1 Chapel Talk Nan Mein 18 Feb 1998 Ps 27, Luke 6:20-31 Every ...

market, the routine greetings. Issa...Issa....I reached out in response to “Issa, Teachah,”
tried to snap fingers, and found none. “Oh,” I thought, “a leper.” And went on, looking
for some fresh papaya. I realized that I had finally come to see these disfigured strangers
as people. Persons like me. God loved them. God loved me. I had nothing to fear. My
fear was taken away.
4
Today, leprosy has virtually disappeared. You read about it in the history of medicine.
But there are invisible people in our world today. There are people on wheeled carts. In
the USA there are 40 million people who are permanently disabled. One of them, the
young golfer Casey Martin, made news two weeks ago. Under the Americans with
Disabilities Act, signed into law by President George Bush in 1990, Casey Martin won the
right to ride rather than walk during tournaments.
I hope that when I have gone through another operation and have a new right knee, I will
no longer need to use my wheelchair. But I have learned some new lessons since mid-
November when my left knee collapsed and in an instant I became dependent on my
wheeled cart. I have learned how a few stairs can be an insurmountable obstacle. How
beautiful buildings can become exclusive clubs, and I’m not a member. How long it can
take to do routine tasks, like getting through a door. How it feels to go shopping and have
children stare at you. How it feels to be invisible to “abled” people.
I began by talking about decisions and how they can teach us about ourselves. Tonight I
ask you to think about decisions you make every day about how you treat other people.
Many of us have experienced temporary disability as a result of athletic or other accidents.
A longer term disability is possible for any of us. While you are healthy, examine your
fears. Consider what you do when you act out of those fears. And consider how you treat
those who are not like you-- the poor, the hungry, the disabled. Decide to act out of love,
generosity, openness and concern rather than dislike and fear.
Now is the time, in the words of St. Luke, to do unto others as you would have them do to
you.