life we are able to see growth in ourselves that warrant us being the type of person that will enable us to move to a fuller realization of the real meaning of our existence here.
This week our thoughts are directed toward that time of the year known as “Brotherhood Week.” It is at this point that the whole thing shows up as a mass farce. Deep down within the heart of every normal individual should be – or is – that something that makes him want to be brother to all with whom he comes in contact.
Yet as one looks about, he see any number of forces at work which prevent him from actually being the person of which he is capable. Ofttimes as we look about ourselves we see within ourselves things with which we are deeply disturbed. We see ourselves being slaves to customs, cultures, social patterns and the like and ofttimes these do not lend to the fullest growth of the person.
A NEW LIFE
Try as we may, we cannot refrain from these forces. Within, there is something at work, something that plagues us day after day. But we would rather not adhere to this voice. We want to satisfy the voices without and feel that at this point, we are making our contribution to our day and time. In vain this voice beckons us to reach for the better things of life. Constantly we allow the outer voice to have greater impact upon us.
The one day, a new sense breaks loose in us. A new vision is evident in our ears. The outer voice loses its glow. Hour by hour, day by day and week by week the things that used to bring us such great pleasure now leave us cold and we finally conclude that a phase in life has changed. Our whole outlook on life has taken on a new glow. The things that used to fill us with such great joy are no more. We see life in an entirely new perspective. We wonder about ourselves! We join that great host of men who have come to the point of wonderment. We search and ofttimes, search in vain. Then something dawns upon us. We have found the answer!
LOVE ENTERS
After a chance of outlook, we finally conclude that a change has taken place because we love. The power of love has taken hold of us. No longer are we content to do the little mean things we did yesterday. We look at ourselves in disgust when we think of the smallness we have exhibited. We try hard to account for what has happened to us and we find that we have learned to love. It is at this point in life that we change.
John said that he knew that he had passed from death into life because he had learned to love the brethren. Only to the extent that this becomes a part of each of us will we ever be able to see the real value of life. The social, cultural, and economic barriers that keep us from being the persons we should be must be moved.
The things that have blinded us over years and decades must fall with the onslaught of a new and better way of life. Something must happen to us to make us new persons. Sometimes this is a slow process but it must be a process that moves us to a state that we know we are traveling the upward road.
We must not confine brotherhood to a period of one week — one hundred and forty-four hours. This state of mind must extend to the end of our days. We must dedicate ourselves to the highest and noblest being of which each of us is capable. Something must change on the inside so strong that a permanent change takes place on the outside. We must lift ourselves beyond the confines of this world and move to a fuller and more meaningful way of life. We must be able to say in the words of John, “I know that a change has taken place because I love.”
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 