Transformation of the spirit, soul and mind

Opinion. The views expressed are the author’s own.

Long ago at a time when the world was going to hades in a basket (like today 🙁 ) I was in North Africa fighting for the liberation of a people oppressed by a majority population and their racist administration. Our jobs were to support ordinary people any way we can and stand between them and the oppressive police forces and businesses that employed these security forces. We were “the Left” vs “the religious right” within a nation so poor that thievery was often the only way a family could survive, yet this crime was often met with the severing of a hand or foot (securities choice).

While in North Africa I witnessed many bizarre, horrifying and wonderful things. One event so stirred my imagination that some time after it happened I became a believer in the spirit of humanity and even that a God did exist. Sound crazy, but a confirmed atheist becoming a believer not just in “us” but that a power existed that could transform a person of violence into something else.

Protests were a daily event. We attended as a policing action protecting those who could not protect themselves. The Security Forces were often conscripts coming from poor families relying upon their wages to support their families. We knew this and often allowed them much ley way as to how they would respond to the peaceful protestors. Often a protest escalated into a violent confrontation. Various other instigators from other political or religious agencies were present and among the protestors. This day all hell broke lose.

We were ready to assist these protestors who were trying to make a point. Local taxes rose significantly, and the authorities made sure these taxes were paid even if a family would starve.

The protest was peaceful at first, but either the protestors energy seemed to ignite the violence or an instigator was present and violence erupted. We tried to separate the security forces from the protestors but to no avail. Then something happened that brought a silence to the scene.

One side of the mass of people calmed down and a V formation set in as someone entered the mass and walked towards the crowds center. A little woman helped by a Priest, a Mullah and other elderly men walked into the center of the fray in silence. They stood there looking at us all as if asking us a question. They them raised their hands upward towards the sky and shouted “Peace Be Upon You”. The regional greeting meant a great deal to the locals. That statement, question, advice, hope and prayer had the desired effect upon a people filled with anger, fatalism and certainly lacking hope for a better future.

These working people, young and old helped each other along towards their homes, coffee shops and the market. They dispersed peacefully, communally and quickly. The security forces did not know what to make of it. We dispersed with our friends carefully. The security forces arrested and took these Peaceful Angels away. what crime had they committed? To call out for peace was not a crime was it? Did these elderly folk challenge the security forces and their masters the law givers?

We could not find out who the little lady was, but the Priest and Mullah were friends who were released a week later unharmed. Some of the elderly who helped the lady were never seen of again.

The message “Peace be Upon You” was a call/prayer to God. but it also meant there was another way to deal with the oppressive regime. Like Martin Luther King, Gandhi and so many other Servants of Peace and Justice through out the world, this small group of elderly citizens inspired peace, initiating within me and so many others a transformation of mind, spirit and soul. I left my comrades a few months latter and travelled the world looking for something to fill my inner void. Revolution, Social Causes and anti-fascist attitudes needed to be grounded in something. My belief in humanity was one such thing, but was humanism enough? Was there something else? Did I have the courage to stand up to armed men like the little lady did? I ventured into a small chapel in Paris, France. I observed the good people going to mass and remained in my pew thinking. Is faith in God an alternative?

A elderly Friar in the next town spoke to me in some length, telling me that I could search for God, or wait to be called. So I waited years to hear the call, and I received an offer which I could not refuse.

Steven Kaszab lives in Bradford, Ont.