5:30 pm - 2003-09-24
When Rain Clouds Gather
"It was the mentality of the old hag that ruined a whole continent--some sort of clinging, ancestral, tribal belief that a man was nothing more than a grovelling sex organ, that there was no such thing as privacy of soul and body, and that no ordinary man would hestitate to jump on a mere child."

" 'Well-educated men often come to the crossroads of life', he said. 'One road might lead to fame and imporance, and another might lead to peace of mind. It's the road of peace of mind that I'm seeking.' "

" 'Tell me, Chief, what's the difference between a barber and a sculptor?'....'The sculptor makes faces and busts, and the barber curls up and dyes.' "

" 'What's wrong with a refugee?'

'Oh, we hear things about them...They get up at night and batter people to death.' "

"It meant that if you loved people you had to allow a complete invasion by them of your life, and he wasn't built to face invasions of any kind. And yet, this isolation he so treasured had often been painful, because he too felt this eternal human need to share the best and worst of life with another."

" 'Tell my why I hate people?'...'I think you only hate people when you have a headache, sir.' "

"Part of her plans also included a man, as she was a passionate and impetuous woman with a warm heart. It never really mattered what kind of man he was or the magnitude of his faults and failings. It was just enough that her feelings be aroused and everything would be swallowed up in a blinding sun of devotion and loyalty."

"You find yourself throwing blows but weeping at the same time, because of all the people who sit and wail in the darkness, and because of all the fat smug persecuters to whom this wailing is like sweet music, and some inner voice keeps on telling you that your way is right for you, that the process of rising up from the darkness is an intensely personal and private one, and that if you can find a society that leaves the individual to develop freely you ought to choose that society as your home."

"But if a grown woman cried, all those hot tears might melt the iron rod that was her backbone. Then how would she arise on the morrow to face another day?"

" 'Are you religious, Mama?'....'If you mean, am I good, I can right away say no, no, no....Goodness is impossible to achieve. I am searching for a faith, without which I cannot live.'....'What is faith?'.....'It is an understanding of life.' "

" 'Can you look on life again with trust once it has become soiled and tainted?' "

" '...I want to see them blow up but I've run away, not because they are my brothers, but because a crowd is going to do the blowing up. I don't like crowds.' "

"...she was searching around in her mind for a way to inform him of this without having to refer to the Bible. It was something people liked or did not like and she knew this wild-hearted man did not like it. She knew missionaries too and they had tainted the Bible by not making the words they preached out of it match their deeds."

"Now, each time he decided he would rest in peace, he kept on learning more about life, and he was not feeling so contented aout dying."

" 'You see no rivers on the ground but we keep the rivers inside us. That is why all good things and all good people are called rain. Sometimes we see the rain clouds gather even though not a cloud appears in the sky. It is all in our heart.' "

"He made you think of all the people who are only half like him, and this completely shattered the innocence and trust with which you might approach fairly harmless people who do a bit of evil now and then to entertain themselves."

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