Saturday, January 27, 2018

One Forgets

One forgets. As I put up two out of twenty-eight chapters of the story of E and me for preview, earlier today, I was reminded of the European way. The opening chapters of the story are fast-paced. With my late wife Mirjam, I had been used to fast exchanges and snappy decisions. With E, I discovered the African way, which was slow and sedate. One "smoked pipe". OBSERVATION: I already knew this manner from Church Diaconate meetings. The White half of the Diaconate were vocal, and wanted efficient progress through agendas. The Black half tended to be quiet. They thought about things slowly and deeply, sometimes responding to issues only days after a meeting had taken place. I saw this in the mission, too. Village elders once took all day to decide whether a boat should be moored in this village or the next.

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