麻豆社

Good morning. I was striding out for a walk this week, as usual with my poles which are good for exercising the whole body, when a lady kindly pointed out that there was a lot of mud on the path ahead. As I strode off she said 鈥淲ell done. Very good.鈥� I felt like saying 鈥淒ear Lady I鈥檒l outwalk you any day you like鈥� but of course I didn鈥檛. It seemed that she saw my poles as a sign that I was a poor old man making a last brave effort. Appearances can indeed be deceptive. Worse than that appearances can lead to harmful stereotyping, as the row this week over the Chair of the FA鈥檚 remarks and resignation revealed.

The problem is that appearances are what we first have to go on. We see someone or hear them, and how we see or hear them is already built into the language. If on my walk I see some strips of wood held together with legs holding it up I don鈥檛 just see it as strips of wood but as a bench. Seeing and naming go together. We don鈥檛 see something then name it. We name it as we see it. And the descriptions we use too often reflect stereotypes from the past which we imbibe as children in the very process of learning to talk. So the first lesson for me is to ask myself what does the appearance first convey? Does it come already prejudiced?

Oscar Wilde said 'It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances..' And of course an outward, witty style was what he put on to amuse the world. But in Reading jail in his long letter De Profundis, 鈥淥ut of the deep have I called to you O God鈥�, we see behind the appearance- his suffering and longing.

In Marilynne Robinson鈥檚 new novel Jack, who has been brought up in a loving family, has gone to the bad and is living is St Louis on the streets. By chance he meets Della, a school teacher from the black community. It was just after World War II when inter-racial marriage was forbidden by law. Jack tries to keep away from Della because he knows he has this tendency to damage others. He would only bring shame on her and she would have to resign her job. But Della looks at Jack and sees more than this self destructive side. 鈥淚n your own way, you鈥檙e kind of- pure鈥� she said. She tells Jack she has seen his soul, which she describes as a kind of flame.

In the Bible the prophet Samuel knows that God鈥檚 anointed one will be one of the sons of Jesse. Seven are called before him and are rejected and finally David the youngest is chosen. As Samuel says 鈥淭he Lord does not see as a mortal sees; mortals see only appearances but the Lord sees into the heart.鈥� He sees as Della saw Jack.

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