Somehow I doubt Harper Lee ever spent much time in this region. Nonetheless, I am taken daily by the number of parallels between the life I see in contemporary South Asia and that of Depression-era South Alabama described in To Kill A Mockingbird. There is certainly a chance that I’m grasping for straws, swimming in a cesspit of ethnocentrism. (Let me know if you think so.) But I think about this every day. Here are Lee’s lines that come to mind most frequently:
“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.”
Rain is bountiful here and the streets do, indeed, turn to red slop. I’ve got the stains on my pants legs to prove it. Grass does grow on sidewalks, and nearly every building sags a little. Dogs pant in alleys, attempting to cool themselves amidst the fervent heat, and bony bovines (okay, not quite mules) saunter the streets dodging flies. I don’t see many men with collars outside my office, but those observed do wilt quickly. And as for the soft teacakes..let’s just say that “frostings of sweat” would be a generous portrayal.
I've heard remarks of this city being in a "perpetual state of photogenic decay." That's about the best characterization I've heard. The colors are beautiful when not covered in dirt, but almost everything is usually covered in dirt. The streets are filled with trash, idols are worshiped on every block, and somehow nearly everything smells like...burnt mildew?
"There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with; nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself."
In South Asia (in my state, at least) everyone who isn't filthy rich is solely filthy. There is no middle class here- no middle class, at least, that you or I would recognize. The poverty is astounding. Men, women and children alike beg on nearly every corner.
In the midst of all this squalor, dirt and mildew there is an underlying hope and excitement about the nation. Huge democracy. Big potential in the international affairs realm. Lots of weight to throw around. Economy looking good for those who are sufficiently well off to take notice. “Vague optimism” is the perfect term. There may be more to fear than fear, but things are looking up.
"The day was 24 hours long, but it seemed longer.”
Time moves in an odd fashion here. Days individually seem to move at a slothful pace but the weeks seem to pass in an instant.
“Atticus said to Jem, ‘I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.’ That was the only time I ever hear Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. ‘You're father's right,’ she said. ‘Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mocking bird.’"
On two occasions now I’ve been allowed to spend time with some of the girls rescued by IJM. Looking at them, it’s hard to understand how anyone ever sold them into sexual slavery— how anyone could have done anything but cherish them, send them to school, and dream tremendous dreams on their behalf. They are beautiful, brilliant, and on the road to recovery from a dark and twisted world they never chose to enter.
These girls are like mockingbirds. They never deserved what was given to them, nor did they deserve to lose what was taken from them. Those who enslaved them did so in sin, plain and simple. By God’s grace, through his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, he is working through his people to bring justice to his daughters. I am honored to be of any service to the men and women working here for IJM. They risk their lives to fulfill the Lord’s desire for these girls’ freedom. Their faith is moving mountains, embodying Harper Lee’s definition of courage.
"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what."
