“We do not know what do with our own weakness except hide it or pretend it does not exist. So how can we welcome the weakness of another if we have not welcomed our own?” asks Jean Vanier, philosopher and author of many books like “Befriending The Stranger”. He has also founded L’Arche, a movement which centres around people with disabilities. He has branches all over the world including one in Kolkata.
Vanier says, “We will continue to despise people until we have recognized, loved, and accepted what is despicable in ourselves. There are some elements despicable in ourselves, which we don’t want to look at, but which are part of our natures…We are very fragile in front of the future. Accidents and sicknesses is the reality. We are born in extreme weakness, and our life will end in extreme weakness. People don’t want to hold on to that. They want to prove something. They want security. They want to have big bank accounts and all that sort of stuff - but then, also, hold lots of fears within us. We are a frightened people.”
Vanier asks, “And, of course, the big question is, why are we so frightened of people with disabilities?... I believe we’re in front of a mystery of the human reality and people who are very deeply disfigured in their face, in their body. And it’s the fault of nobody. It’s a reality… Maybe we can work things out and discover what gene it is and so on. But the history of humanity is a history of people being born extremely fragile because sickness and death is part of our reality.”
“However,” says Vanier, “The balance of our world frequently is seen as a question of power: that if I have more power and more knowledge, more capacity, then I can do more. This is the tension between the doing and the being and when you have power, we can very quickly push people down. I’m the one that knows, and you don’t know; I’m strong and I’m powerful; I have the knowledge. This is the history of humanity…
People with disabilities could bring equilibrium of the heart. Children teach us tenderness, love… And the incredible thing about children is they’re unified in their body, whereas we can be very disunified. We can say one thing and feel another. So as a child can teach us about unity and about fidelity and about love… so it is with people with disabilities too. It’s the same beauty and purity in some of these people…Everybody has their place.“
Common cause
Vanier believes, “Suffering bodies are seen as useless… It’s a suffering body which brings us together. It’s our attention to the body.
When somebody comes to our community and is quite severely handicapped, what is important is to see that the body is well. And then, as the body can become comfortable, then the spirit can rise up. There’s a recognition. There’s a contact. There’s a relationship.”
