Article June 5, 1989 Issue

Reform

The Christian Science Monitor

Perspective is not an easy thing to gain possession of. But when I look over events that have taken place in our lifetime, I can't help believing that future historians will see this time as one of personal and collective anguish—much of it the anguish of self-examination.

There is a vast range of books, plays, movies, and music coming out of North America, Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia that tell of people struggling to understand how their homelands have become what they are. The names of those who are creating this body of literature are as diverse as are their nationalities. Their ideas and hopes and personal experiences find their way into our lives by many paths. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Natan Sharansky, Alan Paton, Steve Biko, Miriam Makeba, Athol Fugard, Haing Ngor, Nien Cheng, Mercedes Sota, Juan Williams, Alicia Partnoy—these and many others are becoming the scribes and collective conscience of the latter twentieth century.

There is unquestionably a call for people to be brave. But it's not only a call to people who have lived and sometimes perished at the center of conflict. We all are being called to confront the moral and spiritual revolutions of this age that ultimately require us to determine what we truly love and, in fact, worship as life-giving.

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