Illiterate But Not Ignorance

Sulad Jhun Cardeinte

"Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody." Rom. 12:17

We often label the verbally base community as ignorant where in fact the reality is that they have all the good values we need to learn from them. These verbally base communities are students of the “school of practical experience.” To confess, I have learned many things more than I could give. What I have learned is that these people enjoy life to the fullest. They don’t worry about how little they have. They don't worry about the time. This is so contrary to our city life which are full of hassles, deadlines and demands, which if couldn’t achieve, the result is so much stress caused by frustrations.

Most of these people work hard every day just to have food on their tables for their families to eat, but they are so contented of the life they have. These families, which are poor in the eyes of the world, are very happy with the life they have. And how about their bonding? These people are willing to stop just to listen. They know what it means to be a neighbor. Where in many civilized areas, you can readily observed close door neighbors but not friends. Civilized community separate friends to neighbors, neighbors to friends. But for them “neighbors means friends.” Their community bonding is strong. They closely support each other in good and bad times. They are ready to cancel any plan just for an ordinary visitor. These are the many realities of life that highly educated people are ignorant about.

Though they are illiterate in the eyes the world but they are not ignorance. For example, the Manobo hilltribe in the Philippines they are not following written rules but they have oral rules to ensure and maintain peace order and to solve problems, which sometimes better than our ways. Contrary to the very highly urbanized community which have written laws and judges to base the decision but still problems can hardly be solve. Why? Because many members of these urbanized people have lose their conscience. I will not explain this but just surf on the internet, watch the news or read newspapers. Greed and selfishness can be seen in the civilize world. People hurting each other without thinking others’ feelings. They killed, robbed, raped and tortured. To them they are safe if the police are not there. They afraid of the police not the bad things they have been doing.

How about these people we called illiterate? They have lived with pure conscience. They have unwritten rules and experience that we can learn from them. When the Holy Spirit will work in their heart, they can be intelligent for God’s cause. Formal school may produce leaders but may not produce humble servants. It may produce scholars but may not produce diehard missionary frontliners. It may produce teachers but may not produce teachables. It often produces dominant-like but may not produce Christ-like. It may produce intellectual but may not produce spiritual, which is the greatest need of the world to see among us. This is something we need to think about.