A Thousand Splendid Suns

I just finished a book my son gave me for my birthday - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. The book tells the story of two women in Afghanistan from the 1970's or so to the present day. It's a powerful tale, and an important excursion into Afghanistani life.

In A Thousand Splendid Suns there are no easy answers to the plight of a woman in that particular culture. No one individual, group, or entity accounts for the horrific misogyny that these women endure frequently in their lives. A complexity of history, events, people, and powers contribute to a precarious existence for Afghanistani women and girls. No one's hands are clean - not Afghanistani aristocracy, not the warlords, not the Tajiks, not the Pashtuns, not the old Soviet Union, not western powers and economics, not the United Nations, and not the Taliban. None of us in the west will know this unless we take the time to listen, and listen carefully, to this intricate story.

Listening is so essential. Especially for those who would offer Jesus to others, listening is crucial. Frequently we jump too quickly to categorize people. This person is "saved," this person is not. This person is open to Christianity, this person is not. People and their stories are way more complex than easily assigned black and white categories. To know the complexities of people we must care enough to learn them, and we do that by listening. Ironically, in so doing, we will most demonstrate the assertive compassion that is Jesus, and the ground will be most fertile for an encounter with Christ.

A good book is worth its weight in gold. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.