Reflections Over the South Pacific
Hint of what is to come: Jud’s journey is entering its final phase, but as he continues to uncover the layers of his father’s plan, he realizes that there are still more lessons to learn—both about the world and himself. With Kathryn by his side, what new insights will he gain?
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th century American poet and philosopher
Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves.
Helen Keller, an inspirational role model to millions.
Jud spent a week in Auckland. He and Grant usually met up for meals or drinks in the evening. During the days, Jud explored the city on foot, reflecting on everything he had learned. On Saturday, Grant invited Jud to join a group of his friends for a sailing trip around Waiheke Island. The day began in glorious sunshine, but as they circumnavigated the island, they encountered bad weather and had to anchor in a bay to wait out the storm. Later, they sailed back to Auckland Harbor in calm seas under the evening sky.
Grant was easygoing and didn’t push Jud to talk beyond the level of a new acquaintance. Jud noticed how much Grant’s friends admired and respected him. Throughout the day, he heard anecdotes of how Grant had helped them out of various sticky situations. Grant seemed embarrassed. “C’mon, guys. Jud will think I’ve set you up.”
That night, in a bar at the harbor, Grant asked, “Where you off to next?”
“I don’t know,” admitted Jud, “other than that on the outside of Envelope 8 it says, ‘Fly to Los Angeles and read the letter inside this envelope once you are on the plane.’”
“When do you leave?” Grant asked.“Tomorrow,” Jud replied.
Grant took Jud to the airport the next day to see him off. By now, the two men had developed a sense of friendship bordering on kinship, and they promised to stay in touch.
Jud was so tired that he fell asleep immediately after takeoff, missing the meal and the first movie. He woke somewhere over the mid-Pacific. After stretching and taking a stroll to the restroom, Jud took out Envelope 8, hoping there were no more shocking surprises.
Dear son, I hope you are not too angry with me. I said in Envelope 1 that this was a journey I had wanted to do with you. The surprise waiting for you in Auckland must have shocked your system. I prayed long and hard that your meeting with Grant would go well for both of you. I hope it has, and I trust that you can connect again.
But for now, you need to move on to the final phase of this journey. It would be best to have time to reflect on everything you’ve experienced, but you are not quite ready for that. Doing so could be unhelpful, if not dangerous, right now. Let me explain. It is important to be introspective and self-focused and have dedicated times of reflection, sorting out your values and vision. However, I have learned that this is best done with understanding the broader context. It took me a long time to discover that serving others was the best way to help myself.
At the airport in Los Angeles, there is a surprise waiting for you. You will like this one. It is Kathryn. She has arranged for you to join a work team for a week in Central America. Kathryn helped me concoct this adventure. She loves you very much. At first, when I told her of my idea and asked her to help me, she was reluctant and needed a bit of persuasion, but when she bought into it, she did so big time. You are going to spend a week together doing something for others. The coming week should put your own journey into perspective, but it will also remind you that whatever you do for others, it is you who gets the greatest reward.
Love Dad
A few hours later, Jud and Kathryn met in the transit lounge of Los Angeles Airport. They held each other for a long time.
“I’ve missed you more than you can know, and I have so much to tell you,” Jud whispered. He broke the embrace, leaned back, looked Kathryn in the eye, and asked, “Just how much did you collude with Dad on this whole enterprise?”
“All will be revealed in due course,” Kathryn laughed. “But for now, we have a plane to catch.”“Where to?” Jud asked.“Guatemala,” she replied. “We’re joining a group from my church for a week in a barrio outside Guatemala City. We’re going to build a community center.”
Guatemalan Nights
Jud got along well with the members of Kathryn’s church, which surprised him. Contrary to his expectations, they were exciting and easy to work with. What he enjoyed most, apart from being with his wife again, was working alongside the local bricklayers. As an economist, he was intrigued by their lives, their jobs, and the pressures they faced in their society. One thing was sure: these people did not need North Americans to come and build the community center. There was a lot of laughter on the building site, usually at the church team’s expense, often due to their clumsy Spanish. The site erupted in an uproar one day when a wall built by three of the team fell over without the help of local experts.
Kathryn was often on the opposite side of the work site, while Jud mixed concrete and did the grunt work for the bricklayers. He spent a lot of time pondering the plight of the poor. Images of Mindanao were still fresh in his mind, as was his recollection that the subsistence farmers he had met there did not seem to perceive him as better off, just from a different place. The problems of poverty, sustainable development, AIDS, water-related disease, globalization, and conflict resolution were complex. Jud had not considered them—except when writing papers at university.
One day, while loading sand into the mixer, something dawned on Jud, causing a brief shudder: he had wrapped himself in a false and unreal blanket of personal comfort. Even though he was a trained economist, he had no clue about the economic hardships most of the world’s people face daily. Jud pledged that he would seek a better understanding and become involved somehow. The answers would not come quickly, but he was being changed through the process of reflecting on them. He knew that while he could not change the world, he could enlarge his own world by forming friendships with people living in different circumstances.
On the final night, Jud and Kathryn stayed up late talking. She was eager to hear all the stories of his recent weeks, and Jud wanted to listen to hers. Around 2 a.m., aware of the thin walls of the hotel where they and the team were staying, Jud and Kathryn made love in playful, whispered passion. As they lay in each other’s arms in the afterglow, enjoying the stillness, they heard the distant rumblings of Guatemala’s lively resident volcano, Pacaya.
On the flight back to Los Angeles the next day, Kathryn leaned her head on Jud’s shoulder and fell asleep. Jud stared at Envelope 9, which he had placed on his lap. He felt apprehensive, not wanting his days with Kathryn to end and not knowing where his dad would take him next. Careful not to wake Kathryn, he slowly tore the envelope open.
As Jud opens the next envelope, he prepares himself for whatever comes next. But will this final leg of the journey bring him the closure he seeks, or will it lead to even more questions? The adventure continues in the next installment, where Jud’s story takes yet another unexpected turn. Stay tuned.
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