Scorn not his simplicity
But rather try to love him all the more
Scorn not his simplicity
-Phil Coulter
Arthur
1957-2012
"With God, life and strength within me, how can I be weak?"
-Selvarajan Yesudian
Recently, my younger, Down's Syndrome brother, Arthur, passed away leaving me to reflect on the huge impact that his life had on mine.
Of all the experiences and crises that transformed and influenced the course of my life none came near to the profound challenges that Arthur brought to bear on my own life and mind. Arthur affected my life not so much by what he was capable of doing or saying, though often surprising and dramatic as those epiphanies were, but simply by who he was as a lovable human being without rancour or guile.
I saw more looking intently into the eyes of Arthur than I ever discovered standing with astonished amazement beneath NASA's 210-foot Goldstone Dish Antenna in California gazing into the mysterious immensity of Space.
His life had greater impact on me than that once in a lifetime moment in my life when I was ordained into the Christian ministry by the laying on of hands.
All the academic learning of Technical Colleges and Universities, neither Diplomas in Space Communications nor Degrees in Theologies, can ever compare with what Arthur taught me.
Great thinkers moulded my grasp of who I was in the indescribable vastness of the Universe, Plato, Augustine, Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Wesley, Kierkegaard, Einstein, Jung, Gandhi, Smuts to mention but a few, but outshining all of these was the simple life of a little brother who loved Jesus - ARTHUR! Scorn not his simplicity! Namaste!
©Colin G Garvie HomePage: http://www.garvies.co.za
